When and How to " Save-the-Dates" !

July 29, 2014

When and How to " Save-the-Dates" !

For many couples, save-the-dates are an opportunity to set the tone of their wedding.

Since this is the first glimpse into what the couple is planning, it’s easy to feel pressure to “get it right,” especially when it comes to wording.

It’s important to remember that sending save-the-dates is not compulsory. Usually, it is better to include a save-the-date if it’s a destination wedding and people need to prepare, but you don’t necessarily need one for a local wedding.

What Do You Need to Do Before Sending Save the Dates?

Before mailing your save the dates, your wedding website should be up and running and I recommend you Zankyou platform, where you can choose among beautiful templates (and, later on, you can also add your wedding registry.)

You should have started to assemble your wedding registry—just in case any guests who are booking early decide to beat the crowds and send you a gift early, too.

Even if the rest of your site isn’t finished (like the “How We Met” story or bios of your wedding party), filling out those most important of pages will be immensely helpful for your guests.

What to Include in Your Save-the-Dates

If you do send save-the-dates, stick with the “less is more” attitude. Only put as much information as people need six months in advance. This is not the invitation and is meant to give only minimal information, which includes:

The wedding date
The venue location
Your wedding website
A note about the invitation

To elaborate on that last point, there’s one thing that all save-the-dates should have: a distinction that it isn’t the actual invitation. It doesn't matter the style of save-the-date, and couples should always put ‘invitation to follow’ on the card so that guests know the invitation is coming and this mailing is not missing the additional information.

"This will get guests excited about the festivities to come without any potential confusion.

When it comes to destination wedding save-the-dates, provide as much travel-related information as possible as a courtesy to your guests. You should include the nearest airports and ways to get there as well as hotel information. That’s one of the main reasons for sending them out: So that people can book flights and hotels in advance so they don't get penalized for last-minute bookings.

Know if you need save-the-date RSVPs.

But what should couples do if they have a tight headcount and ideally need guests to “RSVP” to the save-the-date?

This might happen if your venue is smaller than your list or you’re on a tight budget so you’ve broken your guests into an “A list” or a “B list” and you plan on inviting the second wave depending on how many people from the first round can’t attend.

This has to be handled very delicately.

We will sometimes put ‘We’d love to have you but if you know now that you won’t be able to come, please let us know".

That way, you don’t have to wait until you get your official RSVPs back to start inviting other guests only a few weeks before the wedding.

Save-the-Date Examples

When working on save-the-dates, don’t get too stuck on feeling like you have to have every detail of your wedding already decided, or that it all needs to be matching in this mailing.

Whether the wedding is formal or more casual, the save-the-date is a great time to be playful, especially if you want your invitation to be traditional. Depending on the type of tone you want to set, here some wording examples we hope can be of inspiration:

Formal

Save the Date
for the wedding of
Molly Jane Cooper
and
Frederich Jones
Saturday, the twelfth of November
Two thousand and twenty-one
Avu Dhabi
Formal invitation to follow

Traditional

Save the Date
Lauren and Mark
are getting married!
September 20, 2021
London
Formal invitation to follow

Casual

He asked and she said “Yes!”
Julia and James
2.20.21
Rome, Italy
Invitation to follow

Destination

Save the Weekend!
August 23–25, 2021
Gloria and David
are getting married
Dubai, U.A.E.
Please see further wedding details at
[weddingwebsite].com

Do I Have to Send Someone a Wedding Invitation If I Sent Them a Save the Date?

It's an absolute must to send a wedding invitation to anyone who received a save-the-date announcement. There's a clear expectation when a save-the-date card is received that an invitation will follow; failing to send one is essentially the same as uninviting a guest—which is unacceptable.