We’re nearing the end of peak engagement season, with Valentine’s Day unofficially marking the end of this popular proposal time. If you became engaged over the holidays, Congratulations!! Now the fun begins! Once you’ve gotten the important things out of the way; choosing the venue, finalizing the wedding date and securing those important vendors, the next thing to tackle is your Save the Dates. Save the dates aren’t an age old tradition, in truth they’re a pretty recent invention, your grandmother never sent them and chances are, neither did your mother. Although Save the Dates aren’t necessarily mandatory, over the years they have become just as important in the wedding planning process, considering that many families and friends are now more dispersed and destination/international weddings are on the rise. Which is why a Save the Date that informs your loved ones on the details of when and where your wedding will be taking place, is extremely helpful for those who need to clear their schedules or make travel arrangements. But it also makes your planning a bit more efficient too!
These days Save the Dates can take any shape, color, texture or theme…the possibilities are endless!! But isn’t there something timeless and classic about formal save the dates that can work with almost any wedding vision? Since many of you may be at the point of your wedding planning process where you’re beginning to consider your Save the Dates, what better time to talk Save the Date etiquette and introduce you to Basic Invite’s wedding stationery and formal save the dates, in case you haven’t already heard about their beautiful collections.
Basic Invite has been one of the top leaders in digital stationery, offering endless designs for all your wedding and event stationery needs, which is no surprise I love featuring their collections on the blog! So let’s get to some pretty Save the Date ideas and your most common etiquette questions…..
No Need to Stress Over the Design
Since you don’t need to include specific information, aside from the wedding date and city/country location, Save the Dates are definitely less formal than your invitations! And you certainly don’t need to match them to your wedding theme or invitations, so let your imagination and style as a couple really shine!
Get creative with color and set yourself apart! Services like Basic Invite are wonderful because they offer over 180 different color options with instant online previews, including over 40 different colored envelope choices, which always makes such a beautiful statement. If you really want to get creative with your Save the Dates, have you ever thought about custom wedding coasters?, If not, they still make the loveliest personalized detail to showcase at your wedding.
Send Save the Dates 6 to 8 Months Before – Don’t Send Them Too Early or Too Late
A go-to wedding planner tip is to send Save the Dates 6 to 8 months before your wedding date, at least 8 months for those having destination/international weddings. Any later than that and you’re setting your guests up for little time to take off work, book travel/accommodations and essentially the unfortunate case of not being able to attend your wedding. The same goes for sending them way too early, say a year in advance. That’s a big no-no, since the chance of your Save the Date being tossed, lost or forgotten is quite high! Additionally, sometimes things can come up or go wrong with wedding venues and dates, so better to have things finalized and let the one year mark pass, before sending these out.
Technology is Great, but Don’t Only Send a Save the Date Email
Email invitations are becoming a popular trend for efficiency, cutting costs and saving paper, but that also means the rules for “snail mail” are also changing, especially for formal events like a wedding. If you do decide to go digital for your Save the Date, consider doubling up. Send your electronic Save the Date to everyone, as well as a Formal Paper card, just in case your email goes into spam folders, which is most certainly bound to happen! Also, it’s important to keep older guests or those not so tech-savvy in mind too! This is where a wedding website can come in handy and just like their stationery, Basic Invite offers free completely customizable wedding websites where you can upload and update all your wedding information!
Send Save the Dates to People You’re Sure You Want Present & Be Clear About Who’s Actually Invited
Your Save the Dates have been sealed and mailed, there’s no turning back now! So please only send them to those guests you definitely want to attend! The moment a guest receives a Save the Date, the expectation is that a Formal Invitation will be coming and you want their presence at your special day. While some rely on A and B guest lists, personally I’m not a big proponent of this strategy since you can potentially have guests at your big day just to take up space, not because you really want them there to celebrate with you.
With this, it’s very important to be as clear as possible when listing who’s invited to your wedding, by including the specific names of the intended guests on the envelopes, especially on the Save the Dates! So make sure you include the proper Mr. and Mrs., “and Guest,” as well as “family” or specific children names invited.
There’s No Need to Include Registry Info
Just like the tip for you not to overthink the design of your Save the Date, the same goes for the information included on them. Although it’s a great tip to start putting together your registry when you start planning your wedding, there’s absolutely no reason to put that information on your Save the Date. Truthfully, you will go back and fourth deciding items, often changing your mind on the things you want to build a home with, so keep Registry Info to bridal showers or pre-wedding parties. You should definitely include this on your wedding website, but DEFINITELY NOT on your Save the Date. A bit of advice from a wedding planner, it’s actually in very poor taste and against etiquette to do this, as it gives your guests the impression gifts are required, which is not the case for any wedding.
Are your minds now at ease when it comes to Save the Date Etiquette? Are you just brimming with ideas and inspiration for your wedding stationery with Basic Invites’ formal save the dates? Don’t forget to “oooh” and “ahhh” over their 900+ wedding invitation sets, including their one of a kind Seal & Send invitations, all of which include custom samples and free address collection service and envelope printing.
There are so many wonderful things to love and make your wedding planning so much more stress-free, giving you that extra time to savor this special moment in your lives, so I hope this all helped!!
This post was brought together with Basic invite but all opinions are of Dreamery Events. Thank you for continuing to read and support our amazing partners!
*photos courtesy of Basic Invite
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