You’re engaged! Congratulations! Once you’ve booked your planner, the next two important steps are choosing a venue and setting a date. With those actions complete, you’re finally ready to send out your Save the Date notice and let all the fun of planning for your big day begin.
In terms of timing, we typically recommend sending out the Save the Date around the eight-to-nine-month mark before to your wedding, and for a destination wedding anywhere up to 12 months prior.
As for style, your Save the Date can set the tone for the rest of your wedding invitation suite. For example, you can get really creative with the design like sending a postcard or even some kind of keepsake, such as a luggage tag to fit the theme of a destination wedding. Maybe you prefer the classic look of photographs from your engagement shoot. Or, perhaps you decide to keep it simple with a fun pattern, paper, or font. There are no rules! Whatever you and your stationer design, it’s great to give your guests plenty of notice about your wedding and use your Save the Date to keep them informed.
Compared to the invitations, save the dates are meant to be short and simple, but they still need to include some important information. Following are six important details you’ll need to include on your Save the Date.
Your Names
This may sound obvious, but I’m often asked whether a couple should include just their first names or both their full names. I think this really depends on your style and how well your guest list knows both of you. For heterosexual couples, the bride’s name traditionally goes first. For same-sex couples, you can choose any order.
The Wedding Date(s)
Next up, decide on whether you want to include just the wedding date or the full weekend, especially if it’s a multi-day destination or an out-of-town wedding. This will allow guests to mark your celebration off on their calendars and make any necessary travel or work arrangements. You don’t need to include the ceremony time at this stage, although this may be added to your wedding website (more on that below).
The Location
Typically, you don’t need to include the actual venue on the Save the Date but rather the town, city, state, or country. For a destination wedding that requires advance hotel room booking, you may want to provide this information for travel purposes. Alternatively, you can include just the city and state, and add specifics about the venue to your wedding website.
Your Wedding Website URL
Regardless of how big or small, low-key or epic you’re intending your wedding to be, having a wedding website is essential. If nothing else, it allows you to communicate with your guests and give them up-to-the-minute information on locations, timing, dress codes, transportation and accommodation, your registry, and other important details. A simple URL also allows you to keep your Save the Date clean while directing guests to your website for the ins and outs of your wedding weekend.
There’s More to Come
I always like to include the words, “Formal invitation to follow” so that guests know that this is not the last communication you’ll have with them and that the Save the Date notice is just that versus the actual invitation.
Your Return Address
One mistake many couples make is not including their return address somewhere on the save the date, especially if it’s a postcard. If inserting into an envelope, the back of the envelope is fine. That way, if one of your cards doesn’t reach the intended recipient, you’ll know so that you can reach out to them in another way. This also ensures that you have all the correct addressing information for when you do send out your invitations.
For more details on save the dates and designing your wedding invitation suite, give us a call at HauteFetes. We’d love to help you get started on your journey to the aisle with a Save the Date to remember!