Creating A Perfect Set of Save-The-Dates

Save our date in wooden letters

How Will You Let Your Guests Know About Your Wedding?  

Save-The-Dates allow guests to secure your wedding date in their diaries, guaranteeing their availability for the big day.

As wedding invitations are traditionally sent out to guests around six to eight weeks before the big day, this doesn’t always provide people with a lot of notice. Busy guests need to factor in the costs of attending a wedding, along with childcare or travel arrangements that need booking. To put it simply, many guests would appreciate not being in a mad rush trying to sort all this out before the big day. This is where save-the-dates come in.

A save-the-date is not the same as an invitation, it doesn’t need to include any specific details about the celebrations. Instead, as soon as the happy couple have secured their wedding date, they can send out a save-the-date note or memento to alert guests that they need to stick this in the diary as a top priority. Here’s how to get your save-the-dates spot on!

Creating Your Guest List

First things first, you’ll need to have drawn up a guest list before you send out save-the-dates. This means liaising with your wedding venue of choice to determine the maximum number of guests you are allowed, as well as checking your budget to be certain that you can afford for this number to attend. The worst scenario is to send save-the-dates to a bunch of people and then realise that they are not going to make the final cut. To reduce the potential of this happening, you might choose to send save-the-dates to your core group of friends and family members who must be in attendance. Then you can always surprise your maybe list with the formal wedding invitation nearer the time.

What To Include

The date of your celebrations is the most important feature of a save-the-date. Guests might receive numerous invitations for summer and spring weddings so you’ll want to get in there quickly to ensure all your favoured guests are able to attend. You might also choose to include the location of the wedding, even if it just says ‘London’. The idea is that you are alerting your guests to save the date, but also plan for a journey and possibly to set aside money to travel.

However, it would be poor etiquette to include information such as your gift registry details on a save-the-date card.

Your Save-The-Date Design

Couples can be as simple or creative as they like with their save-the-date designs. Some people will choose to send out a basic email to let people know about their nuptials. Alternatively, you might prefer to send out a romantic, intricate card complete with beautiful font and wording. This should be in keeping with the theme of the day, and is a great way to set the tone before your event. Others may go one step further by sending out a memento such as a save-the-date fridge magnet or coaster which your guests can keep. This will also help to demonstrate that your wedding will be focused on the little details and finishing touches that will make your celebrations really special.

Save-the-dates are a great way to build anticipation and excitement about your upcoming nuptials, but they’re also an important part of the planning too. So, as soon as you’ve secured your wedding date, it’s time to get your guests organised too!