This day I will marry my best friend
the one I laugh with, live for, dream with, love.
~ Anonymous

Now that you’ve set the date, finalized your Master Guest List and set up your wedding website (AKA wedsite”), you may turn your attention to designing your save-the-date card.

A Popular and Practical Component

Save-the-date cards have become a popular component in the whole scheme of wedding planning. They provide yet another way for the bride and groom to announce their engagement and proclaim their love for each other as well as their particular style as a couple.

As mentioned in a previous entry, Setting the Date, wedding invitations are mailed approximately six to eight weeks prior to the wedding to allow time to receive replies, determine the headcount and advise the caterer as well as plan other details that are dependent on the number of guests who will attend.

However, save-the-date cards are also a thoughtful gesture and plain good event management if you’re planning a destination wedding or your wedding date is four to eight months into the future, on or close to or on a major holiday or on a weekday (necessitating guests to take off work).

Send a save-the-date card to each person to whom you intend to send a wedding invitation. A save-the-date card will alert your invitees early so they can begin to plan, thereby helping to ensure prompt replies to your invitations and facilitate a higher percentage of acceptances (after all, your invitees will have had months to decide, arrange their schedules and make plans by the time they receive your wedding invitation!).

Timeframe for Sending Save-the-Date Notices

Depending on the level of planning that will be involved for your guests, send your save-the-date cards six to eight months in advance of the wedding. In the case of elaborate destination weddings it’s not unreasonable to send your save-the-date notices as much as a year in advance.

The best approach is to send all your save-the-date cards at the same time to avoid confusion and hurt feelings. Some etiquette experts say that it’s fine to send some save-the-date cards prior to finalizing your master guest list, but my advice is to alert those family members and friends who are closest to you in person, by phone or Skype and wait until you are organized and then send all the official save-the-date cards at once. You might wind up adding to your guest list later and sending a few straggler save-the-dates at that time, but the approach should be a core mailing rather than a piecemeal mailing.

Save-the-date cards should reflect the level of formality and style of your wedding and well as yourselves, if possible. They can be very formal or very casual, custom-ordered from a stationer or a DIY project.

Save-the-Date Examples

Informal

Save the Date
September 20, 1890
Cavendish, Prince Edward Island, Canada

This day I will marry my best friend
the one I laugh with, live for, dream with, love.

We have made this pledge to each other.
Please mark your calendar. An invitation will follow.

Anne and Gilbert

 Flip Side:

Include photo of couple,
outdoor photo or drawing of Green Gables
or other meaningful graphic.

Formal

Kindly Save the Date
For the Wedding of
Isabella Marie Swan and Edward Anthony Masen Cullen
Saturday, the Thirteenth of August
Two Thousand Eleven
Forks, Washington
Invitation to Follow
http://www.weddingwebsite.com

Casual

Save the Date, Man
Sandy and Danny
Are Getting Hitched!
Saturday, June 8, 1963
“Chang chang changity chang shoo bop
That’s the way it should be
Waooo Yeah”*

*We Go Together, from the movie, Grease

Sandy and Danny might wish to
include a snapshot of themselves as well!

For More Information… 

Save the date notices can come in various designs and formats, including handy refrigerator magnets. Please refer to the Setting the Date entry for additional information on save-the-date cards. This is a project you can have fun with and really demonstrate your style.

Until next time,

Jeanne