Sending Save-The-Dates is the perfect way to ensure that your guests reserve the date for your wedding in their calendars. They can also be used as a way to send out a ‘teaser’ of how gorgeous and amazing your wedding is going to be.
For those of you who are undecided on sending a save-the-date, consider your out of town guests. They will need to know far in advance when the date of your wedding will be so that they can arrange travel and accommodation.
When do you send out save-the-dates? I would say anywhere from 6 months to a year depending on the following:
– Will most of my guests be from out of town? (In my case ALL of my guests were from out of town as none of them resided in Niagara on the Lake)
– Do the hotels in the area book up quickly?
– Is it expensive to travel to the wedding destination (consider this for destination weddings, to islands or other continents)
Our wedding was in September which is prime tourist season for Niagara on the Lake as the wine is being harvested. Because of this, the hotels tend to book up quite quickly and so we sent Save-the-Dates out in late November of 2011 (9 months before the wedding).
Hint: Be sure that the reserved blocks at your hotels of choice are already confirmed in advance of sending out your Save-the-Dates Usually if you reserve a block of rooms for your guests they can take advantage of a room discount (which will definitely be appreciated). Also be sure that the links to these hotels and the code they need to access the room block is already up on your wedding website.
Etiquette Hint: Also be sure that you reserve room blocks at a few hotels with different price points – this ensures that all of your guests, no matter their budget, can afford to attend your wedding.
I chose one stationer (Paper and Poste) who would do both our Save-the-Dates and our invitations. By doing this I ensured consistency in the look and style of our stationery (for example we used the same border motifs for both).
As I mentioned earlier, Save-the-Dates can be used to drop hints as to what the style and theme of your wedding will be. For our Save-the-Dates, we included subtle hints like the Laduree Font, french language, regal french border motifs, a pencil sketch of the ceremony site, and our monogram. We also included a personal touch of a Paris postage stamp that had the name of our neighbourhood in the 16th arrondissement: Passy. Adding these personal touches ensures that your Save-the-Date is unique and promises that your wedding will be stunning and unique as well.
Our Save-the-Date Set
Save-the-Date: Front
Save-the-Date: Back
Another fun touch we added (and that I made myself!) were little stickers in our wedding colour and with the Laduree font that guests could stick into their dayplanners to make sure they remember the date! Every single one of our guests commented on how excited they were for the wedding simply because of how gorgeous our Save-the-Date was!
Dayplanner Stickers
By taking the time to consider all of these elements you can produce a Save-the-Date that will definitely make your guests start counting down the days to your wedding!
