When To Send Save the Dates & Wedding Invitations - The Ultimate Guide
Confused about when to send save the dates and wedding invitations and whether you need to send both? When managing your wedding budget, you’re right to question every spend but save the dates are not a piece of wedding stationery you want to skip.
Sent at the beginning of your wedding stationery timeline, save the dates are a foolproof way to ensure as many guests as possible are at your wedding. Save the dates are one of the cheapest items of wedding stationery but they do a really important job helping to make the lead up to your wedding as stress-free as possible for you and your guests.
Save the dates are not wedding invitations, they do a completely different job.
Unless you’re having a super-short engagement and getting married in less than 7 months, you need save the dates. Though it’s a small cost to add to your wedding budget and another thing to think about, in the long-run sending save the dates will save you and your guests a lot of stress, worry and confusion as you plan your wedding.
Let’s take a closer look at why and when to send:
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When to send save the dates for local and destination weddings
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When to send save the dates for different types of guests
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When it’s too early to send save the dates
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Why you need save the dates
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How save the dates and wedding invitations differ
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When to send wedding invitations
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When and how to order save the dates
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When and how to order wedding invitations
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Timeline for sending save the dates and wedding invitations
When do you send save the dates?
Save the dates are a formal memo not an invitation. All they have on them is:
- both of your names,
- the date of your wedding,
-the location,
-a note at the bottom which says: formal invitations will follow.
The lack of information on a save the date card may make it seem like a complete waste of time but a save the date has a very important purpose to give everyone enough time to attend and prepare for your wedding.
Needing only the date and location of your wedding to have been decided means you can send your save the dates as early as you wish.
The purpose of save the dates is to give guests plenty of notice so they can plan ahead so the average time to send save the date cards is 8 months before your wedding.
If you want to give guests a bit more time to prepare, you can send save the dates a year or even 2 years ahead of time. It all depends on what type of wedding you’re having. If you’ve heard about wedding save the dates late in the day, sending them up to 6 months before your wedding is still within wedding etiquette.
So send save the dates no later than 6 months before your wedding day and no earlier than 2 years before. For most couples having a local wedding, 8 months before the wedding is the best time to send save the dates.
When do you send save the dates for a destination wedding?
For a destination wedding or multi-day wedding you’ll want to aim for the earlier end of the scale. Average times to send save the dates for destination weddings are between 1-2 years before your wedding day. Notice of 12 months or more gives guests for a destination wedding plenty of time to save up, research and book flights, accommodation, outfits, childcare etc.
When to send save the dates for different types of guests
If yours is a multi-day wedding, happening during busy school holidays when lots of people are away or you have lots of international wedding guests, sending your save the dates at least 12 months before the wedding will give guests plenty of time to prepare.
According to industry authority Hitched, sending wedding save the dates 1-2 years before the wedding is a growing trend as more and more couples choose destination and multi-day celebrations. In fact, even Taylor Swift is having a destination wedding and who can forget Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sanchez’s destìnation wedding!
For evening guests, the preparation needed to attend your wedding is much smaller and your wedding is going to be local so you don’t need to send save the dates to evening guests. Most of us are prepared to do things in the evening so the time commitment for an evening reception is much lower, all you need to send instead is an evening invitation 3-4 months before your wedding.
When is too early to send save the dates?
You can send save the dates too early. Sending save the dates more than two years in advance is too early. Things change. Friendships change and plans change. If you send your wedding save the dates more than two years before your wedding, by the time the wedding comes round, you may no longer be friends with people, have chosen a different wedding location, wedding date, wedding style and more.
For your guests, sending save the dates too early means they’ll lose them or mentally find it too far ahead to take any action.
As a rule, the more arrangements guests need to make, the earlier you need to send them, with two years in advance being the earliest notice to give.
Why do you need save the dates?
Whilst it is yet another spend to add to your wedding budget, save the dates are essential for both you and guests.
When considering costs, save the dates are cheap, costing less than £1 each. Ours are super-affordable at 70p each for luxury save the dates so ordering wedding save the dates is not going to make a huge difference to your wedding spend. See save the dates
Without save the dates, friends and family will be constantly asking you questions in the run up to your wedding.
At the same time, you’ll be under pressure to choose all your suppliers and finalise all your wedding details so you can send our the wedding invitations. This is stress you don’t need. With save the dates sent out early on, everyone can relax, enjoy the preparations and get organised in good time.
Wedding save the dates come in lots of different styles so you can choose the right one to match the type of wedding you’re planning. The style you choose will also give guests more information about the type of wedding they can expect, again helping them with their preparations.
Industry legends, Rock My Wedding, highlight current trends for photo, magnet and seed paper save the dates. Read more about different save the date styles in our complete guide to save the dates.
Save the Dates v Wedding Invitations
So do you really need save the dates and wedding invitations? Yes, you do because they do two different jobs.
The Purpose of Save the Dates
As we’ve discussed, the purpose of save the dates is to let guests know the date of your wedding in plenty of time so they can prepare. Wedding save the dates also give you breathing take your time and organise all your wedding details before the formal wedding invitations are sent much later on.
The Purpose of Wedding Invitations
Unlike save the dates, wedding invitations give guests all the information they need about your wedding. From the wedding venues to the menu and dress code, wedding invitations are a detailed formal communication between you and your guest about your wedding.
Before you send wedding invitations, you’ll need to have found all your suppliers and finalised all your wedding details. On the other hand, save the dates only have the wedding location and date so you can send them before you’ve made any detailed plans or decisions about wedding details.
When do you send wedding invitations?
You need to have fully planned your wedding before you can send your wedding invitations so most couples send them 4 months before the wedding day.
You can send wedding invitations as early as 6 months before, that’s the earliest for wedding etiquette. The latest you should send wedding invitations is 3 months before the wedding day. If you factor in getting rsvps back so you can confirm menu choices etc., 4 months gives you a little bit of extra time to chase rsvps.
If you don’t send save the dates, it’s recommended you send your wedding invitations 6 months before the wedding.
Sending wedding invitations too early runs the risk of them being forgotten, mislaid etc so use save the dates to notify and wedding invitations to share all the wedding details
If you’re having a destination wedding, you’ll want to send your wedding invitations a bit earlier, likely 6 months before, so guests have time to organise flights etc.
How does it all fit together?
Save the dates in your wedding planning timeline
Save the dates come at the beginning of your wedding stationery timeline. They are ordered in the same way as wedding invitations with the majority of couples choosing custom save the dates like the ones we sell.
Custom or personalised wedding save the dates have your names, wedding date and location printed on them. You then send them out in the post like formal wedding invitations. When posting save the date cards or wedding invitations always make sure any wax seals are inside the envelope or they’ll just fall off when going through the machinery at the sorting office.
Wedding etiquette is to post rather than hand deliver wedding invitations and save the dates.
Save the date cards only weigh about 20g, wedding invitations around 40g or so, so costs are affordable. It will take around 2-3 weeks from ordering for custom save the dates and wedding invitations to be proofed, printed and posted to you.
With save the dates included your wedding planning timeline will look something like this:
11 months before: Decide guest list
9 months before: Order save the dates
8 months before: Send save the dates
6-5 months before: Order wedding invitations
4 months before: Send wedding invitations
With both save the date cards and wedding invitations sent to guests at different times, you can keep your wedding planning organised and stress-free at every stage. Our save the dates come with matching wedding invitations and on the day stationery so you can create a seamless look and order all you need with ease. See our matching save the dates, wedding invitations and on the day stationery.
For more detailed wedding planning, check out our full wedding stationery timeline and checklist
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