When to Send Save the Date Wedding Invitations
Why Does My Photographer Care About When to Send Save the Date?
When scheduling your engagement session, it’s important to establish if you’re going to use your engagement photos for your save the date. If you would like to use your images for your save the date, it’s critical to set up your engagement session far enough in advance. So, the important question here is, when to send save the date?
What is a Save the Date?
A save the date is essentially a pre-invitation to your wedding. It’s a simple announcement to your guests about your upcoming event. While offering a bit of information about your big day, the primary purpose of your save the date wedding invitation is to encourage your potential guests to reserve the date on their calendar.
Do We Have to Send Save the Date?
In short, no. But you also don’t have to hold the door open for the person behind you when exiting your favorite pub & grub. Sending out your save the date is a common courtesy that goes a long way. It allows friends and family to plan out their work schedules, travel plans, child care, and event priorities in advance enough to not be a frustrating or stressful ordeal.
When to Send Save the Date?
Ideally, send save the dates somewhere between 6 and 9 months. You can err on the side of less time for a small hometown wedding, but you may need to send them out up to 12 months in advance for some destination weddings. Whatever you do, never send save the dates before booking your must have vendors like ceremony and reception venues.
What Information Should We Include on Our Save the Date?
Your names, wedding date, and location of event are must haves on your save the date. Some other things to consider including are a website URL, a note about a formal invite to come, and whether you are allowing guests to bring a “plus one”.
Where to Print Save the Dates?
My favorite place to order save the dates is Basic Invite! As photographers, we are constantly analyzing the quality of print companies. After all, we spend countless hours perfecting the images we take. Nothing is more disappointing than seeing a completely different image on paper, because the printer’s quality control was not up to par. We’ve been happily ordering from (we love their holiday cards!) and referring clients to Basic Invite for years. Below are some reasons I think you’ll love them too!
Wedding Websites (they’re FREE!)
Basic Invite’s free wedding websites are fully customizable! With web, tablet, and mobile optimization, sharing all your wedding details just got a lot easier. Full of rich features like address collection, digital RSVP’s, photo galleries, maps, registries, and even the option to coordinate your design with all your Basic Invite stationary. Take the stress out of keeping your guests up-to-date and create your free wedding website by clicking here!
Practically Endless Colors
Basic Invite’s vast color options (180) paired with the ability to combine colors endlessly, create a truly unique experience compared to other popular stationery companies.
Customized Samples
With Basic Invite’s try before you buy option, you can order fully custom samples on any invite without nagging limitations. Ordering samples is extremely affordable, easy, and takes all the stress out of ordering hundreds or thousands of pieces of stationary by giving you the ability to proof your items with your bare hands!
Over 900 Wedding Invitation Sets
Each invitation is part of a theme family. You can have cohesive stationary from the first save the date you post to the last thank-you card you send. You can coordinate things like your wedding website, direction cards, response cards, accommodation cards, ceremony cards, registry cards, belly bands, place cards, wedding stickers, and more!
Address Collection Service (also FREE!)
Delegation is your best friend while wedding planning! Basic invite’s address collection service makes preparing to send your invites a breeze. Forgo the daunting task of hand-writing (more like hand-cramping) each address by requesting potential guests’ addresses via a shared link, and cash in your free envelope printing.
Seal & Send Wedding Invitations
Drum roll please… My all-time favorite stationary offered by Basic Invite is the infamous all-in-one wedding invitations. These stunning, dynamic invitations lend a nod to the classic postcard with a modern, black-tie sophistication and a seal and send ease. No envelope needed with Basic Invite’s free Address Collection Service. Simply share a link, upload them into your design, and finish them with a custom Basic Invite sticker! Now you’re ready to plan a night out, you deserve it! After all, you worked hard (or hardly worked) on your wedding invitations 😀
