How Early Should You Send Out Your Save the Dates?

For those just starting out on their wedding planning journey, before you skip right ahead to beautiful dresses and oh-so-stylish table decor, let's just take things back to the beginning. Let's talk about save-the-dates: what a save-the-date is and its purpose within the whirlwind of wedding planning! So, a save the date is a notification sent to guests to reserve the date of your wedding in their calendars. It’s a way to give your guests advance notice of your wedding date, location, and other important details. But when do you actually send them out, and can you send them out too early—is that such a thing? Keep scrolling for all you need to know about save the dates, who to send them to, and whether you go digital or paper. Oh, and a bit on invite etiquette, too!

When to send out save the dates

You should send save the dates anytime between 6 and 12 months before your wedding date to give guests ample time to make travel arrangements and clear their schedules. Although, essentially, the sooner you get them out, the better! Definitely consider sending save the dates even earlier if you’re having a summer or holiday weekend wedding, as your date might clash with another event.

Just make sure to include all the essential details on your save the dates, such as the all-important wedding date, location, and your names. It's also an excellent opportunity to include your wedding website URL on your save the dates. That doesn't mean it needs to be 100% complete; it's just a good opportunity to get it out there first and foremost; you can always build on it as time goes on.

Destination weddings

Are you hosting a destination wedding? Great shout! If so, send your save the dates as early as possible; you're probably asking your guest list to take time off work and spend more than they usually would for a local wedding, so the more time you give them, the better. They might also need to arrange child care and pet/house sitting and will want to get organised with travel plans and accommodation, so don't leave anything to the last minute. In fact, a wedding website can be even more valuable for destination weddings, as you can keep all guests in the loop with details such as additional logistics and any excursions you’re planning alongside the wedding.

Who receives a save-the-date?

A good rule of thumb is to just send save-the-date cards to guests who are invited for the entire day of your wedding, not just for the evening and only send save-the-dates to guests you definitely want to attend your wedding. If some of your guests have kindly declined, then you may be in a position to invite some of your 'b list', but bide your time and do this at a later date; it's best to under-invite than over-invite!

Save the date etiquette

It's really important to put some thought into how you address your guests on the save-the-date, as this is the perfect time to state whether a guest has a plus one or not. If you're clear and concise from the start, you will save any potential tricky conversations down the line with guests asking if they can bring someone along or, even worse, extras rocking up on the day that you haven’t accounted for—awkward!

At this point, avoid including any information about your gift registry on your save-the-dates. Your wedding website is the perfect place to give guests information about your gift wish lists. It’s important to keep your save-the-dates to the bare minimum: who, when, and where!

Designing your save-the-dates

Keep your save-the-date design simple and elegant, and for cohesiveness, align it with your wedding invitations and website so your whole wedding stationery suite complements each other. You could include a photo of the two of you, if desired, to personalise the look, but keep things clear; the sole purpose of a save-the-date card is to give people the essential information at the earliest opportunity to ensure all your faves can be there!

How to save money on wedding stationery

If you want to save some money along the way or simply want a streamlined way of communicating with your guest list, consider sending digital save-the-dates instead of paper ones, and then follow with matching digital wedding invitations and even thank-you cards post-wedding. Say I do offer couples the option to do just that, and it couldn't be a simpler set-up. There is a HUGE range of beautiful, customisable wedding websites available, plus a straightforward online RSVP, guest list management, checklists, and wedding planning tools, AND it's free to get started!

Going digital with your wedding stationery suite will save you money, of course, but also time, as it can all be done in the comfort of your own home—zero trips to the post office!

Wedding website essentials

To put it plainly, the primary purpose of your wedding website is to share all the details of the day with your guests and collect wedding RSVPs. Therefore, we recommend that you have all the essential details, such as the wedding date, venue, and timings, on the homepage so it's clear and concise and your wedding party can find the key information quickly and easily.

From there, it's up to you how much extra information you want to include on your wedding website. Details such as dress code, registry information, and the wedding itinerary are also super helpful, as is creating a wedding website FAQ. The more information you provide, the fewer additional questions you'll be asked in the run-up to the wedding day itself.

Wedding invitations

Imagine your save-the-dates have been sent, and you’re fully in planning mode; at 3-6 months before your wedding date, it’s time to send your wedding invitations. When the time comes, make sure to include all the critical details on your official wedding invitation, such as the wedding date, wedding ceremony, and reception location, and your names along with your wedding website URL again, which will hold even more information on accommodation, logistics, gift registry information, etc., basically as much information as you feel necessary to share at this point!

Finalising your wedding plans

Although they only require the most simple information, before sending out your save the dates, make sure to finalise those key wedding plans. As we mentioned, the earlier you send them out, the better. However, you don’t want to share the wrong information because you’ve been too keen and pressed “Send” in excitement!

Finally, use all the tools available to help with the rollercoaster that is wedding planning! A wedding website builder (such as Say I do) offers a whole host of super handy features to keep you on track and help you stay organised, such as a personalised wedding checklist, a seating planner feature to help you navigate who to sit where, and, of course, a fully customisable wedding website!