Save The Date Question

ChemFanatic25

When should I send them out? I searched on the forum boards and people are saying 1 year and that seems to be really early. Then I checked out what the knot said and they are saying 6 months for normal weddings and 8 months for destination weddings. I would loose a STD if I received it a year in advance or completely forget about it if I put it on the fridge. I have only ever received one and that was for a destination wedding where I did have to plan pretty far in advance to attend.

AddieCake

6 months to a year. 

ChemFanatic25

Gosh, that's extremely early. Alright, guess I need to start talking to hotels and ordering STD's.

wrigleyville

It depends on when and where your wedding is held, not to mention your guest list.

For example, some people avoid sending them out around Christmas because they can get lost in the Christmas card piles. So, if you're getting married in November or December, I might wait until January or February.

For DWs, a lot of people send them 9-12 months in advance so people have time to request vacation time and start booking flights and hotels while the prices are still fairly low. It also gives people a heads-up if they need to save money for the trip. That might be why you see that "one year" rule.

If you're having a small wedding, though, where pretty much everyone knows you're getting married in X location on X date, then you might be able to wait on STDs (or not even send them at all).

Maggie0829

Agree with Addie.  Any time after 6 months then you may as well just save your money and only send your invites at the 2 month mark.

phira

I say 6 months to a year. Keep in mind the purpose of save-the-dates and the fact that they're optional. There's nothing wrong with just calling up VIP guests (e.g. close friends, wedding party, family members) and saying, "Just wanted to let you know that we've booked our date! It's [date]!"

Amyzen83

phira said:

I say 6 months to a year. Keep in mind the purpose of save-the-dates and the fact that they're optional. There's nothing wrong with just calling up VIP guests (e.g. close friends, wedding party, family members) and saying, "Just wanted to let you know that we've booked our date! It's [date]!"

I did a combination of both word of mouth to important local friends and printed save the dates to out of town friends and family and bridal party

phira

@Amyzen83 That's what we were going to do originally until we realized we had about 50-60 groups of people we had to call.

Cookie Pusher

Our immediate families, closest friends, and my coworkers knew pretty much as soon as we picked our date (about 17 months before the wedding) since we had to work out some logistical things with them. Since our wedding is going to be during a holiday weekend in the summer when people may be scheduling vacations, we sent them out about 9 months in advance. One guest totally forgot even with the STD and scheduled a family vacation during that time, but it's not a big deal to us - we let people know early enough in case they did want to make plans to come but we also don't expect everyone to rearrange their lives just because we're getting married.

Most of my family is in China, and it can take up to 6 months (sometimes longer) to get a visa to come to the US, so we wanted to give my family as much time as possible to plan even though we don't anticipate any of them actually coming. Can't say we didn't give them notice of the date!

EverAfer

You don't have to do STDs. But 6-12 months if you do. Depends on your guestlist, how many people will be traveling to your wedding. I'm 7 months out, but I have people already checking flights overseas. Some people have to decide if they're bringing S/O or children, so it's good to give them a heads up.

But if your guests are mostly local or have a small list, you can also just make a few calls.

EverAfer

Just another thought, my hotel will only hold the block till a month before the wedding.  We're having a wedding in the middle of the summer.  If any guests doesn't book by their hold date, they release the rooms and the discounted prices.

ChemFanatic25

Well, my wedding is April 2015 so I have more than a year. It is not during a holiday weekend - it is a Saturday. Most of the family is local - I can't really think of anyone off the top of my head who is coming out of town except for a couple of close college friends and they already know the dates because they are going to be in the wedding. Also fyi: I haven't asked anyone to be in our bridal party yet, I just informed them of the date because we are really close friends.

Edit: So I believe I should be good about STD's and not stressing out about them since so many people live locally.

Xandy417

We sent our Save the Dates at the 9 month mark but mostly because my family lives in California and the wedding was going to be in Wisconsin and I wanted to make sure relatives who would have to travel would have enough time. It turns out that I shouldn't have bothered as none of my family came anyways but at the time I was optimistic.

Inkdancer

Mine are going out in the next 2 weeks for a September wedding, but only 50% of the guests are traveling more than an hour.