Save the Dates Timing

inconceivable14

Question on sending out Save the Dates - when do you think the appropriate time is? I've seen so many different timelines, from 6-8 months to 8-10, to even up to a year in advance. We are having a mostly local wedding, but all of my family is coming from out of state (and we're talking about 1500 miles). Also, 2015 is already filling up with weddings for our friend group, with a lot of crossover between bridal parties and guest lists. 

We've already ordered our Save the Dates from Vistaprint as we had a Groupon that expires in October. Do you think a year out is too soon? Would you side-eye that?

PumpkinJay

My partner and I are sending ours out sometime between now and December. Almost all of our guest list is coming from out of state. We're also sending our invitations out a bit early too so that everyone has plenty of time to set up their trips. Hope this helps!

MrsMelodyShah

We'll be mailing out our STD's in January. That'll be 9 months ahead of the wedding, so plenty of time IMO. If there are already a lot of weddings and other important events happening in your family next year then it's probably not a bad idea to send STD's out even earlier.

lyssalouandrew

We were also planning on sending them out in January for our wedding on 10/4/15. 

-A

inconceivable14

These responses help a ton! We will probably try to send them out in November... technically less than a year, but more than enough time for people to plan and prep a trip if need be. 

Thank you! 

Gregandheather2013

Sending ours out in Jan too. 10/2/15 wedding. Giving them 9 months too. We are ordering our save the dates after we get our engagement photos back.

lyssalouandrew

Forgot to mention. Sending final invites out the last week in May. Because, hell, they've already SAVED THE DATE... or at least they better. LOL

peachy13

OP-- you can always order yours now while the sale is going on and then send them out later.

I'm sending mine at the end of Jan 2015 (but knowing me, will order them way ahead of time).

lyssalouandrew

There is a sale going on!? Do share!

inconceivable14

Oh, I have ordered them! They will actually be here tomorrow - I am way too excited for this. 

I'm hoping to hold out as long as we can, but knowing myself, they will probably be in the mail in November. 

Yep - Vistaprint is ALWAYS doing a sale, it seems like. Right now everything on the site is 33% off.... and shipping is only $4.99. They also have paper upgrades that are decent. We ordered a sample of our Save the Dates before making the larger order with our Groupon, and they are excellent!

If you are planning to use Vistaprint, they do LivingSocial & Groupon deals, so keep an eye out. It helped us alot! 

LittlePeachBlossom

lyssalouandrew said:

Forgot to mention. Sending final invites out the last week in May. Because, hell, they've already SAVED THE DATE... or at least they better. LOL

I've read it's best to send invites no sooner than 2 months out.

lyssalouandrew

The code that applied to my account on Vistaprint while I was doing some test runs is only 25% off. 

Do you have the 33% code?

inconceivable14

I do - it's VPSALE33 and is good through the end of today!

ryanandjoe4

I am planning on doing ours in January, early February, but most of our people are local.. there is one family in California, but I am not sure they would make it even if we gave them a years notice.. and my MOH is in the army, in Texas, but she is aware.. and is saving the date to the best of her ability..

lyssalouandrew

Ah darn! The promo code at Vista Print isn't working anymore

inconceivable14

I would sign up for their emails - there are some great deals that come through!

lyssalouandrew

Got a different code for 25% today and I placed the order, called their support and had them review my proofs with me over the phone.

tngirl409

We are planning on sending ours mid January, I figure if you are going to send them out way in advance, we have the same issue with a lot of OOTs, it is best to do it before or after the holidays so all of it doesn't get mixed in with the holiday cards.  Also I figure it gets a good amount of time to get deals, we are also looking at Vistaprint, but we are also looking at Hatch Show Print which is a local pretty famous print shop that goes with our style. Not going to lie I'm really hoping for a Black Friday or Cyber Monday deal!

Tiffany101015

Taking my engagment photos Nov.1st, will probabley send out Save the Dates mid-january (after holiday madness calms down) for our 10/10 wedding.

vegasbride2015

We already ordered our STD and invites. Will mail ours out after the holidays as well, and we are in the process of getting our engagement photos set up, we are talking with our photographer on Friday!

MissDebbie923

We are getting married on 10/5/2015, which is a Monday.  We let most of our guests(the ones we were able to get a hole of right away) know the date as soon as we picked it so that they had a year and a half notice.  We chose the date before looking to see the day, but the date does have special meaning to us so we stuck with it.  We just ordered our STDs and will be mailing them out in the next couple of weeks.  We will plan on mailing our invitations no later than July.

charcoalandblush

I'm kind of in the same boat. Our guests are mostly out of town (about 90% of our family members and 60% of our friends & family-friends). 

Originally I had planned to wait until mid-January to avoid the greeting card rush in December, but recently I've had a couple of people tell me that they've gotten an save-the-date for our wedding date already (including one of the guys FI is planning to ask to be a groomsman). 

We're supposed to be getting them today - now I'm wondering if I should send them this week to get ahead in case other weddings pop up for our date.

Gregandheather2013

We got ours last week. Sending them in January.

Gregandheather2013

We got ours last week. Sending them in January.

heynowgirl

Ours came in the mail yesterday! Got in on a Groupon for Vistaprint and was able to get them pretty cheap and they are good stock paper for postcards (even though they gave envelopes as well). I'm planning on handing them out to the people I'm going to see in the next couple of weeks and the mail out the rest in December.

Gregandheather2013

We are giving them to bridal party and parents at Christmas.

lyssalouandrew

We are sending our Save the Dates out in January - they arrived from VistaPrint and they look fantastic! Very well made! I ordered a paper card with a matching magnet and it was very reasonable and they look awesome!

lacqueredlover

Ours will be out in probably late January, we are doing engagement pics tomorrow so hopefully we will have something to use!

rox2112

I was a bm in a wedding this past June and received the StD an entire year before. Do what feels comfortable to you! In your case the earlier the better so people can make other arrangements for their kids since you're getting married on Halloween. We aren't sending any out.

peachy13

If anyone is using Zazzle for their save-the-dates, there is a sale going on right now at 60% off. I just ordered mine. 40 cents a postcard!!

knottie9c5ed33df4bbd226

I am aiming for January-February. I have them all ready to go! A few of my friends thought it was too early, but I don't care. People get busy. I have a lot of out of town people, some even from out of country, so I want people to have as much notice as possible.