Ok, so I know general rule of thumb is to send the Save the Date cards out 6-9 months prior to the wedding date.
Our wedding is Sept 2012.
It is a 'destination wedding' to a degree, but its not some foreign place, it is in northern Ontario, whereas we live in the south. That being said, it is a 7 hour drive, and guests will require lodging, etc, so I am treating it like a destination wedding including OOT bags for everyone, blocking room in multiple hotels in the area, etc.
I met with our Wedding coordinator yesterday, as we were in the area. We are getting married at a rather big golf/spa resort. She had already offered us a generous discount that would see our rooms being around $275/night. Compared to going rates, this was a nice discount. She told me today she can get it down to $215/night if rooms are booked prior to Feb 29th.
Here is where I am confused, if I mail 9 months out, that's got them getting their Save the Date cards in January. I want as many of our guests to be able to capitalize on this discount as possible. I will be explaining the discount on our website. I am doing magnets for the Save the Dates to avoid them being a piece of paper that gets lost in the shuffle, especially being it is around the time of Christmas Cards and the like..... I know in my house Christmas Cards, etc starts early and they aren't all delt with and tossed until probably into Feb.
When should I send these out? As I said, I want all my guests to have a fair chance to cash in on this awesome discount that she just wrote into our contract yesterday (it was a meeting to finalize contract terms and she offered A LOT of great perks at no extra cost to us, I was so happy).
All I know about stuff like this is the basic rules of thumb.... figured you ladies know a lot more about it than I do!!!
Thanks!