save the dates?

cmgannett

hello ladies! after becoming a stres ball trying to plan out PA wedding, we have decided to tie the knot in st. John USVI!!! i connot tell you how happy i am.
how have you ladies hadled planning a destination wedding? did you use a travel agen or a planner? 
my fiance thinks its a good idea to send the invites before we decide on a venue since we might only have 10 guest, but then again if people treat it as a vacation, we might get 50.

my worry is that its still a year away and i think sending invites 9 months in advance might be too early. maybe save the dates? any suggestions? thank you so much guys!

brandijo1982

Hi. Some ladies use travel agents and some don't. I did not, but you might find it helpful. A lot of resorts have wedding packages and their own coordinator. The first thing I did was decide on a resort and date. Then, everything started to fall into place. My resort's coordinator helped me with the details and documentation I needed to get married. As far as invites, I would send out save the dates first once you decide on a location. Those can be sent out any time, so it gives people time to start researching costs. When to send out invites depends on when your resort needs a final head count. My resort for example needs everything paid in full 2 months before we arrive, so I'm sending my invites out a little earlier than some. 

Hope this helps. Good luck!

nicolej518

I sent them because I still wanted to plan a wedding and all of the stuff that went along with it. All of my guests already knew when and where. I just went and bought magnets from michaels with a 40% off coupon. They came 30 to a pack with the envelopes and I just printed them out. Nothing too crazy. 

kimmykupcakes

A lot of these questions can be answered through out Destination Wedding Etiquette sticky. You should for sure send STDs. We sent ours at exactly 1 yr. We ended up sending our invitations at about 8 months. We were going to send them at 6, but guests were already starting to book without any of the info, so we sent them early. You can find more information on my planning site and blog. Links to both are below. 

Meg&Austin

Welcome and Congrats!! Save the dates are a great way to advertise your trip and if you have a wedding website you will put resort info on if you go that route. We sent ours out at 8 months right aftet deciding on the venuebecause I could then update my website with prices and resort info so people could see how absolutely beautiful it is! I have heard St. John is absolutely beautiful!! Travel agent wise all brides are different! We went with on because she will keep track of who rsvps and if anything went wrong with the resort/coordinator I wanted to have someone who could help me deal with it. Some ladies on here have used Beach Bum vacations. I just did a local travel agent because in the DR there is a lot of paperwork and I wanted to have face to face help. Although I contacted Melissa at Beach bum and she was very helpful and fast at getting back to me. You will love this board it is very helpful!

cevans11

We're using Nanda at Beach Bum. The biggest advantage to using her is that she helped us work with the resort to book a block of rooms, and keep track of who has booked. As far as actual wedding planning, we're working with the resort coordinator. Nanda's great about getting back to you super quickly, and I would definitely recommend getting in touch if you're stil deciding on a location, because they can pull together packages and do all the legwork for you (we had a resort in mind, but it was still helpful to see a few other choices, for price comparison, etc.). 

We sent our save the dates as soon as we'd locked in a date/place, and included our wedding website (which has booking info), and Nanda's info for people who wanted to book sooner rather than later. I think it ended up being around the 7 month mark (but, we only got engaged about three weeks before that). 

We're also sending out invites earlier than is technically appropriate, but the resort needs a final head count 2 months out, and our block of rooms has to be paid in full about then too. Sometimes you gotta bend the etiquette rules to work for you. 

Erinkathleen84

Figure out all the details as soon as you can and go ahead and get save the dates out with information on booking, location and costs. It can be a link to your website or an info packet. This way guest know how to book and can start planning. You can then send invites out at the normal time.

Julyet06

definitely send save the dates once you figure out your venue.  you also want to create a guest list and figure the # of people you are inviting as you don't want to pick a venue that won't be able to fit all of your guests (never assume that certain people won't go as they may surprise you).

We've created a wedding website, a private FB event and sent emails with updates about resorts, the wedding etc.  I plan to send invitations out in the next couple of months (for my wedding in Feb) as a formality and to also get those RSVPs as a head count for who really is coming.

harr0610

Welcome and congrats! I am a St. Thomas bride so right across the...bay or whatever it is lol.

Anyways, we sent out our STD's 8 months in advance. I wanted people to know as soon as possible. I am not much help with TAs as I'm a cruise bride, but like PP's have said i know a lot of ladies use Beach Bum!

We do have a planner in St. Thomas. It has made everything LOADS easier. If you're in need of a planner, i can not recommend Janelle of Island Bliss Weddings enough. She's been amazing so far and I know they do weddings on St John too.

Good luck and excited to hear about planning!

Cerise184

We are getting married in St Thomas in May.  I just sent out my STD this week.  We are also using beach bum vacation.  I am not blocking any rooms.  I was having a hard time getting enough people to really commit to block the rooms, so we just said screw it, booked our stay for the wedding and the honeymoon in Jamaica.   I am working with the resort wedding coordinator to plan the wedding.  Basically all BBV did was book my flights and hotel stays.  They will also be available to book for any of my guests that choose to use them.  I like that we don't have to pay the whole thing at once.  We put a down payment and can make payments every month.  Makes it a lot easier than just paying for the whole thing at once.