Save the dates confusing people

Future.Mrs.Carter

I think the reasons that Save the Dates are becoming more common are:

• Brides are now getting all sorts of ideas from wedding sites. Suddenly we "NEED" to have all these little touches and extra costs that our parents have never heard of.
• People are now planning weddings much farther out. Some venues are booked a year in advance and that is just ridiculous.

Technology enables both of these points. Wedding websites are a relatively new phenomenon, and people are now booking and purchasing all sorts of wedding related junk online. So because most of this began in the wake of the internet I'm not surprised one bit that your family didn't know what they were. Also it helps to put in BIG letters save the date and invitation to follow. Don't feel pressured to use all the ideas/suggestions these sites give you, that's all they are ideas. Ultimately the only thing you need to get married are a wedding license and an officiant, the rest is just extra.

jillybean858

Where did you have those magnets made? What an adorable poem!

musigal14

We sent out Save the Dates with our Christmas letter. That way, the guests got to read a little about us (for those who didn't know my fiance or didn't know me, depending on who's family/friends, etc.) ...and also find out when our wedding is. We didn't have any questions. Hope that helps!

merstar19

We chose to do STD because we live in CA and are getting married in NH on the 4th of July weekend. We wanted people to be aware and if they wanted to come they could begin to make travel arragements. It was also a great oppertunity to give everyone our wedding website, with loads of information. We sent them out just before Thanksgiving, and not one single call or question about them!

JanoBean75

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_invites-paper_save-dates-confusing-people?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20BoardsForum:cd062f89-8272-496a-b0ab-225e1f87acecDiscussion:6b320fe5-32cd-48b4-86a0-5cb3056cba95Post:c69d7bf4-36f8-4b42-9993-af438b9369fd">Re: Save the dates confusing people</a>:
[QUOTE]I sent out my SDT magnets and we've received TONS of calls telling us we forgot to put were we are getting married! We have to explain what they are for and that they are not the invitation!! They are nice to do and they do serve i'ts purpose, but they do confuse ur guest especially the older crowd!~!
Posted by vmontoya2[/QUOTE]

Did you not put the general location on your announcement? How will your guests be able to make travel plans without knowing where the wedding is taking place?

maisonsco

I have been to several weddings in the past year, some having a STD sent out and some not. We have decided against it for us. There aren't going to be many OOT guests and those that will be, we'll email the info about hotels, restaurants, etc or come up with some cute flyer to send in the mail. We are just trying to save money in some areas so we can splurge more in others . But like everyone else said, unless the wording is really confusing, it shouldn't be that difficult to figure out.

katy758498

OMG, mine completely confused EVERYBODY. I sent them out because I am getting married on July 3, and most guests are out of town.  I wanted them to get the website info, which has all of the hotel and misc. info, but they all thought it was the invitation  & started calling my FMIL & hounding her with all the questions like " What time is it? Why don't they give RSVP cards?

Mine was very self explanatory. "Save the Date" on one side  "Invitations to Follow" on the other... how hard is that?

mgreene404

I had a lot of people come up to me and say "I got the invitation for your wedding!" after our save-the-dates went out!  I was very confused about this, as our save-the-dates were EXTREMELY informal! Apparently a lot of people just don't know what save-the-dates are!  My fiance's father didn't know, either did a lot of other people I talked to.  I think the main thing is to clearly have the words "Save the Date!" on them.  I have also seen people put "invitations to follow" or something at the bottom.  Perhaps this is an idea for people until save-the-dates become a little better understood!  :-)

kitten444

see i decieded that i was not going to send them just for this reason...i figured the most important people know the date so....i know its mean but we are paying for this ourselves so any of the "have to invites to avoid a fight" people cant come..then Im thinking its ok...

spunkydenisha

I sent mine out a little late too and I have gotten the same response as well from people, my mom doesn't get the whole STD thing either.  i think it's good to send out because i included my knot wedding website link, so it answers questions that people have and would constantly ask me, so it avoids that at least!

cinkae

We did SAVE THE DATES and sent it out mainly to people who lived out of town only.  The people who live in town, I handed a few out to close friends and family who'd want it for scrapbooking purposes.  Otherwise, if we knew the people would easily get the days off or what not, there was no point.  No one was confused because they were already asking what the date was, so I guess sending out the SAVE THE DATES reassured them of that.  Ever since we sent out the SAVE THE DATES, I stopped getting text, comments, etc about WHEN our wedding is. So, to me, it really helped and it was really necessary.  I guess it only depends on your situation.

Our's was a magnet that said
SAVE THE DATE for the wedding of Cin & Kae
September 18, 2010
with our website url
Formal Invitation to follow

That was basically it.  No phone calls. No confusion
Ps
I like going to people's places and seeing our face on their fridge. And I tell them all the time, "don't complain to me that you couldnt get the day off. I let you know six months in advance"

lturpyn

We also had the little magnets with "Save the date.... invitation to follow."  We have a lot of guests coming from out of the country (where STD aren't common) so for those guests we included a printed explanation of why they were traditional and what they meant, etc and that a formal invitation would arrive closer to our October wedding.  For the U.S. guests we sent the magnets and our website address in case they have any questions.  I only had a few U.S. guests send me an e-mail with "what cute invitations!" (which I promptly corrected them) but the rest seemed to know what they were.