Save the Dates--Necessary?

nwyper

We are trying to decide whether we really need to send save the dates. Is that expected these days? It is a winter wedding (Feb 2014) so people won't have to compete with summer vacations, multiple weddings, etc. I was thinking of just letting out of town guests know, but not all guests that we plan to invite (up to 400). Thoughts?

KatWAG

No STDs are not mandatory. But keep in mind that STDs= invitations. It is completely fine to send them to circles of people, (ie family, out of town guests, wedding party, etc)

nwyper

Ok, good. Thank you :-)

mabapunta

Not necessary but helpful. How many people are out of town? If just a handful, you've got plenty of time so you can always tell them verbally when the topic comes up.

We are planning our wedding from out of town and our family is scattered, so everyone will be traveling. We ended up sending them to everyone.

tiny speck

Definitely not necessary. We didn't do them. From what I've seen on these boards, they can be a pain too if you end up having to cut your guest list later because of budget... everyone you send an STD to must get an invitation, so if you do send them make sure you only give them to people you are 100% sure you will definitely invite when the time comes...

nwyper

Very good points. Thank you!

Katred08

Skip 'em!  We skipped them for our January wedding for the same reason--no one gets married in the winter, so we knew we wouldn't have much competition!   And anyone who I considered a VIP knew the date well in advance anyway. 

wittykitty14

We decided not to do STD's.  It just seemed like an unnessary hassle and cost.  We've made it a point to reach out to those on our guest list and casually let them know.  Word of mouth works really well in families!  (When they're all invited of course.  If not, it might pose an issue).  We've been asking people for addresses, and used that as an excuse to let them know the date and town the wedding is in.  It's worked well so far!