Why Save the Date, Why not just early invites?

Question

I'm planning on getting married May 23, 2009, the Saturday of Memorial Day weekend. What is the point of sending out save the date cards instead of just invitations 8 months early?

Answer 1

Oh my.  You wouldn't want to send out your invitations 8 months early!  People will put

it somewhere and totally forget about it.  You will not get your RSVP's back.  And, if you do......well, your guests lives could drastically change or something could come up in that 8 month time span.  Possibly many that did RSVP yes will not be able to come after all.  And, believe me, they will not remember to call you and tell you....so your RSVP's will be totally screwed up.

So....the "save the dates" are designed for the purpose of letting close family and friends know the date well in advance, especially during a holiday time such as yours.    However, you should still stick to the tried and true proper etiquette of mailing invitations 8 weeks prior to the wedding....not 8 months!

Answer 2

In my opinion, save the dates are kind of like the announcement to your wedding date. If you send out the wedding invitation 8 months early, don't ever expect to get RSVPs because people will have forgotten by then. It'll end up creating more work for you in the long run to have to call the 100 or so people the didn't respond to get a head count.

If you worried about cost, I got my save the dates, all 150 of them, for $15. Again, totally worth it.

It also gives people the chance to look forward to getting the invitation! I sent my save the dates out for my October wedding in March, and by May people were talking about how they couldn't wait to get the actual invitation.

Answer 3

You traditionally send save the dates only to out of town guests so that they have some extra time to make travel arrangements if they need to fly in or book hotels.  Also, save the dates only really announces the date of your wedding, not all the details that would go in an invitation.

Details for the invitation include: which church, addresses, reception hall address and menu options. All of these details need to be worked out before invitations are sent, but not necessarily before save the date card are sent. So save the dates aren't literally "early invitations" they are more an announcement that invitations with more detail will come.

Answer 4

Save the date is to let people know when you have the date set so they dont make other arragements on that day, espeically on a holiday weekend or a destination wedding.

Invites you dont want out too early because people can change thier mind, guest lists change, relationships of the guests change, and people dont respond or lose the invite.

Answer 5

Save the Dates are only to be sent if the wedding is a destination wedding for the guests. That way accommodations will have to be made in advance. If your wedding is in the town where most of your guest reside then you should only send out a Save the Date for those people out of town that need to plan ahead.

We did not order formal save the dates. As a graphic designer I designed my own and plan to print them from VistaPrint. If you only have a few then just print out the Save the Dates yourself on a business card sized paper. There are tons of templates in Microsoft Word.  

Answer 6

Many couples don't send "save the date" cards. But if a wedding is a year or so away and they want to make sure people don't schedule other things unknowingly on their wedding day, they might send them.

Most people are just fine sending wedding invitations about two months before the actual event.

Answer 7

So that the wedding industry can suck more money out of you.

I'm sure you'll be fine sending the invites early, no worries!

Answer 8

If you sent out your invites 8 months early, no one is going to r.s.v.p right away obviously, and then you run the chance that some people will forget and lose the r.s.v.p card and not get back to you. You can get cheap save-the-dates from vistaprint.com, or you can make them yourself. They really are a good idea if you are having your wedding on a holiday weekend. It just allows people to make arrangements early...while not having to worry about losing the invitation, or r.s.v.p card

Answer 9

I agree with the other respondents that it may mess up your confirmed guest count if you were to send them out so early.  You could skip it all together - but the only flaw is that people frequently make plans in advance for a holiday weekend. I've gotten some cute magnets as save the dates; maybe that could be an option for you.

Answer 10

Because you may not have finalised all of your plans.  I knew what city I'm planning to get married in when I sent the Save the Dates out (and it involved an overseas trip for lots of people so I had to give plenty of notice), but I'm still way off formalising the times or locations, or giving people information about hotels, activities etc.

Answer 11

Save the date cards are a waste of money we don't even bother with them in australia. The best way is to just spread it word of mouth in advance and send the invites out 3mths prior so its an extra month.