STD Confusion!

I'm in the same boat.....we're still trying to decide on a resort, but want to get the word out asap so that those who want to come have some time to save up. My save the dates are going in the mail this week.....we've just put the date as Feb 2011 and location as Mayan Riviera.....and have a website up and running for people to check with once we get more info. I'm happy with that, since I want to get these out rather than wait for a date!

Good luck!

that's def an interesting idea to put 'save the week'. i hadn't heard that one yet.

here's how my experience with STD's have went so far. we told family/friends through word of mouth that we were planning a DW for spring 2010 in feb/march 2009. we already knew which resort we wanted and that we wanted to get married legally. we contacted various travel agents and none of them said we could get pricing until sep 09. so we waited until then. we actually sent the STD's out mid Nov with our date for the trip and AHR and wedding website info. we choose not to do a group rate because the pricing was still too high (we knew this because we have been to the resort 2x). here's the thing over half of the people never even looked at the wedding website or read the STD because we still have people asking us what is going on. haha. so whatever you decide to do don't stress out about it worrying about planning all the details for everyone. our formal invites are being mailed this week so hopefully there is a better response for them.

i honestly think if you don't know when & where you want to book...then wait until you know for sure. nothing is worse than telling everyone one thing and changing your mind. that will frustrate guests even more. until then spread the details through word of mouth.

good luck!

I am totally in the same boat! My fiance and I want to pick a date at the end of April/beginning of May 2011 and I am really uncertain how much info to provide on the STDs. I know the resort we want, but technically we don't even have a month yet! I'm waiting for the travel agent to get back to me with the rates for each month before I commit to one specific week. I want to have a wedding website to provide updates re pricing, deposits and booking etc, but my fiance is not crazy about the idea. The more I look into it, the more I think it's a pretty necessary component of the whole thing.

I have to say- it doesn't matter how far in advance you give your guests notice, People will wait until the last minute to book and will still say that they don't have the money to come. I sent out my save the dates 8 months in advance with all of the booking information on it and people didn't start to book until recently (The wedding is in 3 months). I am still waiting on 30 RSVPs as well. Personally I would spread the word by mouth until you are sure of some more information and then send a Save the Date.

This is a good thread, bc I've been wondering the same thing! Thanks!

I'm just starting the process myself and will soon be pondering these same issues, so thanks a lot for posting.

It's nice to know that other people are in the same boat as me!

I've just booked with the travel agent for the week of April 30 - May 7, 2011 but I'm still trying to settle on the actual wedding date with the resort. A year in advance, I'm sending out the Save the Date with the week on it, in addition to the name and location of the resort and our website address. I've already had a lot of people asking me for more detail (there's a number of people coming from overseas) so I'm also including a letter with additional details, such as the name and contact info for the travel agent and additional information regarding the at home reception. We're going to send out formal invitations to the wedding in August of this year and invitations to the at home reception in January 2011.

I think it is perfectly fine not to send out anything until you have a final date set. We JUST sent our STDs this week and now we are less than one year away! Everyone already knows about it and most have sent in deposits. Email would be the best way to communicate in the meantime. I say set up a wedding website (ours has been up and running since Dec) with all of the general information on it and update it frequently.

We sent out our Save the Dates with the week we'll be travelling (Feb 22-Mar 1) and our wedding date (Feb 25, 2011).

We chose to put the week-range based on the day most direct all-inclusive tour operators were flying out the previous year (Tuesday).

We're dealing with itravel2000.com and they were able to give us a group rate for February 2011 in January 2010, so I'd maybe ask your TA again if they can do anything like that for you.

In my opinion, I don't think even half our guests went to our wedding website for additional info, so don't bank too much on the fact that they'll be checking continuously!

I agree on the "save the week" But I also find it strange that you cannot book your resort yet!! I received confirmation from my resort in December of 2009 and our wedding is not until March 2011!

It is true you cannot book flights until one year in advance (so now we can start booking our air) but your TA should be able to get you a contract right now for your specific date, etc. I would push your TA a little more on that, because it IS possible to book more than one year in advance so you can get the date you want!