I'm having a hard time... Invitation Vs. STD

[jenny910]

Hello!

 

Tom and I have finally picked 5/31/08 as our date, and now the question is...

Invitations or STD's? Or both!? And if both... when!? I think my brain might explode just thinking about the paper end of this event!

 

I'd like to send out the invitations asap, as Cancun is quit a trip to make for a guest with planning, taking off work, etc... but are invitations too formal this far in advance? That had me thinking that sending a STD would suffice as an invite... but maybe not? And would we need to send reminders of the reception at a later date? Any thoughts?

 

I almost think that including an invite and std at the same time would be redundant- and pricey!

 

I'm thinking the wedding envelope is going to include:

Invite or STD

Reply Card

Reception Invite (which is going to be a week later at my in-law's house)

Information about Cancun, flight/price info, accomodations, etc...

 

Help! And thank you for any input! The options are driving me crazy!

 

Jenny

[Chiquita]

My wedding is 14 months out and I just sent out STD's to everyone. My formal invites will go out this november (one year away) because condos go fast in Maui so I want everyone to have plenty of time to book.

 

I don't really think there is a "right" answer. If I was you, I would just send out the formal invite with all the important info and forget the STD. Your guests will appreciate having alot of notice to prepare if they want to go... just my opinion

[KarlaV]

I also think that you can send the formal invitation and omit the save-the-date. I think your guests would appreciate that you sent the invite so far in advance.

 

Since it is a destination wedding, and your trying to cut costs...I dont think there would be a problem reminding your guests via email to RSVP when the date gets closer.

[Spazz]

With your wedding being 8 months away, I would send out a formal invite in the next month or so instead of a STD. Otherwise, you'll send the STD now and then send an invitation in a few months anyway. The more information your guests have, the easier it will be for them to plan. 8 months seems like awhile, but for a DW, it's really not because people have to think about work/money/passports/etc.

[jak27]

I completely agree, the earlier you can get out the information, the better. And the more information, the better! Personally, I would send them both, but that's just me being weird. Either way works, but make sure and give your guests plenty of time.

[Wisco4]

I would start spreading the word via word-of-mouth to everyone now and then send out the formal invites in a month or two.

 

For me we have a lot of time...13 months. The STD's will go out in a few weeks and the invites early in 2008.

[rodent]

Our wedding is in June. I sent out our website in july as sort of a save the date. I mailed print outs of it to a few family members who don't have internet.

 

I'm working on STD postcards to send out by october. They are super cheap from vista print. Otherwise I might not have made them. I put engagment pics on the front so I thought it would be a fun way to share those with people.

 

My formal invite will probably be the invite to the after honeymoon reception. It will also have the wedding date & location on there, but the wording will be such that's it's an invitation to the after party. That way I feel comfortable sending them to everyone, not just people planning to go to mexico. In the state I live in now we'll do a casual after party that will be just friends. I'll just do an evite for that.

[Can'tHardlyWait]

I am super worried about screwing up so I did a little bit of everything just to be safe!

 

1) About a month ago we contacted all of our guests by email and/or phone to let them know our wedding is in Mexico.

 

2) I am hoping (fingers crossed) that my STD are going out in the next week or so, but apparently we are having font issues (whatever that means). Also, our STD have an October 31st RSVP deadline for the room block. We figured that this will give us and our guests plenty of planning time, whether they like it or not! If I have learned anything from this forum, it's that DW guests tend to, well, suck... I am hoping such an early RSVP date will force my guests to get their s*it together

 

3) I plan on sending out invitations around Jan/Feb... I figured it would be a nice reminder about 4-5 months out.

 

4) I am also considering sending out a newsletter a month before the wedding with info regarding weather, travel, etc

 

Also, I have a website with all our info that I update constantly... hope this helps!

[Jackie]

We sent our STD's out (got them super cheap through vistaprint) and than sent the invites out a month later. Our STD's were really useful because about half the people we have booked ended up booking before our invites even got out.

We are also getting married in May and I thought it was kind of crazy to send the invites out sooooo soon but our resort fill up so quickly that we had to in order to assure that our guests could get rooms. I'm not sure how quickly your resort gets booked up, but its something you should think about. You have to think of a DW timeline a little bit differently than a normal wedding.