Save The Dates? Invitations?

[TheBHolders]

Hey All,

 

I am planning a May 2016 wedding. When is a good time to send Save the Dates? I want to send them early enough so people can plan financially and plan time off from work/school. I don't want to send them too early that people will forget about them (ill do magnets). I was also thinking of taking engagement photos in Playa when we visit in September to add to the save the dates so people can see the beauty of Mexico, or does that sound redundant since well be visiting then? I was thinking of sending save the dates in February or March 2015 with booking information.

 

I'm not sure when invites should be sent either. I will be using a travel agent and setting a deposit deadline (I'm not sure when this should be either)

 

Please help.

 

Thanks

[Dreamteam17]

Hi there ,

 

I sent out my save the dates a year in advance. That way they had plenty of time to book the time but not too early to forget about them.

The magnets are really nice but expensive. They won't be able to forget that way but I have noticed everywhere i go I see our save the date on the fridge or pin boards. We did post card and there was not a place for a return address some people didn't get there save the date luckily they let us know so no one was forgotten.

 

We are getting married in jan 2015 and everyone has put their deposit down (the deposit date it set by the travel agent) so I know who is coming and who isn't , they have also spoken with me. I now have to send invitations they say couple months before I am trying to send them before final payment is due so they can reply by the same date as the final payment is due so there isn't so many dates to remember. The invitations seem silly now as I know who is coming and who isn't all the travel information was on the save the date so seems redundant. I am providing welcome letters with all the wedding info and times so they don't need the invitation for that.

If I had my time back I prob would have sent out invitations and no save the dates, people usually know right away by deposit time if they are coming or not. And if they decide last minute I will be notified by my travel agent.

Anyways hope that helps, engagement picture in Mexico sounds great, fitting I think to the occasion

[McGee2Be]

This has been one of the biggest challenges for me! We wanted guests to have lots of time too, so we sent out save the dates 13 months before.

 

Problem was that we hadn't picked a resort and we're getting such high quotes back since it was so far in advance. So our save the dates said we we're getting married in February 2015 in the Riviera Maya.

 

We asked for guests to send their email addresses so we could send booking info once we had it. (we set up a separate wedding email address, I suggest it!) A bunch of guests got confused and thought they had to RSVP instead, which turned out to be a good thing since we could gauge how many people to expect.

 

Now that we've sent booking info and set up a wedding website with all the info, we're thinking we won't send out invitations. Crazy I know, but our guest have all the info and if we don't send invites, we could spend more on OOT bags.

 

This nice thing with email too is that you know they will get the info on time to send in deposits. We had 90 days for everyone to place deposits, so it is pretty quick and people like to take their time and think about it.

 

Totally a personal decision though, I know some people think it’s tacky to email. And I’ll admit I was sad not to have pretty invites to pick out and send. My fiancé has taught me not to care so much about what others think, it’s all about what works best for you!

 

p.s. If you want to share engagement photos, a wedding website is great for that! I use the knot, you can put a different picture on each page, or put them all in an album.

[ASAtobe]

I sent my save the dates out about 14 months in advance and I used magnets! I got 150 from vista print for like 48 dollars!! However honestly a lot of my people still are like wait what day exactly is it. So the Save the dates were good to let them know around what time it is and where it is. You'll still have to remind them though. So we sent out the save the dates and then made a facebook group like a few months later so we can update because we realized people get busy with their life and can look at your magnent everyday and still forget!

[nattiegams325]

My wedding is in Feb 2015, and our save the dates are going out next month because everyone who's invited already knows :-) we have a website and rooms blocked so in my case, save the dates are more of a formality (and they're pretty) :-)

[TheBHolders]

@@ASAtobe that sounds great! At least I'm not crazy. Are you going to send invitations?

[ASAtobe]

@@TheBHolders No not crazy at all! lol! Yes we are going to send invitations as well. Just simple ones though. When you order with vista print they give you a coupon for 40 percent off your next purchase and they are always running specials so you can get them for super cheap!! However we are being a little more selective in who we mail them out to. Everyone isnt getting one like they did for the save the dates.

[Dreamteam17]

@@ASAtobe Thanks for the info on vista print, Way cheaper then wedding paper divas .

[Nybride525]

I just got my vistaprint postcards...$5 for 50 (plus shipping which was like 20 for express)...I then went to michaels and bought magnetic paper 12x24 inches and cut into strips and saved myself half of what the magnet std would cost. Sure it was only 25$ but I am trying to wrap my head around the every $ counts mentality bc it will all add up!

[kirab22]

We sent our save the dates out 13 months in advance. We sent our invites 6 months in advance. Our wedding is 11/14/14, we only have 4 people left to book and we'll have 40 guests!