Invitations?

We purchased wooden magnets with our names, wedding date, and location on them, and mailed them to our guests! This way, they had something to stick on their fridge so it didn't get lost in papers or buried in email. You could do Save The Dates however you want: virtually, paper, magnet, phone call/text, etc. Virtually is cheapest since you don't have to pay for postage, though sending something in the mail is more common. Totally up to you!

Also, if you were asking about invitations instead of Save The Dates, you could also do either virtual invites or paper invites for those! You could mail out paper invites, but have everyone RSVP on your wedding website instead of mailing back an RSVP card, which would help save on postage. Or, you could send evites online. I usually recommend paper invites if you're doing a more formal wedding, though it's totally up to you.

We mailed ones from zazzle with our picture and the date. It cost us about $220 with postage for 100 of them.
I would not recommend zazzle though.. the quality was very poor.

We did virtual save the dates (I made them) and just text them to everyone 12 months in advance. I then personalized our invitations on zazzle, which I think turned out AMAZING. Had the invitations all shipped to me, and I addressed/mailed out to everyone 3.5months before wedding date. They fold in half to mimic a passport.

View Quoted Comment So are invitations and save the dates two different things?

View Quoted Comment Those look very nice!

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Yes, Save the Dates (or STDs as some call them) are to notify guests that you have chosen a date and city, state. That is all. This gives guests notice that your wedding is happening on this date and to (ideally) leave that date free for your event or to begin considering travel arrangements if they need to make them. *It can include an engagement photo or not. If I received one of these I'd check prices on flights and think about vacation from work.

Invitations include all the details of specific locations, time, places, food choices (if needed), after party, etc. It's all the plans and asks for confirmation that the guest will be attending. And this information allows guests to actually attend your event. If I receive this (and if I got a STD then I should get an invite too), I would book flights, plan what I was wearing, buy a wedding gift, etc.

We sent out paper invitations from Minted.com and still had people RSVP on our website as an option. We received answers both ways.

We did magnet save the date and mailed them out. It was a complete pain :/ I should've just done the virtual save the date and paper invitations but I'll still send out paper invites and have everyone RSVP on our website.

We designed our save the dates on fiverr ($40) and then printed them on Shutterfly ($175 for 65 and then postage). Loved the way they turned out!

We designed our invitations from Etsy and they were printed on a letterpress. They were very expensive and I don’t think anyone cared except for me and my mom haha.

View Quoted Comment Got it! I know nothing about weddings so this is news to me lol thank you!

We didn’t but we only had about 6 months. I sent invitations out a little over one month before and asked the RSVPs be returned by the one month out date.

We did magnet save the dates & we mailed them out to everyone. We did a website also but not until after the save the dates.

We did a magnet save the date. I did my own design and uploaded and ordered them online. I went through a non-wedding specific vendor. I think they were like $0.75 a piece. So pretty affordable. We followed with physical invitations that just went out this week. I created design and worked with a local printer so I was able to see physical proofs before the full set was printed. We also set up our wedding website and I included that information on both our save the date and the details card of our wedding invitation suite. We opted to allow folks to either send the RSVP card back or RSVP online. We're dealing with an older crowd of relatives on our guest list who aren't as inclined to want to RSVP online. (Many would think that's improper. LOL) I fully expect the younger invitees will take advantage of the online option.

My FH was not a fan of doing both. But I am glad we did. There was an issue with the paper stock not being delivered to the printer which delayed our final printing. It's being held hostage at the local FedEx location. They ended up having their supplier resend the materials overnight to be able to get them done. So my invites went out 2-3 weeks later than I had planned. This would be a much bigger concern had I not sent out save the dates.

View Quoted Comment I was definitely gonna use zazzle for my invitations. I was hoping that they would be nice, I found some really pretty ones that I liked a lot!

View Quoted Comment Those are soooo pretty. I'm using zazzle as well for my invitations & I can not wait for them to get here!

I sent out my save the dates virtually. I made them myself & I just sent them out last month for my May 2022 wedding via text message & DMs. But I found some pretty invitations on zazzle that I'm gonna get after the new year that I will actually send out in the mail or drop off personally.

View Quoted Comment Thank you! It takes a bit of time but I think that it's well worth it and inexpensive.

View Quoted Comment Yes, they are 2 different things. Most save the dates just give the date & maybe the city & state that the wedding is gonna be in. Your invitation should be more detailed with the exact place, time, when they should RSVP and things like that. But I'm no expert, I'm actually just finding a lot of things out myself as I go. I don't have a wedding planner so I'm literally winging it myself.. lol Google has been my best friend.. lol

View Quoted Comment Yes: Save The Dates are usually informal, and are sent out around 4-6 months ahead of time. It typically includes your names, the wedding date, and general location (town name) where the wedding will be held. They're not a formal invitation, and guests don't need to respond to a Save The Date. They're really just a courtesy notice to your guests that to keep that date open. Anyone who gets a Save The Date must also get an invitation. Save The Dates are optional; not everyone chooses to send them (or they might only send them to some people on the guest list).


Invitations are usually more formal, and require guests to RSVP. They also list the date/time/address of the wedding, as well as how to RSVP and the RSVP date, and are sent to everyone who is being invited.