Is there a "too soon" to do save the dates?

I have been engaged for over a year now and my wedding is next summer. I called and talked to all out of town friends/relatives and told them the date plus I sent an informal STD to out of town family (not friends). I would suggest doing this so they get the date on the calendar.

I plan on sending formal STDs by Thanksgiving since there are alot of people traveling to my wedding. There is no such thing as too much time to plan. My wedding is also the weekend before a holiday as well so giving plenty of notice is a must. Some people will say that is too soon but I have received STDs for weddings more than a year away. I appreciated it because I was able to have plenty of time to request off work, book hotels and flights, etc.

But be cautious about sending to friends yet. Once the STD is sent, they receive an invitation. Family is a little different situation.

Anything outside of a year is too soon. We sent ours at 11 months and it was perfect.

I think you're good to send them around 8-10 months out if you have a lot of folks from out of town. I don't think you need to send a pre-STD email either.

I sent mine out 11 months in advance.

@Megan what's an informal STD?

10 months should be fine. Only to vips and family out of town. Your invite list will change over time.

Any time is too soon. An STD is basically an invite. You send it; you live with it.

And really, who besides your closest friends and family, who would come anyway, can plan 11 months ahead?

I put a little insert in with our Christmas cards last year that basically said my FH and I are getting married on xx date and the location. It was the size of a business card and worked well since the wedding was a year and a half away at that time. That only went to family, no friends.

And as someone who works weekends and shift work, I sometimes need to put in vacation over a year in advance to get it. Especially in the summer.

I sent a note to everyone travelling from out of town as soon as we secured the date via facebook and said that I would follow-up with Save the date later. Then I sent my Save the dates 8 months prior.

Anything more than a year out is too soon. Even a year is such a long time. It's easy for people to toss it in a drawer and forget about it. You also run into problems with sending STDs to people who you no longer want to invite a year later but you're stuck. Relationships change, budgets change, or the vision for your wedding may change. STDs can be a curse.

I think 6-10 months is a better time frame.

I have been wondering this too. @Megan S I really love the idea of sending out STDs to just family really early, and sending to friends much later. FW has a lot of family that will need a year to save up and take time off, and while they already know our date, I think they would prefer a formal or informal STD. Thanks for that idea!

Our wedding is also a "destination" for most of our guests. We're from New York, but living in Illinois. So we sent our STD out in March.

I'm sending our std out next month. That puts us at 9 months out. I, like you, have a lot of oos guests. Even one coming from Alaska to NJ! Maybe do it after he holidays? 8 months is still plenty of time for people to plan out a trip.

I think it depends on the circumstances, we're having a destination wedding and we're both active duty military so a lot of our guests are as well. It can be very hard to coordinate time off so we're sending ours out a year in advance.

If it were me I would wait until 5-7 months before ... What if you send a save the date to someone and then you change your mind about them later? You can just spread the word to your closest friends/family so they can know

Way too soon. We have the same date and this isn't even on my radar.

Most of my guests are OOT and I sent them at exactly 6 months out

I would do 10 months. That's what I'm doing and my entire side of the family (about 60 guests) are OOT.