SAVE THE DATE : Email or paper?

We did an online save the date and it worked very well for us! Of course we made the website from scratch and were able to track who had seen it. Most of our guests commented on how great it looked! We also did online wedding invitations, so the STD's was like a test run to ensure everyone's email was working and such.

We did print some invited for guests of my parents who are older and not as internet savvy. Overall we are very happy with how it all turned out!

Thanks so much Shelia P for the positive comments I think this is right up our alley. We planned to mail invites and have guests respond/rsvp via our wedding website. We don't mind printing for older guests as needed. Do you mind telling me what website you used to host your wedding website. Postage isn't cheap for paper people throw away. I plan to do a STD similar to pic I posted and just attaching it to a email for guests and waaaala done! This will allow me to use the saved funds on programs and such. Small savings but every dime helps.

Pic std

We did e-vite STD's via paperless post. They turned out great. We had a short engagement, so it was the best way to let guests know quickly. We were happy with them and guests enjoyed them. We followed up with paper invites. The e-vites for STDs was an easy money saver. I say go for it!

Also, we did our wedding website through Wordpress. It was easy and cost effective.

I sent save the date magnets because I wanted them but I am offering online rsvp option for my invitations. I just did my website through weddingwire. You know your guests best so if a lot of them are tech savvy or have a large younger crowd, I say go for it. I am going to a friend's wedding this August and they sent email save the dates back in March. I didn't miss not having a physical save the date and theirs looked really nice since her FH works in a web design company.

Thank!! Diana my fiance is great with a computer so he can pretty much do anything and if he cant he can teach himself in like 2 days LOL. He is kinda a tech geek so I am sure he can handle our STD's for us. We went ahead and created a google form on google to email to all our family and friends to start collecting addresses and contact info for the actual invitations I will send out 6 months out. Check out the link ladies and tell me what you think. https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1p0FTYU7hLg2IZk80D_q9gIYmINsbOj0BMZMRsnW0C6Q/viewform?c=0&w=1&usp=mail_form_link

Of course, we will shorten the link. When guest enter their info it automatically generates a spread sheet for us with all the information

I know in this day and age email invites and STD's are commonplace but to be honest I find them to be kind of cheap. It's one thing to do it for a birthday party but for STD's and wedding invites I think it looks a bit on the cheap side. I hope you don't think I'm rude I'm just trying to give you an honest opinion.

I know you didn't want negative responses, so I will be nice I am not a big fan of e-vites, or e-STD, but if you have to save there to spend otherwise I understand. We kind of did a compromise and sent our STD (magnets) and invites in snail mail, and then asked for people to respond online to save on postage. I am using the wedding wire website for our website, and it's been great so far. And for people who aren't answering on time, or aren't great with the internet, I am just responding for them. Best of luck

ETD: We specifically wanted magnet STD so that people could stick them on their fridge and wouldn't lose them/throw them out. Because I agree with you, it is a waste of money to send a big fancy invite that people just lose or trash anyways. And we made sure to have our wedding date and the website address on the magnet so if people lost the actual invite they could rely on that

Future Mrs C appreciate your feedback but that's why I requested those who don't agree not respond. I wanted opinions from those who have done it or seriously considered it. however, I respect your opinion. I don't think its cheap for a save the date. I still plan to send a paper wedding invite with an on line RSVP. The money saved will go into other areas more important than paper people will throw awayaway. My theory is you can't please everyone ya know. Those who know my fiance and I know we aren't cheap so not worried about anyone thinking that. For some they have unlimited funds and can't just pick whatever you know, but many are like me. They have to pickpicks the areas to splurge and areas to save and postage and printing 3 times for save the date, invite , then RSVP is one area I am willing to sacrifice. I think some of the comments on here by brides are a little agressive to some things brides want to do ie. Honeymoon fund that's why I stated those who disagree don't reply but yours wasn't aggressive at all. Thanks! I still think and agree with you on this a wedding needs a paper invite but I've gotten some in mail and thought this invitation is crappy lol looked kinda cheap but I still appreciated the invite. That's a traditional aspect I would like to keep with.

What is snail mail?

Snail mail=regular mail through the post office.

For some, a nice pricier invitation can be justified because it makes a first impression on your guest. It is the first thing they see of your wedding. I'm not sure if that still applies if you already send save the dates though. Like you also mentioned, there are just aspects of the wedding you have to pick your budget battles with. Revisiting this thread reminded me of conversations I had with friends recently. I sent out my magnet save the dates with my wedding website on it and the important details. Turns out people had either lost the magnets, took them off the fridge after a while, or still asked me details about the wedding that were on the magnets. I was trying to be practical since magnets are useful to an extent. But honestly, Ithink email save the dates would have been more effective. With everyone having smart phones, it's much easier to pull up the email when you need to look at it.

Hello,

Question how far in advance do you send save the date cards or evites?

Thanks

Sorry I didn't even see that part asking for people who don't agree to not respond! I do understand people need to save money where they can so to each their own!

I just verbally told family and friends the date and emailed a few people. We invited 96, have 50 RSVPs so far and no declines. However, before invitations were mailed FH had a few friends say they were away and several relatives in another can't make the trip so we had 11 declines pre-invitations. These folks were not sent invitations.

@sakeena I think you're right on the money. Considering how many STDs you'll send out, the cost racks up. We're considering sending out electronic STDs and doing paper invitations as well. To be honest, I never understand how people consider it "Tacky" considering everything is digital nowadays, but everyone is entitled to their own opinion.

Magnets are also nice.

Google form is nice, and I understand why you want a script font, do you think it would be hard for your guests to read?

I think email is great. Especially if you have a lot of people that use it. I didn't send out STD either way, 1. I hate them with a passion. I don't want your magnet on my beautiful stainless steel fridge - it won't stick anyway. 2. I've never been in someone's house, that has actually kept them. I think going email can save you a ton of money and way more worth it. I just went word of mouth after we got engaged, mainly because it's always the next question people ask. And I'm planning on sending my invite out just a little bit earlier than the rest, just because I have a lot from out of state.

Hey ladies! Thanks for your opinions and sharing your experiences with me. My fiance gets his save the dates and he puts them on his fridge lol he is in a frat so we get lots of wedding invites so I get it. LOL I love magnets for my fridge is full of them. When I think about 115,magnets at 85 cents each plus postage I rather put it towards the formal invitations. STDs from what I read go out 8 months before and then paper invites go out 6 months before. Wedding website with all info should be ready when std go out though so ppl can book travel early if needed. Fiance now tells me me would really Like a std magnet. Last week he said he didn't care. I swear I have a bit of a groomzilla on my hands. He wants me to stick to a budget but each time I come up with a way to save cash he wants something else but keeps preaching to me about the budget. We have a certain amt of money set aside for invites so that must include std, postage, paper invites and postage again so we agreed last night that if we can't get it in the budget electronic std it is. Good thing about the electronic std is I can send it out two times and give ppl option to add to their yahoo gmail calendars etc. I have gotten std and invite prices from one person. Fiance and I agreed we would get two more prices and decide from there. What's a good price for a std magnet? I was priced at 85cents each with envelopes for a magnet like the pic I uploaded earlier in this thread. Then 75 cents for a paper one with envelop. Also if you design your save the date yourself what kinda places can you go to print a std magnet? All in all, we are not skimpping on venue we saved by doing a Sunday wedding, we didn't skimp on food, or rehearsal, and I am not skimping on flowers/ center pieces etc but I am looking for the best prices on flowers. Anyone know average price for colored 60 inch round linens I got 28 a table for basic cotton which I thought was high. Thanks ladies!

Also, yes I have been asked my date 100 times ppl are already planning in their minds. Even a few who I didn't plan to invite lol that's gonna be rough but we were strict.

As far as when to send them, 6 months prior is ENTIRELY too early for invitations. There's no point because people don't know yet for sure. STD's should go out 6-12 months prior depending on OOT guests, if its a holiday weekend, etc. Invites should go out 6-8 weeks prior if you sent STDs, 8-10 weeks prior if you didn't.

For the STDs question: we used email STD and I regret it. Only a handful of people responded as if they had received the email, mostly FH's friends. My family (even the ones my age who are totally computer savvy) did not respond well to the emails. When I saw them a month ago, everyone was asking basic questions such as when and where (date and city, and some time and venue) that would have been answered had they read/received the email. I'm not sure if they didn't make it, they went to and old, unused email (even though I asked for updated), if they weren't read, or if they were read and then forgotten about because there wasn't a constant remind of a magnet on the fridge or a postcard on the calendar/bulletin board. Because of the lack of response I got with STDs, I sent my invitations as if I didn't send the email at all.

You know your crowd, but for me, it didn't work. Sure I saved money, but it was a pointless endeavor for us.