Save the Date Etiquette

Personally I wouldn’t. Save the dates are sent out way before the wedding and most people do not think that far ahead even for a destination wedding. However, that being said. We sent out about 70 stds and 5 people rsvped at the time lol. You could always list your wedding website if you will have an option for them to rsvp there and if they chose to they could rsvp early.

I think it’s actually more pressure for guests to try to tell you a year or however far in advance if they can make it or not. It’s going to be more of an inconvenience for you since this isn’t going to give you anywhere near an accurate guest count.

I would skip this. Most guests don't know what their schedules two months ahead, much less a year from now!

We did this. I called it "early rsvp" and some people did do it, however they were confused when they got the actual invite and had to rsvp again. If you do it and ppl rsvp early, i would include a handwritten note saying that you already have their rsvp and to just let you know if something changed. In retrospect I wouldn't include and "early rsvp" again.

I agree with others. Also, I assume that most people invited to a wedding would like to go and can't because of extenuating circumstances. Weddings are expensive, so you're usually not inviting people that are in no way close to the couple or the family (except for the odd business associate every now and then). That far out, you'll probably get a lot of "I will try to make it" responses. I know that, for us, those that ultimately RSVPed "no" did so because of circumstances outside of their control (mostly OOT guests with illnesses preventing them from flying) and would have attended if circumstances were different.

I don't know what a pre-RSVP is or how it puts less pressure on guests than a normal RSVP. If we received an RSVP in a save the date, I'd ignore it until the invite came and if an invite didn't come, I'd consider it bad etiquette on the bride & groom's behalf. I'd send out normal save the dates, then your RSVP with your invite.