Save the dates as invitations???

The only potential issue I see with this is that if you send the Save The Dates 6-8 months ahead of time, people may not know their availability yet, and therefore may set aside the info. Which may lead to them losing it later on, or forgetting to RSVP, or having to change their RSVP. I would either send a Save The Date virtually to save money and then mail invitations later, or skip the Save The Dates completely and just send out invitations 6-8 weeks before the wedding.

View Quoted Comment I see what your saying but I would like to skip invitations since I will have all details on my wedding website and just use save the dates as my invitations with my wedding website listed on them and a details card. It is cheaper than actual invitations. Plus they're magnets so everyone can put it on their fridge and won't forget lol

View Quoted Comment That make sense, but I would then still recommend sending them out closer to around 8 weeks (or maybe up to 10 weeks) before your wedding just so people don't lose them if they're sent too far in advance. I would also make it clear on the Save The Dates that people are expected to RSVP to them, since people don't typically need to reply to Save The Dates. You could definitely still do magnets for them and have everyone RSVP on your website!

View Quoted Comment We are having some out of town guests so I feel I need to send them out a little more in advance so they have time to schedule for travel

I think Lisa’s idea of doing an electronic STD 6 months out, then sending a physical invitation at the usual 8-10 weeks is a great suggestion, and would be best for you and your guests. There are lots of very affordable invitation options out there. And to be honest, I don’t know that you will really save money doing a STD and a details card vs just an invitation. However, if you are dead set on only sending a STD/details card, you need to find a way to make it very clear to guests that an invitation will not follow the STD, as is traditional; otherwise there are bound to be guests who either throw the magnet away or toss it up on their fridge and forget about it, because they assume an invitation will be arriving closer to the date to remind them. I would also say to be prepared to have to track people down for their RSVPs.

Save the dates are the optional item, not invitations. No one will be prepared to RSVP more than maybe 2 months in advance. You can send digital save the dates though, to save money. But trying to do without actual invitations will only lead to a logistical headache for you (magnets or no magnets). So, set yourself up for success and follow the usual timeline for invitations, with actual invitations.

View Quoted Comment Skip the save the dates and just do invitations. You can call the specific out of town guests to give them a heads up that your wedding will be x date and to look out for the invitation in the coming months. Save the dates are actually a relatively new thing and not "traditional."

View Quoted Comment

You could always call/text/email the out-of-town guests separately to give them a heads up about the date! Also, I agree with Cece, you'd probably have to track down a lot of people after the deadline if you send your invitations too far in advance.

Save the Dates are optional; invitations are not. I think you might be overestimating that your guests are really going to hang onto and not lose a Details card with your info for 6-8 months. Unfortunately, guests notoriously don't really visit wedding websites, even though as brides and grooms, we put a ton of time into them!! I just think you're setting yourself up for a lot of phone calls/texts/reminders when it comes time to collect RSVPs and confusion (and/or forgetfulness) on the part of your guests closer to the wedding. Maybe use an electronic or text Invitation to save money?

A phone call is the most traditional save the date method for the last several decades at countless weddings and doesn’t cost anything. The magnet/postcard trend is fairly new by the wedding industry to make costs skyrocket.


You will confuse guests by doing this, even with the best of intentions.
Fiancé and I recently attended a couple weddings where electronic invites were sent out and the turn out was next to none. Guests were used to phone/text/email save the dates so they treated the save the dates the same way and expected paper invites to come that never did. However they were sent at the standard 6-8 weeks which only added to the confusion. Adults are generally smart enough to figure out how to navigate these situations but not when they have added confusing information that throws them off or things sent at the wrong times.
Make it easy on everyone with a phone/text save the date (email has the potential to get lost in the spam folder if you don’t regularly communicate) and send invites no earlier than 8 weeks so no one loses the information

I also recommend letting people know the date via phone call or email, then use your money for invites 6 to 8 weeks before the wedding. You can do online RSVPs to cut costs on reply cards and envelopes.

I would skip save the dates and just send invitations. Save the dates are optional. Invitations should be send 6-8 weeks before your wedding. Any earlier, people may forget!

I would just reach out to the out of town guests. That's what I did with my two cousins who lived out of state. I gave them a heads up about 3 weeks before I sent out the actual invites so they can start planning on travel expenses.

If you have your heart set on this then by all means go with it! Just know that you may have to still follow up with people's RSVP's down the line. And it may cause a little confusion as it is not a formal or typical invite.

Ideally a save the date is like a heads up. Therefore, your guests can start THINKING about attending your wedding as they also start thinking about any accommodations that they may have to make if they are traveling, need to possibly take time off work, find a babysitter, etc.

View Quoted Comment

The thing to skip is the save the dates, not the invitations. I suggest you just give the VIP guests a heads up phone call and send invitations.

I'm here to agree with some of what has already been said. If you need to skip one, skip save the dates and just call or text the people you know you'll be inviting.

One thing I will say though: I designed our Save the Dates in Canva, got them printed through Catprint, and got envelopes from Paper Source. For 40 Save the Dates, envelopes, and the necessary postage, we spent just under $70. Catprint also offers envelopes and will print addresses on them, I was just determined to have a cute color for our envelopes 😅 I also bought my stamps on Etsy and saved $20 over what I would have paid at the post office, and ended up with enough for Save the Dates and invites. There are ways to do both on a budget, so just something to think about!

I totally get what you’re saying with the magnets, but I think you should reach out by phone/email to out of town guests to let them know the date of your wedding early, and then send the magnets (if that’s what you want to use) for your invitation.


If you ask your guests to use the magnets as save the dates/invitations to rsvp and send them out 6-8 months early, you’ll have a lot of people rsvp yes who will change their response closer to the wedding as work/other events come up that prevent traveling to your wedding, which will mess up your numbers. That’s why I’d send them closer to the date.

View Quoted Comment I was thinking the same thing. Thank you!

Hi!

Just want to see what you end up doing and end results? I am planning to do the same thing as you posted!

Thanks!