Save the dates or Wedding Invites?

We sent both. But we had a destination wedding and both our dads (and possibly others) needed to know before the new year because they had to put in vaca requests before the end of the year.

We sent both because half of our guests live 2ish hours away. Unless you’re having a destination wedding, lots of out of town guests, or a week day wedding, save the dates aren’t a necessity.

We plan on only sending invites.

I sent personal texts saying that the person was important that I would love for them to save the date. Everyone responded with confirmation. I will send official invites but I thought the save the dates were nice, but not a necessary expense. For the handful of them that I’ve received, after I put the date in my calendar, I threw them away.

I skipped save the dates because it was just more to do and I was lazy aha but you can do something informal like an email. Takes less effort.

You definitely need invites, but save the dates are optional. They're useful for out of town guests or if your wedding is on a weekday/holiday, but they aren't mandatory. I would advise against sending anything out until you have locked down a venue. You don't really have a date until you have a venue.

I had save the dates, but didn’t use them.

It’s a good thing that I didn’t. Everyone that might have received one didn’t get invited.

We plan on sending both

We're getting married locally, so we sent only invitations to save some money!

We sent both, we had a ton of out of state guests.

We are sending out both save the dates and invitations. Our save the dates will include our engagement photos so I am excited to share the images with our family and friends.

I sent Save The Dates to out of state family and friends only so they could plan accordingly. I will be sending out formal invites 3 months before the actual date. I’ve been getting a lot of questions asking when I’m going to send out invitations and some family members who are confused and think the s.t.d is the invite. It’s annoying me and driving me bonkers!

My fiance and I skipped the save the dates to save money because they were just as much, if not more pricey than our invites. Plus, they get tossed in the trash anyway and you can use that money for other things! (:

My fiance and I did send out save the dates about 13 months in advance. Our wedding is falling on July 4th weekend which is typically a popular summer vacation time. This gives our guests plenty of time to think about planning their potential summer vacations around our wedding should they decide to come (something to think about if you plan on having your wedding on or around a major holiday). We also invited over 50 out of state and country guests. Again, this gives them lots of time to decide/plan on traveling.