Sending save-the-dates: too far out?

Make sure your guest list is stone before you send them. 8-10 months is the perfect amount of time to start saving and put in a request for time off from work. No need to send them earlier or people will forget.

Many hotel blocks are valid for a few weeks and will not be valid for a year. Are you paying for the rooms yourself and guests reimburse you? A courtesy block will set aside a group of rooms without you needing to spend anything and guests pay for their own rooms.

View Quoted Comment I’m not sure how the whole room blocking thing works honestly. I know we do have the option to do so, and I was planning on blocking rooms.

I would still suggest 12 months the earliest. Some guests might forget, and 12 months is typically plenty of time for people to figure out their arrangements or request the time off from work etc. anything before 12 months, people typically won’t even have gained their vacation time for the next year yet so It’s not like they will be able to know if they will be able to get the time off that far out.

I would wait a little bit longer. We are having a semi-destination wedding and we sent our save the dates out about 8 months ahead of time. If you send them too far in advance some people may lose them or forget about them. I did include inserts in our save the dates with information for accommodations because our hotel block released 90 days before our wedding date and I wanted to make sure everyone was aware of that.

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Do not pay money out of your pocket to block the rooms. Ask the hotel for a courtesy block which sets aside a number of rooms that are available for your guests to book between say 3 and 5 months out from the wedding. Many people cannot tell you what their calendar looks like before that time. Using the 3-5 month time frame, the cut off date for the block rate will be 90 days and then it is released back to the public if it is still empty, and you don't need to pay a dime. So unless the deposit you're talking about is to use their banquet room for your reception, you don't pay a dime toward any rooms exept your own.

You let guests know on the wedding website (that you provide the link to on your save the date magnet) that there is a room block at Doubletree Hotel valid from date 1 to date 2 using whatever promo code the hotel gives you.

From what I've read online, 8-12 months is pretty standard for destination weddings and 6-8 months for local weddings. Our wedding is local for FH's family and destination for mine but we still only sent our save the dates like 6-7 months ahead. In general, people don't book domestic flights until like 3 months in advance of a trip anyways. Sending them any farther in advance of 12 months could cause confusion (not looking closely and thinking the event is this year, not next) or guests may forget all together. Your hotel should hold your room block until a few weeks to maybe a month before your event, so you shouldn't need to worry about guests not getting a room!

My destination wedding is in November and I mailed out my save the dates in late Jan. I think letting people know ahead of time is better than later since they need to flight to my destination. You can choose the mail out the wedding invitation later since they already had the heads up. I will probably send out my invitation in July.

View Quoted Comment I literally called a bunch of hotels and wrote down their prices and created a chart where I compared the prices. I recommend that you get a quote from them and make a decision based on that. My hotel requires a 90% occupancy. If the rooms I requested are below 90%, I need to pay for the penalty. So be mindful of that. Some guests might not even want to stay at the hotel where you did the room block. Just a thought.

How far are your guests travelling? If 75% of more of your guests will be travelling internationally, then I think sending save the dates 12 months in advance is reasonable. If you're talking domestic travel, then I think that's probably too soon and I would aim for 9 months. As a PP mentioned, most people don't book domestic flights until 3 or 4 months out.

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July is super early for invites. They have save the dates well before then so just send them out 10 weeks before the wedding for international, 6-8 weeks for domestic. As an example: for a November 1 wedding, send invites September 1 with an rsvp deadline of Oct 15 (for international) and September 15 with October 15 reply due date for domestic. Any earlier and people will forget.

View Quoted Comment I see. Thank you!

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Did the hotels offer free courtesy blocks? Or do they only allow you to pay ahead of time for the blocks? You should not be paying money from your pocket to reserve the rooms.

View Quoted Comment I’m not.
I reserved 15 rooms. If less than 90% of the rooms are booked for my wedding, I will need to pay the penalty or make up the difference.

Domestic destination wedding 8-10 months; international 9-12 months.

View Quoted Comment The hotel is offering free courtesy blocks because we’re doing their wedding ceremony and reception package. It’s actually an amazing deal for everything we get!

View Quoted Comment I think they’re having the wedding at the hotel, that’s what she’s paying the deposit for.

View Quoted Comment Yes exactly

People tend to send them way too soon. Coming from out of town, but not overseas , 4 months will do for most people. The further they are out, the more likely it is you go through multiple date changes, or a change of venue as things take shape. Which usually means, can no longer afford original plans. And cutting people. That shoud all be past before you send Saves. A few VIP, who especially need early notice to fly a family of 7, or Visa situation, can be done, then wait for the rest. Early ones can be done at 6 month by phone, with all Saves sent at 4 months .

12 months is too far out. I had to mail my change the dates out a year to our new date, with hotel info, and people are still texting me for hotel block. All of my family has to get on a plane also, stick to 7-8 months out.

I thought 6 months was pretty standard, but if that puts you smack in the middle of the holiday season I think it is fair to stretch that out by a month or two. More than a year is way too far out. You can let your VIP guests know of the date earlier informally, but I wouldn't send STDs out any more than 10 months in advance. Unless you are having an international wedding, there is no reason to need more time.