September 2021 brides let’s help each other !

I'm December 2020 but I'd say:

- Cakes: don't taste too early because bakers can change their offerings. We tasted about 9 months early because I am very fussy with baked goods (I bake myself) and wanted to make sure we got someone good, but even that was early

- Dress: 12 months is great as it gives you plenty of time to shop, have the dress ordered/delivered/altered. Generally you want to make sure your dress is ordered at least 9-10 months out to ensure it is not too close to the last minute if there are delays

- Save The Dates depend on location of wedding and holidays - personally I think they're a bit redundant but if you're having the wedding somewhere out of town or during holidays, give at least maybe 6-9 months

View Quoted Comment It’s in September it’s the 19th so it’s a few days before the end of summer. I don’t really think there’s holidays. And the location of the venue happens to be in the town I live in.

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I think Save The Dates also depend on your guest list and whether you have family flying in from other parts of the country or need to travel. You'd need to send them out early enough (but not too early) so some can start making travel arrangements.

View Quoted Comment I have family in Canada , philly, and ri that need to travel here. I should prob order them ASAP and get them sent out by prob October ?

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I keep reading it's good to send them out about 6-9 months out, but if you have family flying in from multiple places then I'd say anytime between October & November is a good time to send them out. My wedding is 7.25.21 and while I've already designed ours, we're sending ours out somewhere between September & October. I have family that are traveling in from Florida & Arkansas (FH's side) so they'd need enough time to get travel arrangements in order.

View Quoted Comment Did you set aside a wedding block or just put the info to the closest hotels on a card in the invitations?

Wedding Wire and The Knot have great checklists that break things down by month and show each thing you should be working on at that time. I thought they were super helpful to get me organized.


As Laquita said, save the dates are sent out around 6-9 months out, but it isn't really a big deal if you send them out a bit earlier. I would wait to order them until closer to the time you want to send them out. Also, companies like VistaPrint and Shutterfly, Ann's Bridal Bargains, and so on often have good Black Friday/Cyber Monday deals you can take advantage of. I would start dress shopping about a year out. For cake tasting, our venue included the cake from a nearby bakery known for wedding cakes and we did the tasting about 3 months out to pick flavors and look. If you haven't already (and it's ok if you haven't, you still have time), the important things to book first are venue (because you can't really guarantee your date until you have a venue), photographer, and DJ (if you're having 1). You want to focus on the vendors that are a 1 person thing. If your venue doesn't include food, I would also include caterers in that list. As far as the question about hotel blocks, it's optional. If any hotels in your area do courtesy blocks (where you don't pay anything to do the block), I think it's worth it because they often offer a group discount and it's convenient for guests. Just listing nearby hotels works well too.

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We were looking into a block, but may just settle for a group rate if we don't have enough rooms to set aside a wedding block. So for now, the hotel arrangement is blank until we figure this part out. On the cards, we're linking everyone to our site where there will be updates about where they can fly in & how far the venue is from the airports. The actual invitations should have more information once we talk to more hotels.

View Quoted Comment I don’t think we’re going to really do a website though. Was just gonna go old school and deal with the Usps system for letting people know about events.

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Yeah a website isn't needed, I'm doing on to help keep me organized a bit & I do have some family who will take advantage of it, but we're not relying on it for invitations or anything. I'm like you, I'll be sending out physical STD cards & invitations because not everyone checks their email (my godmother for example lol).

View Quoted Comment Exactly ! I feel like unless I’m looking for a tracking number I’m not looking at my email ever.

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I feel like I'm always checking my email for multiple things, but I wouldn't be one to rsvp or remember anything about a save the date in my email. In the span of a year, things get buried down & forgotten. At least with a card, you can pin it somewhere as a visual.

We're going to have rsvp available on the site, but I'm relying on the physical cards to come back in the mail.

View Quoted Comment Me too and I’m going to have to number the back of them to corespondent with who that number is assigned to because people say they’re coming but forget to say who is coming.

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I think I'm gonna edit my RSVP cards and ask for names so when they do get sent back, I'll know who it is. This way they can't forget to put names if there's already blank spaces there lol But I do like the idea of numbers, just in case they somehow don't see the spaces for names.

I think Sept or October is a good time to send out save the dates my motto is always the earlier the better so people know! Dress you can start going now if you wanted I actually went really early for mine you never know how long it may take you. Cake you do about 3-6 months out. I am someone who loves checking things off my box so the earlier the better I say with booking especially with all the changes from 2020 brides nothing wrong with locking in vendors and securing your date. Good luck!

As far as locking down vendors, I would do that sooner than later. Sooo many people, including myself, have had to move from this year to next year. Doubling up on all the vendors and their availability. I would personally start looking for photographer, dj, floral, ect now so that you don't have to worry about nobody being available. Good luck!

View Quoted Comment I’m the same way! I def like checking things off and getting them done and out of the way