Save The Date Ideas

If you are planning a wedding for this summer, now might be the time to start thinking about sending “Save The Date” cards!

When you plan a weekend-long celebration or if you are planning to invite lots of out-of-town guests, a Save The Date card gives those on your guest list the information that they will need to begin making travel arrangements or scheduling time off from their jobs for your wedding.

If your wedding is a one-day affair and most of your guests are local, this is a new tradition that you can pass over and save the money for something else on your list.

A relative new-comer to the list of wedding “to-do’s”, Save The Date cards, as noted above, are meant to help guests who will need more than just six weeks’ notice to make plans to attend your wedding.

Most wedding planners and etiquette experts suggest mailing them about six months before your wedding date.  It is perfectly acceptable to use the phrase “Formal Invitation to Follow” on these cards.  Everyone who is sent a Save The Date card must be included on your guest list and must receive the formal invitation.  No exceptions!

Many designers are including a Save The Date in the invitations packages they offer.  Depending on your personality and the style of your wedding, it’s completely up to you whether the Save The Dates coordinate with your other paper products or whether they make a statement on their own!

Here’s a lovely invitation set with a Save The Date to match.

However, it is completely fabulous to have something designed that is a stand-alone piece; something that really tells the story of you as a couple.  This is the place to scream “THEME!” if you want, without worrying about maintaining the formality of the occasion necessary with formal invitations.

If your invitation is at a special destination, perhaps you could do a postcard style Save The Date, highlighting your venue.  If you love to travel together, have your Save The Date designed as a travel brochure.  The style below was designed for a couple who loved their music, in the style of a rock concert poster!

Each design featured in this post is from the talented Martha Leslie of Blue Tulip Designs, one of the design vendors that we feature at EVENTS by September’s Bride.