Timeline for Save the Dates?

[tberube]

So when did you / do you plan to send out your save the dates? I had planned to send mine out next week, approximately six months before the date. But now that the time has come, it seems so dreadfully early...

Compare notes with me, please!

 

[Pandora II]

I sent mine out with my xmas cards for an end of July wedding - invitations will go out in May.

 

[zoebartlett]

We sent our save the dates out in the fall (I forget when but it''s posted here somewhere). We''re not getting married until mid-July so it was a long time before we probably needed to. Since we''re getting married in a beach town in Maine, we wanted our guests to have the necessary info. so they could book a hotel room if needed. Things book up fast. That''s why we sent them out so far in advance. You didn''t ask about invitations, but we''re planning on sending them out just over 10 weeks from our wedding.

 

[violet02]

I sent mine out yesterday. My wedding is in October. It''s somewhat of a destination wedding for a lot of folks to 9 months is a good time, or 8 rather. For a local wedding six months is what''s advised. So I think you''re right on track.

 

[musey]

We sent out our save the dates 9½ months ahead of time.

My short answer to your second question-ish thing is that I don't think 6 months ahead is too early. At all. I think anything under a year is more than reasonable.

I think that one can take into consideration many things with this decision:

1. Month of your wedding
--It's a lot easier for people to plan to travel during the summer than any other season. During the fall/winter/spring you have school schedules to worry about, for anyone with kids or anyone who teaches.

2. Number of out-of-town guests
--If most guests are local (within a 2-hour drive or so), then there isn't as much of a need to plan ahead.

3. Finances of out-of-town guests
--If a lot of your out-of-town guests are on a tighter budget, they'll need more notice in order to plan ahead and save for travel expenses.

4. Amount of accommodations in wedding locale
--If your wedding's in a small town with one hotel and a couple B&B's, you need to give people more notice so that they'll be sure to get in on reservations earlier than other travelers.

I feel as though the more those things apply to your guests, the earlier you should send out save-the-dates.

Our wedding is in October (this is during school, close to midterms for the guests who are still in college), the guest list is 80% OOT (so most people need plenty of notice), more than half of those OOT guests are young and/or lifetime tight budgeters (need lots of notice to save & plan). All this translated to sending out our save the dates as soon as it seemed reasonable.

 

[sunnygirl]

My wedding is first week of september in a semi-destination location and we wanted to send them out in january and still havent sent them.

I think it will be by the end of this week. I hope. The hotel rooms in SB fill up fast!!

 

[Class n Sass]

For a May wedding I sent mine out late September/early October.

 

[basil]

I wanted to send mine out about 9 months ahead of time for our September wedding. That would have been mid-January. They''re still not sent out yet, because my fiance''s mother is dragging her feet with her portion of the list, and my mom''s computer crashed and she lost all her addresses. So by the time they get out, it''ll be about 6 months'' notice.

Soon, though. Soon!

 

[Future Mrs Polka Dot]

we sent ours 6 months before our Aug wedding.

 

[Sue16]

I sent mine out last week for my August wedding.

 

[Gypsy]

Any FREAKING day now. LOL. I''ll probably work on the addressing the envelopes stuff this weekend, provided that FMIL ACTUALLY manages to get me the rest of her addresses, not to mention my OWN mother!

By the time I mail them, it will be 6 months to the wedding. For me, it feels late to be sending them out, so I''m not sure I''m much of a help rube.

 

[EricaR]

I''m thinking about sending mine a full 12 months ahead of time, mostly because it is a destination wedding and people will need to plan out vacation times, pick flights, reserve hotels, etc. Since my guest list is really small I don''t think I really need STDs, but I love doing crafty things and have been looking forward to making something crafty for the wedding.

 

[Hudson_Hawk]

I''m sending my STDs (god what a bad acronym!) out a year in advance. We''re getting married on the Friday of Memorial Day weekend in ''09 so not only is it a big holiday weekend, but most people will have to travel 2+ hours to get there. I want to give them ample time to make plans for their weekend if they want to. Invitations will go out 2-3 months prior.

 

[SanchezVVV]

A year to the day... the majority of guests will need to travel and probably save. Plus we have 2 other weddings in the extended family in the same 1 year period. Whatever makes sense for you and your situation.

 

[Haven]

We actually decided to nix the save-the-dates because, well, everyone already knows when we''re getting married. If we were going to send them out, we''d probably do it today, which is four months before the wedding.

 

[scarlet16]

We sent the first batch to family just after New Year''s and to friends on Valentine''s Day. The wedding is in late August. It''s not a destination wedding but there are quite a few out of town guests.

 

[tberube]

Date: 3/4/2008 7:30:15 AM
Author: Hudson_Hawk
I''m sending my STDs (god what a bad acronym!) out a year in advance. We''re getting married on the Friday of Memorial Day weekend in ''09 so not only is it a big holiday weekend, but most people will have to travel 2+ hours to get there. I want to give them ample time to make plans for their weekend if they want to. Invitations will go out 2-3 months prior.

Yes! Hudson, I thought I was the only one who caught that. I refuse to even use that acronym, since I caught on to it.

thanks for your replies, everyone! I had even forgotten that I posted this thread, and just happened upon it today. Whoops! Well I guess I''m not doing it too early, then. Good to know!!! Now I can feel free to get right on them!!!

Yay! The wedding feels like it is really happening now!!

 

[poshpepper]

We sent ours out at the end of January for our August Wedding (so about 6 months). We are getting married on a Friday in the afternoon (on the beach) so I wanted people to know what they were in for (people will probably have to take the day off or a half day) so I wanted them to have plenty of time to plan.