Save The Dates - Necessary or Not?

Both of our families have to travel for our wedding so i sent out our invitations 10months before our wedding 10/10/20 just to give people enough time to prepare

We are sending save the dates because my FH has family that lives out of state but now i'm thinking they were a waste of money and time. Really wish we would have just skipped on the save the dates. Everyone knows you're getting married, save the dates to me are such a waste of money.

We didn't ...however everyone knew 1 year prior..with many reminders...we still had folks act surprised when our invites were sent...we sent these earlier than usual to make up for no save the dates..and still had people that had made plans for vacation during it..lol. so glad we didn't waste our money and time on these as it wouldn't have mattered.

I used MPIX its a website thats based out of kansas. They are fairly priced and fast. I had family that was out of state and country, so i wanted to make sure they had advance notice. I did the magnet because I feel like people throw it on the fridge and will see it till the wedding.

I think they are a nice courtesy for those who have to travel. I am sending out my save the dates to those who will have to make travel arrangements only and I will send out my invitations in a timely manner for everyone else near by.

I don't think they are necessary! I do think they are cute and fun to receive! We didn't just to avoid an extra cost. Instead we are sending our invites earlier than normal

I think it's necessary--keeps guests updated. HOWEVER, I don't think you have to spend a ton of money on this. The point is to get people to save the date. That can be done via email, evite, letter, etc. Whatever the couple is comfortable with. We did the whole postcard thing with an engagement picture because we wanted it to be on people's fridges--and they are :-) But it wasn't a necessary expense.

I wasn't originally going to send Save the Dates but ended up caving but made them myself for super cheap.

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Thank you for this! This was so helpful because our wedding is in October as well and I have been struggling to decide if whether or not we are going to do Save the dates.

Not necessary, although I'm thinking about sending out a few save the dates to my family back home.

I ordered enough save the dates for every household on our list... I should have cut that number in half!

For some people, I just verbally told them and they put the date on their calendar right then - they don't need a card. My younger friends were totally cool with emailed STDs. Well, now I don't need cards for them... And because our venue isn't quite big enough, we have to wait for some more information before inviting more distant friends, and won't be deciding until invites are ready. Don't need cards for them. So I have come to the conclusion that you should send your family - nuclear family, grandparents, aunt, uncles, and cousins - STDs if you don't see them enough to tell them in person, and you care if they show up. But for friends / coworkers / acquaintances, and for people you see at least bi-monthly, you really don't need cards for them.

I don't think it's super necessary. In fact after ordering and sending out half of mine (I mailed the ones for who I know I don't see, but was planning to hand deliver to my immediate family and church family, although now COVID has kept me from seeing my church family). But in our super-planning type mindset/mentality of our culture, I wanted to get our fall date out there to my important guests before something else sprang up. I'm a trail runner, a hardcore trail runner and we start planning our race schedule a year or more in advance. I knew if I waited till the traditional 6-8weeks prior to only send out invitations then my trail peeps would likely have already registered for a cool race that day and there are no refunds for those things.

However, with such a digital/social media society that we're in now, I seriously could've just created the pretty image for the Save the Date and shared it with my peeps that way.

I can’t answer with a yes or no only because I personally chose to send invitations instead. I chose one or the other but definitely not both. Saving money for something else was more important to me.

I see STD as a wasted expense personally. The money and time spent creating ends up in someones trash not long after. I would rather pour money into really nice invites and do a digital way to RSVP, which is exactly what I did and called the section Save Your Seat. I also am sending them early by the end of this month to have RSVPs back by the end of July for my October wedding.

Now my friend is sending STDs this month for her August wedding and will eventually send formal invites, but too me that seems too stressful.

No we aren't going to be doing save the date. We are going to tell those we invited to our "destination wedding" and then send the invitation out later.

I think yes! Guests should be prepared for what’s to come. People vacation all year round.

Not doing them. Just about everyone who's coming from out of town is family and they already know when the wedding is. To me they are just another way to get people to spend money on things they think they need.

They're nice to have to let guests know when to schedule time off from work that can't be done in the narrow window when invites are sent out. But they are by no means mandatory and they're new enough that most people outside of Pinterest wedding planning have never seen or received one before.

I don’t think they’re always necessary but for us yes because we’re getting married right before thanksgiving and it’s a busy time

I think it’s not really necessary depending on the size of the guest list and how easy it is for guests to come. Otherwise it’s just an unnecessary expense. I agree with another comment about it just being a part of making the wedding industry wealthier. If you send an invitation, they should put an effort into planning and remembering. If you can just call and confirm with people the closer the date gets. No big deal.🙂