7 replies to this topic

[Jules82]

Hey ladies

As a quick low-down - we're getting married 26 August 2012 and our plan is to have a small ceremony and wedding breakfast for around 35 people and then have approx 120 evening guests arriving from 5:30pm.

I was wondering whether we need to do "save the dates" - my reasons for not were 1) I don't want people to assume that in receiving a save the date they're invited to the whole day (would they??) 2) I want to make all of the stationary and want it all to match and I'm not sure I have the time to make 100+ save the date cards!

But, my sister (and BM) thinks we should because we're getting married in the summer, on a bank holiday weekend and during school holidays so we should let people know far in advance - which I do agree with.

So, my sis also suggested that instead of making them we buy some postcards (either of London - as thats where we're getting married) or of sunflowers (as those will be the flowers wer're having) - I love the idea of this as it's cheap and a bit different.

Do you think that is ok? Also, quite like the idea of having a little poem - but can't for the life of me think of anything that rhymes!

Any comments, advice,general chat appreciated!

[MrsQuinn2b]

I love the ideas about the post cards and it will indeed save you on some pennies.

I sent out save the dates only for my guests that i was inviting for the whole day, i got mine off ebay as they were fridge magnets and cost us about £5 for 10, not too bad althought i needed 80!

You could send them out to all of your guests, and maybe put on them please save the date of......... for the marriage of............... and then put formal invites to follow. And maybe on the people you are only inviting to the evening you could put please save the evening on date.........to help celebrate the marriage of ................

It make sense it my head so hopefully makes sense to you

[Jules82]

Ah yes thats a really good idea to say "save the evening" - or something along those lines! Didn't think of that - thanks!

I think most people know what our plan is so shouldn't get false hope but you never know do you - weddings seem to do funny things to people

[MrsQuinn2b]

Weddings send you crackers but its all good.

Maybe type into google save the date wording or something on the lines of that and see if any ideas or poems come up for you to use.

[Becky]

I agree that doing save the dates / evening is a good idea given that your wedding is on a bank holiday. If you're quick you could send them out with Christmas cards and save on a bit of postage!!

You don't need to have a lot of wording on them, so I think a postcard is a really good idea. If you wanted to get something printed quickly to save your hand from writing them all out though, it might be worth checking out VistaPrint. They have save the date cards for around £3.50 per 10, or business card sized magnets which start at £5.50 for 25.

Hope this helps!

[MrsMay2011]

Hi, I had a similar situation to you, there were only 24 wedding guests, then about 100 at an evening reception.

We printed off double sided business cards from vista print it was about £25 for 100 and they looked really good. We just used an existing template (was for a beauty salon I think) and changed the wording. You can tweak the colour palatte quite precisely as well to match you scheme. It honestly looked really effective and 2 of my friends who are now engaged have followed suit.


Our wording was as follows: one one side - 'Save the Date' with the date underneath in smaller font and on the other side

"Please save the date to celebrate the marriage of [name & name] on the evening of [date]."

The 'celebrate the marriage' bit was because we actually got married abroad, and then had the reception back in the UK a few weeks later. As with you, most people were aware of the situation in advance so understood about it being evening only.

[Helen]

We didn't have save the date cards but we did get married mid week so I did tell people the date (just as and when we saw them word soon got round!) when we booked it so they were aware a bit sooner.

In the last two years we have been to 12 weddings and we didn't have a save the date for any of them!

I do think it is a good idea though, as it is a bank holiday people tend to make plans much sooner. I also think putting the time or the word evening on is good so people can't get the wrong impression.

[Frogbitch]

I think save the dates are essential.

If I were invited to a wedding I'd need the best part of a year's notice to ensure I could get the time off work.

We sent blank cards from Paperchase that matched our black and white colour scheme. They were hand written and looked nothing like the proper invitations, but as we sent the main invitations out really late, I'm sure we would not have had as many people come to the day if we hadn't sent them.