Save the dates for us were an absolute must. Even though our wedding is technically not a destination wedding it is still far enough and in such a beautiful location that most guests will be making enjoying it as a weekend getaway. Because of that we wanted to give our guests enough of notice in order for everyone to find a place to stay. This weekend was all about our save the dates and mailing them out-a very exciting process since it is the first time our guests will know we want them as a part of our day! Creating them was 1/2 the fun! We had the wonderful Sue from In Your Favor Online helping us every step of the way!
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Find Your Designer
- We had the pleasure of finding Sue’s booth at the Bride World Expo and were able to see real examples of her work. Sue can create any style of Save The Date and Invitation you envision for your perfect day.
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Choose Your Style
- Do you want a card? A magnet? Will you include pictures? If so, which ones?
- We loved the idea of a magnet. We figured this would be stuck to their refrigerators and we wouldn’t be out of sight out of mind! Including a picture of us was a must so we had our engagement pictures taken a few weeks prior.
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What Information Do You Want On Them?
- Your Save The Dates can be as informative or as simple as you wish.
- The most common information on a Save The Date is the following: The couples names, Date, Location (city)
- We decided to include our names, the date, the location, the words: formal invitation will follow, and our website.
- “Formal Invitation To Follow” lets your guests know that they can expect a more detailed and formal invitation later. There is no need to share details just yet.
- Having our website was a must since our website contains a lot of very important key information, our registry, and FAQs
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Set Up A Consultation
- The awesome thing about Sue is your can have the consultation in person, by phone, or via email. Flexibility is a must for this busy bride to be! We had an initial conversation via phone and was then able to send her pictures of examples. This was a great way for Sue to gain an understanding of the style we were going for.
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Begin The Design Process
- After I sent Sue some ideas and the picture we wished to use she began to design our Save The Dates. She knew exactly what information we wanted to include and the visual as well. I was so excited to see what she came up with!
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Review The Design
- A few days later I received a sample of our design and was able to make changes if I wanted to and give her input on the design. The only change we made was on the order of our names and the rest was too gorgeous to make any changes!
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Order
- I highly recommend finalizing your guest list before ordering your Save The Dates.
- Make sure you order enough and possibly a few extras
- Don’t forget to order one for yourself- we are up on our own fridge already =)
- Sit and relax while they get to your!!!!
Our Save The Dates were one of the first tangible pieces of wedding to-do’s we got to experience. Although we have our venue and the majority of our vendors choosing, creating, and mailing our save the dates seemed so “Official”. And when you are planning your wedding-official is an awesome way to feel!
Don’t forget to follow our friends from In Your Favor Online:
Congratulations on getting married! I might try that with my girlfriend, when the time comes…lol I’ll be sharing this link with her!
Author
thank you!!! yes totally share it!
Save the date cards are so important- families need to plan. I like simple, clean designs.
Author
yes agreed! we all need to plan.
These are beautiful! Love it!
Author
thank you!!!! i love them too
Oh my gosh I love this! Love that whole wedding book!
xoxo Christie
http://www.icanstyleu.com/blog/
Author
Thank you! It is my life line!!!
Save the Dates are essential! I feel like its a bit of a lost art right now in the wedding industry, but this guide really shows everyone how simple and effective they can be. (And they turned out beautiful!)
Author
I totally agree! There are parts of the “traditional” wedding planning I have refused to loose-one being the save the dates. and Thank you we sure love them too
There are so many ideas out there, the choice can be overwhelming! Some great tips here!
These are great ideas for save the date. I would definitely utilize your tips
I love this!!!! I will have to let my friends know!
Author
Thank you!
I got really lucky for my Save the Dates because my best friend is a graphic designer and immediately wanted to design all of our wedding stationery. It was really fun to work with a friend because he was super intuitive with everything and just kind of knew what I would like. One big mistake I made that I always feel really bad about is that I accidentally told him the final guest count and didn’t factor in households versus individuals. So he made waaay more STDs than I actually needed. It’s fine though, I just have a bunch of extras lol
As someone who makes designs for a living, these are indeed great guide lines to live by! It is indeed so important to review the design and to be absolutely sure this is what you have in mind – it makes the joy of the end result so much better!
Author
thank you!
I love the magnetic Save the Date notices as, like say, they stay up front and center in our fridge. These are so cute and exciting to create, I’d imagine 💕
Congrats! I love magnet save the dates and scratch-offs, but nothing beats save the date cookies.
Author
omg that is such a great idea