I got engaged in July of 2000 and will be getting married in July of 2002. We announced our engagement verbally in July of 2000. Should I send out save the date letters this summer so that people will remember the date? What did you girls do?
I sent out a save-the-date, only because our wedding is on a holiday weekend (memorial day)....figured our guests would appreciate advance notice on such a popular 'get-away' weekend. Generally I don't think they are necessary unless its a special weekend.
I think these 'save the date' cards/letters have become very popular lately.Personally, I think people are only using them if their wedding is on a holiday weekend, or during the summer. The reason for the advance notice is to allow proper time for your guests to plan.It is usually during these long weekends/summer that most of your guests will be planning a vacation of their own, or the high demand for hotels requires people to make reservations months ahead of time. For example I am in a friend's wedding in RI this July, and we made our reservations two months ago! I think it is a great to include a list of hotels and local attractions for your guests. My friend also included a picture of her and her fiance, along with a schedule of events for the bridal party. This was a great way to fill us in on the who, what, and when. I hope this helps!
We had over 40% of the guest list coming from out of town, so we sent a save the date letter out about 6 months in advance of our April wedding.
My thinking was to send them before people planned their annual vacations - some companies require you to submit your vacation plans early in the year, and some people may be planning in advance.
I think you said July of 2002, didn't you? For that, you may want to just include a little note or card with Holiday cards you send this December, or send something with more detail, ie: hotels, in January.
My Fi's parents had a huge engagement party for us with over 70 people...all of which will be coming to the wedding so most everyone knew the date already. I think it is really important to let your far-away guests know. You can even call them if you don't have that many people coming from far away.
I sent Save the Date notes out just recenlty (5-6) months before wedding. I only sent them to family members that I haven't spoken to in awhile. Also I have two other cousins getting married between now and my wedidng so I wanted them to not forget about me :-)
I wouldn't send them out until a couple of months ahead of time, otherwise people will just forget again.
