What would my fridge be without all your Save the Dates?
Save the Dates are yet another way for the wedding industry to make money off of innocent brides and grooms. The practical purpose behind Save the Dates is for your guests to know ahead of time when your wedding is so they can revolve their entire years’ plans around that date. This concept makes sense for weddings where you have out of town guests because they need hotel information and need to make plans in advance, but other than that...what is really the point?
If you are my friend who is important enough to make the A-list, and you live locally, can’t you remember my wedding date without having to see my face on a magnet every morning before you eat your Special K? Can’t my aunt remember this date if she remembers to send me birthday cards every year? If someone can’t remember your (most important day of your life that you've been dreaming about since age 6) wedding date, do you really need them there?
All these people who receive your Save the Dates found their way to your communion/bar mitzvah, high school graduation party and even your engagement party without being notified in advance. We are pretty sure they will find the way to your wedding, even if its only because of the open bar and sushi during cocktail hour.
Ok…since we aren’t going to convince the entire industry to be rid of Save the Dates, instead we advise to either keep it simple or on the other end, get really creative. There’s nothing worse than thinking you are sending something smart and creative and everyone is making fun of you behind your back because they've seen it done so many times. Spend some time and think of a creative way to announce your wedding date – something that cannot be easily found on google.
If you aren’t creative, keep it simple. Send a simple small card with the important details. Something simple and classy always works in these situations. Also, if you are going to send something, a great idea is to go green and not harm the environment.
This site has all things green.
Now to make the brides happy and because we know you spent hours going through pictures for your magnet and choosing the exact wording, we will proudly hang your Save the Dates on the fridge (or at least make sure it’s there when you come over…)
Tell us the creative Save the Dates you’ve received.
Email save the dates – trendy or tacky?
Email save the dates – trendy or tacky?
10 comments:
I e-mailed our "save the dates." Nobody complained of some great etiquette breach, but then again, the people who live life according to strict social conventions aren't exactly our crowd.
E-mail is paperless, and it's easy to track who has replied and who hasn't. And free. Don't underestimate the power of "free" on what is also likely the most expensive day of your life.
Finally, if you're a design geek, you could always design a digital "Save the date" card and e-mail that out. There's still no postage required.
I think the purpose for Save the Dates, at least for the non-MTV generation is to see a reminder that is printed out and in front of their face. An email Save the Date may work better for younger people who may print it out or write the info in their own calendar, but that is the same as the bride telling her friends and them remembering (as they should) The "green" invite is a reat idea...
Question about emailing "save the date" info...how do you let a guest know if they are going to be invited with a date? I recently received a friend's save the date email which attached their wedding website with hotel/travel info, but how can I make plans without knowing if I'll be invited with a date?
If you are going to be invited with a date, it would likely say it on the Save the Date. Brides, chime in if this is not correct.
I am also not a lover of save the dates. They are being used instead of engagement announcements, for gifts. If you don't receive a save the date one year, or more in advance of the wedding I guess you won't be invited. It seems foolish and premature to have to make this decision now.
how about useful save the dates? like my best friend who decided to send a small sample bag of coffee with a sticker on it with all the main deets. i enjoyed the coffee and recorded the date, and was done with it... not that it's the green initiative... maybe next time, someone will send me a reusable bag, let's just pray it isn't splashed with their face for me tote around the market!
We have lots of people coming in from out of town and as soon as the word got out, people were asking about hotels, etc. So we put together a website with the information and sent out the Save the Date card ASAP. The card's primary use was to direct out-of-towners to the website for travel planning. We went with a card and a Post-it reminder in the hopes that it would be a useful reminder...mostly a reminder about getting travel plans made early to save money!
http://stuartandmichele.wordpress.com/2009/05/18/save-the-date-cards-in-the-mail/
What a fun blog you two have :)
Great post! I definitely think STds are one of those low priority items (like you said...your guests probably managed to make it your other events) but a lot of brides seem to take pride in DIYing their own STDs. I definitely some sort of note, paper or paperless is needed if you're planning a destination wedding or if you have a lot of guests traveling. It takes time to make travel plans and to take days off work.
My sister and I created my STD's since she is very useful when it comes to Illustrator. They are actually cards with a strip of labels on them that are small stickers. The stickers can be put in dayplanners or on calendars as a simple reminder. And of course, our main purpose was to direct them to our website for all the details, travel info & such. Web sites are a great way to get people excited about your wedding and STD's are the best way to point them there...even if it is in an e-mail. Check it out: (The blank circles will be filled in with pics from our engagement session and the whole card will be mounted on a red border cardstock)
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v202/jorypory77/Wedding/STD.jpg
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