Do I HAVE to send a Save the Date?
While No, Save the Dates are not a necessity, they are a preferable, courteous way to say to all of your guests "hey, we're getting married and we'd really like for you to be there, so start planning!" If you are getting married on a holiday weekend or having a destination wedding you should without a doubt send a Save the Date to ensure your guests have adequate time to plan for travel/accommodation and to just not make other plans over the 4th of July or their Labor Day weekend. If they don't know they're invited to the wedding until a few months before the wedding, you can't necessarily blame them for not being able to afford flights because they're too expensive or maybe they decided to travel over that long weekend already. So basically, yes ... SEND THE SAVE THE DATE!
Who do I send them to?
A Save the Date should be sent to every guest whom will be extended an invitation to the main event.
Guests over the age of 18 who are still living at home should be sent a separate save the date.
How do I address them?
Be as clear as possible on Save the Dates and Invitations. If you're allowing a friend a plus one, let them know when you send the Save the Date! (sidebar: try to find out their name before you send out the invitation as well)
Save the Dates should be addressed with professional, full names and nicknames or Initials should not be used unless the envelope doesn't allow room. In that case, professional titles such as Dr., Rev. and Capt. can be used but keep guests full names.
Write our abbreviations completely to account for Post Office Box, Lane, Southeast, Apartment, etc.
Mister and Misses however should be abbreviated as (Mr. , Mrs.) (sidebar: Ms. is used for single females over 18 and Miss if they are younger)
Adding 'and family' can be confusing. Write out precisely who is invited to avoid an awkward conversation when RSVP's come back.
Print return address on the back of the envelope but not names.
What should be included on a Save the Date?
Basic information for a Save the Date should include....
the date of the event
location (state and city)
personalized website addresses
also it's great to add bride and groom names + 'invitation to follow' which my husband and I did not as you will see below. hahaha I guess we figured our names were on our website/the address so it wasn't necessary.
We gave that up for the format to look correct. You just do what you have to for the sake of 'the look' sometimes.
