Reasons why I hate Save the Dates:
Pointless and waste of time
You can tell the modern guests via email/wedding website and the older guests (like your parents friends) through word of mouth. Good news is most people are internet proficient and those who aren't probably only expect official invitations.
Waste of money
Let's say you are sending out 100 Save the Dates. Let's also assume they are simple one sheet cards (i.e. small and light). You are already looking at $44 for the postage alone! If the cards are $1.50 each, which is towards the lower end btw, that means your total cost is already around $200 after tax.
Alternatively, you could do postcard Save the Dates. For 100 of those, you are looking at about $130 for cards, postage and tax (postcard postage is $0.29 each).
I will not be sending Save the Date cards whenever I get around to having a wedding. In my opinion, that is another $130 I could put towards my shoes. It is a very easy decision when you frame it by the question "shoes I get to keep or piece of paper that will go in the trash?"
Check out the USPS First Class Postage page for more details on mailing invitations!
Hi Briana,
ReplyDeleteI recently got married at a location where probably 65% of my guests were from out of town.
Save the Dates are a great way to say officially, 'you're invited' while giving guests longer than 6 weeks to book the hotel/flight etc. A lot of out of towners won't start booking until they have official confirmation of their invitation, and a Save the Date lets them know that they will be receiving an invitation soon. This is not as useful, however when most of your guests live in the area, and then a save the date is probably not necessary.
Also, if you have a wedding website a Save the Date is a great way to let people know about the website, which can provide the wedding guests with additional travel information.
Marie
Hi Marie,
ReplyDeleteFirst, thanks for commenting! You bring up a great point - Save the Dates are helpful in giving out of town guests more time to plan. However, based on my hypothetical guest list, most of the out of town guests will be family (easily reached by word of mouth) or young internet savvy people (a quick email can do).
In my case, I have a very talkative mother (sisters, cousins, etc) and many friends who forget to check their actual mail boxes but always are looking at their virtual ones so Save the Dates are an unnecessary expense. Instead, I will send out my invitations closer to the 8 week mark rather than 6 and most likely create a fun e-card announcing the engagement and wedding website.
As Melinda and I play our favorite game of "Let's Plan a Wedding," we always try to find ways to save money so we can have lovely weddings without spending a fortune. Anything that is not mandatory should be up for evaluation to make sure your event fits your needs and desires. Prioritizing could mean the difference between a DJ and an amazing live band without increasing the budget!