This is a collaborative post: Once you’ve celebrated your engagement, it’s time to focus your attention and energy into the planning of your special day. Personalised save the date cards provide the perfect way to let your family and friends know that you’re officially announcing the date of your nuptials. This pre-wedding invite gives your guests the heads up, and a hint of the wedding style and theme.
The Facts
As more and more couples are choosing to swap the traditional church wedding, for a wedding ceremony that takes place in a beautiful destination location, or over the course of a long weekend, it’s become necessary to inform guests of wedding plans well in advance.
If you’re tying the knot during the peak holiday season, it’s crucial that you send out your pre-wedding notifications before guests have time to make their summer travel plans. Giving them advance notice means that your loved ones have plenty of time to change their holiday dates and busy schedules, so that they are free and available to attend your wedding celebration.
The bespoke personalised pre-wedding invite should be sent to everyone on your VIP guest list. If you send someone a card, you’re committed to also sending a follow-up official invitation to the main event.
The Basics
Just like with other items of your elegant and luxurious wedding stationery, the pre-wedding invite requires specific information to be included.
It’s important to include your and your partner’s names, the date of the wedding, and the location (a town or city). These details are sufficient for your guests to make plans to join you on your big day.
Also add a note that a formal invitation will follow.
If you have a wedding website, you can also include a link so that guests can get more in-depth information about the ceremony and reception venue, the location, and your timetable of events.
The Style & Design Options
Unlike other more formal items of wedding stationery (like the wedding invite or thank you cards), personalised save the date cards give you complete freedom to show off your personality, sense of humour and style, as a couple.
You can play around with colours, motifs or fonts to create something that is unique and attention grabbing. Express your artistic talents and creativity by decorating your pre-wedding invites with a photo montage/collage, elegant watercolour calligraphy, or a map. Alternatively, you can share your love story via a custom illustration or a cute infographic. Embellish with beautiful borders, flower crowns, overlays, laser cutting, metallic foiling or other design elements that you find visually appealing.
And just because this pre-wedding invite is identified as a ‘card’, it doesn’t mean that you have to rigidly stick to traditional design. If you prefer, you can create a one-of-a-kind design that incorporates a photograph or image with text that’s presented in a unique way to reflect your personalities. For a destination wedding, you can create a paper aeroplane, a travel ticket, a map, or a luggage tag to convey your message.
Popular creative pre-wedding invite alternative options include: keepsake bookmarks, postcards, sticker style magnets, coasters, corks, printed balloons, tea towels, cartoon strip comic books, and personalised handkerchiefs. The style and design options list is as vast as your imagination.
The Etiquette
In keeping with general wedding etiquette rules, it’s recommended that you inform your family and friends, of your intention to get hitched, six months prior to the wedding date. Add on another two months (making it eight) if you’re planning to wed your beloved in a ceremony held in an exotic faraway destination.
By sending personalised save the date cards you are giving guests plenty of time to schedule time off work, to make their travel arrangements, and to budget appropriately.
Make sure that you send the cards to the VIPs on your list. Be clear about who’s invited to join you on your wedding day. Include the name of your guest on the card and the envelope, so that there is no room for confusion – especially if you’re not including plus ones.
If you’re planning an adults-only affair, a pre-wedding invite lets families know that they will need to make alternative childcare arrangements for their offspring.
It’s also thoughtful to provide helpful and practical information, inside your card, so that each guest has all the details that they need to book travel tickets and a hotel room.
Although the digital age has greatly impacted on the way, and the speed, in which we communicate, most couples choose to stick with tradition when informing guests of their wedding plans. While it is acceptable to send email invitations to your VIP guests, there’s still nothing quite like receiving personalised save the date cards in the post.
If you do opt to send e-invites, it’s worth considering doubling up on your efforts. Send a customised pre-wedding invite to relatives and friends who appreciate elegant design and love luxury stationery, or to anyone that you know will treasure having a keepsake of your special day.
The Change Of Plan
Due to the pandemic, many couples had to postpone their wedding plans.
In the event of unexpectedly needing to change your wedding date, it’s good etiquette to spread the word as soon as possible. You can send out personalised change the date cards, or an email message. Keep guests in the loop by updating the information listed on your wedding website.