You may call it Holiday Season, but if you just got engaged (congratulations!) you're deep in wedding planning, and in the wedding industry, we just call early winter: Save the Date Season. The first step in getting things going after getting engaged is choosing your venue, and after seeing what dates they have available, you, magically have a wedding date!
Our Amapola Save the Date with Matching Envelope Liner
Getting the date nailed down can be emotional, stressful, exciting, and truly makes the wedding feel very real. When Mr. Drake and I chose our date, April 16th, a few factors came into play- the availability of our venue - it was only available on a few days that year, and only on a Sunday. Then our church wouldn't marry us on that day because it was Palm Sunday, so we actually chose a different church to get married in. It worked out as the date happened to be Mr. Drake's mom's birthday, and since she had passed away, made it a fitting tribute to her. Since we had gotten engaged on NYE, I only had four and half months to plan the entire wedding, AND a move to Chicago 6 weeks after. There was a lot to do, and my timeline didn't even allow for save the dates. I just went right into invitation planning.
Our Arianna Save the Date with matching Liner and invitation suite
So, that brings us to the question - When should I send my Save the Dates? Anywhere from 6-12 months is acceptable, and I like to take a few things into consideration when helping our clients create and mail their save the dates.
Destination Wedding?
Then you'd like to mail the Save the Dates closer to the one year mark, especially if your wedding is in the busy summer travel season.
Are you mailing it around the holidays?
I would typically suggest to wait until after January 1st, as the postal system can get extremely bogged down this time of year.
Holiday or Big Event in your city
Consider sending save the dates 9-12 months in advance for holidays like New Year's Eve or Labor Day Weekend, or if a big event falls on your wedding weekend. See if a convention, marathon, or other large event is going on that weekend, as it could interfere with hotel availability in your town.
Our Botanical Magnolia Monogram Wreath Save the Date
TL;DR Send your Save the Dates anywhere from 6-12 months ahead of your wedding!
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