Save the dates

We've gone for a sort of destination wedding - it's in the UK but in Cornwall which is a heck of a journey for most of our guests, and only a 50 person package.

We sent save the dates to our immediate family and bridal party as soon as we booked the venue, and then to anyone else who we felt really confident we definitely wouldn't change our minds on (most of these people were contenders for spots in the wedding party). You never know how early someone might want to book a holiday, and we didn't want anyone crucial booking anything over our wedding date simply because they didn't know!

We've held back about 1/4 of our spots and we're deciding on those a year in advance, as that's still plenty of time to save a date, but we wanted to leave ourselves a buffer for anyone new in our lives who may suddenly become super important to us or anyone currently close that might fizzle out as the wedding's a way off and spots are limited. Also a few of our wedding party are currently single but could well be in a serious relationship by the time of the wedding so we wanted to be mindful of that. Basically, we didn't want to regret allocating them all too early !

I haven't done RSPVs for save the dates, but I have mentioned to people in a more casual way that we're really hoping anyone who discovers they can't go tells us ASAP as we'd need to give anyone who's filling their spot notice.

We're also planning on doing our formal invites early around 6months in advance for this reason - anyone definitely coming should probably be booking or have booked accommodation around this point so it's a little reminder nudge for them, but if we get any declines its still enough time for someone new to make plans to join.

Hope that helps!

I would say send now and put some wording in to make it clear they will need to fund themselves as i assume they will need to find accomodation/flights etc. we asked thaat if anyone knew now thye couldnt come to let us know ASAP so we could then re work out guest list,

Just my opinion but I think more than 2 and a half years before the wedding is probably a bit early for a Save the Date (that's a long time to ask someone to keep it on the fridge lol). For the sake of 30 people, you can just as easily mention it casually so they know to start saving (and are mindful of booking any holiday) and can wait to send the Save the Date until the planning is actually in full swing. Save the Dates are also not the traditional time to send the RSVPs, these would go with the actual invites. Most people would be inclined to let you know if they definitely couldn't make it before this time anyway out of courtesy.

Hi Rachel,

Im Hannah the Community Manager here on Hitched! I recently did a live Q&A on our Hitched Instagram page where I mentioned about Save the Dates for destination weddings so please feel free to drop me a message if you want me to send that over to you!

However, overall I think for a destination wedding, it is never too early to send a Save the Date, especially if you want your guests to save up in time for the wedding (it's also a great first step in creating a buzz for your big day!)

Save the Dates tend to only hold basic info (in this case the date and destination) and just keeps the date fresh in everyone's head and they can officially start preparing. You can also use the Wedding Website feature further down the line to communicate further with the guests!

Then the invitations can be sent nearer to the time once you have more organised.

Take a look at our Hitched Stationery Save the Date range to get some inspo! You can custom design the invites and you can also order a FREE sample

Please feel free to drop me a message or respond to this thread if you want anymore advice!

Hannah x

We're getting married at Loch Lomond but live in Norfolk, and most of our guests have got a pretty long journey - some from France! Because of this, we sent out our invites (we didn't bother with Save the Dates as we wanted everyone to know as much info as possible, as soon as possible) literally within days of booking our venue.

We figured this way the guests have plenty of time to figure out whether or not they can make it, get the time off work etc. considering the distance, and we've had a really good response in the month since we've sent them, with over 80% of our RSVPs back already.

I like the idea of Save the Dates, but in your scenario, I'd personally skip them in favour of sending out your invites earlier, so people can have a better idea of what they're committing to.

We sent ours the second week of February, and we're getting married in late October, so around 8 months before. We would have sent them a bit earlier, but the printers for the invites were a nightmare, and we had to send them back couple of times for reprints...

We were originally going to hold off because we weren't sure of the ceremony time too, but after a quick chat with the lady at the venue, she informed us that it was pretty much up to us when the ceremony was - they wouldn't force us to stick to a particular schedule (although it seems like most ceremonies start at 2 or 2.30 at that venue, which helped).

It might be worth having a bit of a chat with the venue about what they do normally, and thinking about when you'd like to start, as I think people prefer to know as far in advance as possible - there are always some people who are bound to cut their timings a bit fine, even when you're abroad!

Incidentally, we also provided a lot of extra information on the wedding website we set up through Hitched, which all of our guests have commented on being really appreciative of!