Bride-to-be Blogger Kristy: Putting Together—and Sending Out—Our Save-the-Dates!

Kristy and Eric's save-the-date!

I had this deadline set in my head after we secured our wedding date and reception: end of September. Our save-the-dates would be sent out by then, thereby informing guests about our Big Day 10 months in advance.

Some might consider this a bit excessive, but with guests traveling from across the country and our wedding occurring in the mist of vacation season, I thought it was acceptable. Acceptable for guests to receive our save-the-dates, then, sure. Acceptable for us to compile them, address them, and get all the necessary information for guests’ reference? Not acceptable in my set timeframe.

I completely underestimated the information and preparation that goes into a save-the-date. So, here’s some insight as to what took me so long, and what should really go into this for your guests:

• A picture of us. Eric and I had a friend of mine, Nicole Mitchell take photos of us when we visited Eric’s grandparent’s farm in the beginning of the summer. We always knew we wanted pictures taken there; that it would the perfect backdrop. Plus, she did an amazing job.
• Our date and location of the ceremony and reception. Thankfully, after our long search, we had found the perfect venue for our ceremony and reception and secured the date.
• A wedding website with information for guests. I researched a few different websites, and decided to organize mine through The Knot since I already had an account set up with them and I liked their templates.
• Then, I noticed some more research would be necessary to share on the site, such as: hotel information, registry information, and a bridal party. We spaced these tasks out and I enlisted the help of my parents to scope out hotels. Eric and I researched necessary items for our registry, took inventory of our household items, and set out to register! And we asked our bridal party to share in our beautiful day.
• A guest list. Thankfully, my sister and Eric’s brother both married within the past five years, so their invite lists were used as starting point for us.

Well, six weeks after my originally anticipated delivery date, our save-the-dates are finally in the mail! In a way, they forced me to make decisions and check things off our overall wedding check list. Plus, it’s a nice reminder to guests, in between our engagement party and the Big Day! Now, hopefully they all remember to ‘save the date’ to celebrate our marriage!

Was there information that you forgot to include in your save-the-date? What was the most helpful information for your guests to have at that point?

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