As engagement season is getting back into swing with our new normal, a question I got during spring from several semi-anxious brides were: When should we send out our Save the Dates?!

The good news is, you don’t have to send it super super far in advance! YAY!

I know most of my couples wait to send their Save the Dates until after their engagement photos have been taken so they can use their favorite portrait on the Save the Date. For those of you in the same boat, waiting until after your engagement session but also getting antsy about sending out your Save the Dates, here’s your reassurance:

You don’t need to send out Save the Dates over a year ahead of time or anything like that 😉 Here are my recommendations and the usual timeline for sending out save the dates!

I recommend to my couples who are having a DESTINATION wedding, to send out Save the Dates 8-12 months ahead of time so your guests can prepare and make travel arrangements.

For the Couples who are having their wedding at home but have many guests coming in from out of town, I recommend sending out your Save the Dates about 6-8 months ahead of time. This gives them time to look into their travel arrangements and gives you time to make hotel blocks close to your venue!

For a local wedding with guests mainly living in the local area, you can wait to send your Save the Dates even just 4 months before the wedding. I would recommend sending it 6 months earlier if your wedding falls on an important day like Memorial Day, Christmas or NYE Weekend, or any holiday just to make sure your guests are aware of your wedding date and don’t have plans yet for the holiday weekend 🙂

Now you don’t HAVE TO send out Save the Dates if you don’t want to, it’s great and recommended for guests who live further away from your wedding location so they get a heads up to plan time off, travel and budgeting for that. However for a guest list mostly located at home, close to your wedding, just feel free to send only invitations! 🙂

Invitations are normally sent out 8 weeks ahead of the wedding day so you can start collecting RSVP’s and gathering a final head count for your wedding planner and caterer/bakery.

Don’t stress out if you feel far behind, I promise, majority of the times you are right on time! And if you are behind, it’s OKAY! We know times are strange right now with many postponed weddings and if you send out Save the Dates one month before your invitations, that’s OKAY! That’s still extra time your guests got information and besides, who doesn’t love some snail mail with a cute photo of you and your groom on it? 😉

Bride to be, if you liked this post, you might love:

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