If you’re excited about your big day and want to make sure that everyone can attend, the first step to letting them know dates and details is your save the date cards.

Save the date cards are an ideal way to let all your nearest and dearest know that you’ve put the date in the diary and you’d like them to do the same!

There are many mistakes you can make when you are planning your personalised wedding stationery. We have detailed our top tips to make sure you don’t fall out of favour with your guests before they have even arrived for your ceremony.

Delivering the news!

Your friends and family will be excited to receive information on your upcoming nuptials, two regular mistakes for brides are:

Not sending a card

If you don’t send save the date cards it’s likely that your friends and family will add other things to their diary before they receive their official wedding invitation.

Sending only an electronic save the date

Relatives that are not au fait with the electronic world will not thank you for this one – in fact, they may not even have an email address you can send the save the date reminder to. Likewise, that friend who receives numerous amounts of emails a day won’t necessarily see your important announcement in their inbox. What if your email goes into the Spam folder?

Timing of your send

It’s advisable to send your cards between 6-12 months before the wedding date to make sure no one books in their annual holiday abroad instead of joining you at your wedding.

Sending your cards too early

If you send your cards within 6 months of the date it’s likely that diaries will already be booked up and before you know it, you’ll be sending out your wedding invitations.

Sending your cards too late

If you send your cards over a year before your wedding date, people will not have the date in their current diary or calendar and may well miss the card when they are filling up their appointments for the year ahead.

Etiquette

When you are considering buying your personalised wedding stationery, you may think that the invitations is the most likely place you can wrongfoot yourself when it comes to etiquette. This is not the case! It’s easy to misstep when it comes to etiquette on your save the date cards.

Sending them to people you’re not sure you want to attend

If you’re not sure you want that argumentative Uncle to attend then it’s probably best to consider this before you send out your cards. Anyone that receives a save the date card will expect a wedding invitation.

Being unclear about who’s invited

If you want a child-free wedding this is probably the best time to let people know as it will give them time to organise childcare. If you aren’t inviting plus ones for your friends – tell them now rather than when their partner has booked the day off work to attend.

Including your gift list

Including your guest list at this stage looks a little bit ‘gimmie, gimmie’ – it is best to wait until later on to let guests know where they can find your gift registry. If you have already set up a wedding website this is fine to include on all your personalised wedding stationery as you can manage the timing of information more centrally.

Overthinking the design

If you get too fussy with your design it just won’t resonate with your guests! If you are in any date research personalised wedding stationery ideas on social media, or consult with your printers who will be able to advise on the ideal design for your big day.

Include all relevant information

Most importantly, make sure you include all relevant information on your save the date cards. The name of the bridge and groom, the day and full date of the ceremony, any contact details that may be relevant.

Typography and print

When you are considering your wedding stationery printing, it’s often a good idea to consider using the same design throughout. It’s also important to make sure the design is clear and the typography can be easily read.