When is it too early to send save the dates?
Mailing save the dates too far in advance risks guests misplacing them or ignoring them because the event feels too distant. Conversely, waiting too long compresses the timeline until invites go out, leaving some to consider skipping save the dates entirely to save money and effort.
What people tried
Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.
- 1Sending save the dates a full year in advance
- 2Following general advice of 6 to 8 months for local guests and 9 to 12 months for out of town guests
- 3Skipping save-the-dates entirely and sending wedding invitations earlier than typical
- 4Giving a verbal heads-up to the most important guests while relying on normal invitation timelines
- 5Sending digital or online save-the-dates instead of traditional printed ones
- 6Sending full invitations and wedding websites immediately with a reminder message later
- 7Sending save-the-dates with limited travel info and opening up the full website and RSVPs later
- 8Sending save-the-dates with the full website details other than RSVP
In their words
Unedited, most upvoted first, each linked to the thread it came from.
“I have looked at so many threads and articles about this, I know its like beating a dead horse.”source ↗
“Our wedding is beginning of August 2027, we will have several invites being sent to people who live across the world and its right in the middle of summer vacations so we would like to get something sent out sooner than later.”source ↗
“I'm just not sure if there is an actual reason for why theres a standard way.”source ↗
“Our wedding is at the end of June in 2027, and I was thinking we'd mail our save the dates next week, Sep 19th. Is this too early?”source ↗
“I don't want to send out the Save the Dates too early in case they get misplaced or it feels too far away for people to pay attention to”source ↗
“I have only been to 3 weddings and I'm not the most well-versed on wedding etiquette, norms, etc. Would you suggest waiting, or sending them now?”source ↗
“Because of the short timeline, our save the dates and invites would be going out within two months of each other. Seems like we could cut the save the dates and just do invites, and save some money and effort.”source ↗
“Following since I’m in a similar situation - late July engagement and March 2027 wedding. Our current plan is to skip save the dates, and then send out invites 3 months before the wedding”source ↗
Where this came up
People with this problem also raised
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