Save The Date Invitation for your Destination Wedding
What is a Destination Wedding Save The Date?
A Save the Date invitation is typically sent out by future wedding couples to alert thier guests about the details of their upcoming wedding. The Save the Date process for a destination wedding can be a little different than a local wedding. With a destination wedding, you want to give your guests as much time in advance as possible to the wedding date as there are travel plans that they will need to organize. There can be more details with a destination wedding too, so having your guests fully informed as far in advance as possible can set the stage for your entire planning process.
Email Save the Date vs Paper Save the Date
In many cases, an e-Save The Date (email) can be used instead of paper and then you can follow up with Formal Wedding Invitations in the mail at a later date. Sending your Save the Date by email has many benefits as they can be emailed quickly and can allow couples to link their wedding website directly online so guests can simply click through and see all the details of your destination wedding. Particularly if you want to do formal wedding invitations in the mail, an e-Save the Date can save you the hassle of having to mail out two rounds of invitations. The benefit of paper Save the Dates is mostly in the aesthetics, if you are looking for a more formal visual presentation or a keepsake.
Save the Date by: papertailscustom.com
Save the Date vs Traditional Wedding Invitations
We typically recommend that our couples use a Save the Date with the intention of informing guests of their high level wedding plans as early as possible. The Save the Date should be brief and should dictate what you want your guests to do next (ie. visit your wedding website, place their travel booking, lookout for formal wedding invitations in the mail etc). Formal wedding invitations should be more elaborate and include the details of your wedding day. If you send your Save the Date out in advance, you can take your time creating and mailing your dream wedding invitations.
What to include on your Save The Date
Basic information: This includes the wedding couples names and wedding date.
Wedding Location: If your wedding is at a venue that is different from the resort that you'd like your guests to stay at, you may specify both locations. If it is a destination wedding, you should also clarify where in the world your venue is located!
Wedding Website: You may wish to set up a website on The Knot, Zolo or any website that offers a template service. Coral Destination Weddings offers a complimentary wedding website and you can use it as your primary wedding website or your functioning room block website where guests can place their travel booking online.
Instructions: We recommend that you clarify what you want your guests to do. We typically encourage guests to visit your Coral Destination Weddings website where they can get full details about the resort, wedding day and booking process. If you are not doing formal wedding invitations, you may use your Save the Date to instruct guests to provide an RSVP so that you can determine attendance.
Formal Invitations to follow: Some couples will only do a Save the Date; however, if you'd like to follow a more traditional method of wedding planning, you would then follow with formal wedding invitations down the line.
Coral Destination Weddings Exclusive offerings:
All Coral couples will recieve a complimentary optional e-Save the Date and template email showing how to send send the Save The Date.
All Coral couples will recieve a complimentary functioning wedding website which allows guests to view all the details about the resort, wedding and booking process. It also allows your guests to place their room reservation online, make payments towards their room and book extras like travel insurance or airport transportation.
As part of our tried and true process, we recommend that our couples send the e-Save the Date out as far in advance as possible which directs guests to their wedding website where they can get all the details they will need. This process has proven to provide a solid foundation for planning a stress-free destination wedding!
Tiered Guest List
Many of our couples express anxiety about sending out their destination wedding Save the Date to too many people at once. They are concerned that attendance will be too high for their venue or thier budget. In this situation, we recommend using a “Tiered Guest List” process. You can split your guest list into multiple categories such as primary, secondary and so on. If you are sending an e-Save the Date, it is easy to control your guest list because you can send the first round of Save the Dates and then based on guest feedback, you can determine what the attendance will be like and send out the second round etc. A “Tiered Guest List” is a great way of managing the outcome of your guest list and managing your budget.
Sample Email (attach the e-Save the Date to this email and bcc your guests)
Dear Family and Friends,
Attached to this email is our Save the Date Invitation for our wedding in Mexico! We would be thrilled if you could join us for this special day. Please click the link below to visit our destination wedding website, which includes all the details about the resort where we are holding the celebration. Our wedding website also includes an online group booking system where you can click on the "Room Deposit Form" in order to secure your room at our wedding resort.
www.coraldestinationweddings.com/example-wedding-website
Password: wedding
We sincerely hope you can join us on this leg of our journey! Formal invitations to follow in the mail.
With love,
Jane and John
Conclusion
We find couples who set the stage early with clear instructions on their Save the Date that specify what they would like their guests to do, will have the easiest planning process! The Save the Date should not be elaborate or difficult, it should be simple and strategic to allow your guests clarity on how they will participate in your destination wedding.