How Soon to Send a save the Date E-mail??

Send one now so people can get a discount on hotels. Then a formal invite at 3 months prior. I would LOVE to hav this much notice and we would schedule you in.

At least three months for anyone who has to make major travel plans, maybe 4. I know I could NEVER fly out for something without several months warning, and even then I pretty much can't afford to. If I am driving somewhere that is going to take me at least a day, I need a few months' warning since I will need a hotel and to figure out travel costs and time off from work. If it is something local and all I need to worry about is a possible sitter, then I would want at least a month's warning. If it is on an existing holiday or special occassion, at least 2 months' warning for me since I might make different plans that I couldn't change. We have a NYE party at our house every year, so I would need more warning to change that plan. Hope that helps.

Ok, the point of save the dates are mainly for those who are out of town and will need to make arrangements for travel/kids. In your instance I do agree with sending them since it falls on and around a number of large traveling holidays. Most people who would be flying in for the wedding may need to look at not traveling for the holidays and need to know to set aside funds for the travel costs early on to begin with. You can get nice and well priced save the dates from vistaprints.com my bestie had very nice ones that were sent b/c a large number of her guests were from out of town including myself.

Are most people in town or out of town? If there are travel arrangements to make and money to save, I would say send a save the date in May. If it's a lot of money to save (we attended a wedding in italy this summer), then send them as soon as possible.

Invitations can then wait until Halloween.

I would do a "save this date" then follow up with an actual confirmation email a couple of months in advance.

6 months is usually the least you want to send out a save the date. You want people to know and start planning for the event. Hope it goes great! Good luck and God Bless.

What event is it...I think that makes a difference. If it's a birthday party, non-milestone, then I would say only a month or so. If it's a big deal with people coming in from out of town then maybe 6 months? If it's a wedding then sure, any time in the next couple months.

I have had save the dates for weddings a year in advance. I think my sister sent hers out about 9 months in advance. The fridge magnets are really nice and inexpensive. That way the person has a daily reminder.

If it's going to be a huge event and since its on new years eve, maybe sending out a quarterly reminder would be good. People usually do get more than one invite and have to decide which ones to ultimately attend. I don't think you would be sending it out too soon to do it now, the years passes VERY quickly. Just follow up every three months so it stays fresh on their calendars.

I would say around Thanksgiving. Halloween if you think your family/friends will make their plans early.

ASAP....the point of the save the date is to let people know. As soon as you have the site confirmed (so the wedding won't be changed); especially for a major holiday time. Everyone will appreciate knowing, we have already started planning our Christmas trip for next year (because things book) and would suck to have to cancel. Congrats on the wedding!!