Out of the country 'save the dates' How early is too early??

[torsie24]

Think my title says it all....

As you can see on my ticker my wedding is a while off, but in these times of financial hardship is a 2 year save-the-date too early?

Also, I know we'll have to do like a "dont book flights yet, we dont have a deifnite date" type sentence in it, and then at 12 months we can send official invites with dates and hotels etc....

 

[ElleBren]

I would do more of a hey we are engaged and are planning on getting married in WDW in this month of this year, so start saving. Then when you sign your contract disney will send their save the dates with everything they will need to know.

 

[orangetiggs]

we did ours about 18 months out. I made magnets and a newsletter for people and then as soon as the prices were out people started booking

 

[Pomlover2586]

I sent mine 9 months out.......because we got married on a Tuesday! I agree with PP if your date with disney is not confirmed sent out a notice announcing your engagement, and the year you'll be getting married and let people know to star saving now. Then when your date is confirmed you can send save the dates

 

[torsie24]

Cool, thanks guys!

We're going to go for a quiet time of year, so hopefully we can nail it down to a certain month/week.

I'm sure i'll be back for wording help!

 

[TiggerificSox]

I'd say let people know as far in advance as you can! Maybe a quick email, phone call, or letter saying your engaged, and what your plans are. That way those who want to be there will definitely make it and not have to worry about money!

 

[MegKate]

I'd say let people know as far in advance as you can! Maybe a quick email, phone call, or letter saying your engaged, and what your plans are. That way those who want to be there will definitely make it and not have to worry about money!

That's what we did. Especially with this economy. Although the people coming from out of country are from Canada, which is the next town over so I'm not sure this qualifies as "out of country".

I really focused my efforts on the people I really want to come (i.e. close family) and/or the people I knew would have to budget for it (i.e. all my broke college friends!). HTH!

 

[torsie24]

Thanks for all your replies guys! You've pretty much all echoed what Dbf and I have said.

I think once we're officially engaged, we'll have a bit of a metting with my dad, just to confrim he's happy with the WDW plan (dread to think what'll happen if he isnt!) and then we'll send out "We're getting married in florida in this week/month cards".

Probably will be about 2 years before the date, but then at 12 months I'll know who is likely to come and who doesnt want to and then I can really go to town with invitation packs with hotel and flight info and stuff!

 

[MegKate]

Thanks for all your replies guys! You've pretty much all echoed what Dbf and I have said.

I think once we're officially engaged, we'll have a bit of a metting with my dad, just to confrim he's happy with the WDW plan (dread to think what'll happen if he isnt!) and then we'll send out "We're getting married in florida in this week/month cards".

Probably will be about 2 years before the date, but then at 12 months I'll know who is likely to come and who doesnt want to and then I can really go to town with invitation packs with hotel and flight info and stuff!

Sounds like a good plan!

 

[torsie24]

Ok, so ive been thinking about this waaaaay too much.

Do you ever get people to reply to S-t-Ds? Seems wierd as they would then have to reply again to the official invites.....

I'm making this sooo much more complicated than it needs to be!!

And how do I make it clear without being offensive that I'm not playing for peoples flights or hotels?

I want to do little luggage tag ones with a card and a magnet, but maybe I need to do a letter with them.

 

[ElleBren]

Well I'm not sure why they would think you would pay for their flights or hotel. I mean its a wedding, when we get invited to other weddings we don't expect that to happen. I mean no one should expect that.

 

[Beep]

We had a reply to one STD to say they weren't coming. YAY!! It was my brother and is wife - shame about my brother but not her.

We only had 9 guests so we spoke to and emailed people when we knew some details. We knew what month and week we would be getting married so told them around 18 months out. Once we had the date confirmed I sent STD magnets to them. We are also going to send an offical invite (personalised card rather than a formal invite) later in the year and decided against the newsletter I did.

There was a load of information in there, including the wedding meal details but we won't know for definite if we can get the restaurant and time we want. I'm going to split it down so we can send general info earlier and then the specifics later.

Only 2 of our guests have been to Disney before so I want to include a load of what we would class as basic info.

 

[torsie24]

We had a reply to one STD to say they weren't coming. YAY!! It was my brother and is wife - shame about my brother but not her.

We only had 9 guests so we spoke to and emailed people when we knew some details. We knew what month and week we would be getting married so told them around 18 months out. Once we had the date confirmed I sent STD magnets to them. We are also going to send an offical invite (personalised card rather than a formal invite) later in the year and decided against the newsletter I did.

There was a load of information in there, including the wedding meal details but we won't know for definite if we can get the restaurant and time we want. I'm going to split it down so we can send general info earlier and then the specifics later.

Only 2 of our guests have been to Disney before so I want to include a load of what we would class as basic info.

Cool! Thanks alex - you have it all sorted perfectly!

As a lot of our friends have only jut left uni I want to give people as much saving tim as possible.

The most daunting task about the whole wedding to me is the invites - and how to get across different messages - like they have to pay their own way, and cant bring plus ones, etc. etc.

The whole reason I wouldn't have a UK wedding though is so at least I only have to worry about 30 invites and not 200!!

I am very very VERY excited to do big information packs for people though! I want to make like a whole mini brochure for them! And I'm going to get them all park maps and everything! I keep getting tempted to start! 2 years out....

I really need a life!!

 

[Beep]

Cool! Thanks alex - you have it all sorted perfectly!

The most daunting task about the whole wedding to me is the invites - and how to get across different messages - like they have to pay their own way, and cant bring plus ones, etc. etc.

I really need a life!!

This is your life from now on lady!!

On the page I did about the wedding details I made it clear about what was included and what wasn't by wording it the right way.

I put that they would be collected and taken to various locations, and that transport and lunch was pre-arranged and courtesy of DF and me. I said that we would like to meet for a meal the night before the wedding and that the venue we picked catered for all tastes and wallets. I also put that we were having a meal at Le Cellier on the night, and people were more than welcome to join us. I put that for anyone on the Disney Dining Plan Le Cellier could be paid for in points, and that they also took travellers cheques along with credit cards.

I thought that by wording that way it was clear that they would need to pay for the meal the night before the wedding and the meal on the night if they joined us.

I can send you the newsletter if you like

 

[torsie24]

Wow, that would be awesome, thankyou!

I'll PM you now!