Save the date invitations are becoming quite useful in helping to organize wedding events. Traditionally, a save the date announcement was often used to give your guests a “heads-up” if your wedding date was scheduled near important holidays, destination weddings or just after Labor Day when many were returning from their vacation.

Today, the save the date invitation has become far more vital in setting the stage for weddings. People’s schedules are far more complicated and your guests appreciate and, in many cases, expect advance notice to line up important events. Save the date invitations sent six months before the wedding are quite usual and many stationers report that invitations are often sent a year before the wedding.

With a bit of forward planning, a well-orchestrated save the date invitation can be a powerful organizing tool. Specifically, travel and accommodation information can be included with your announcement. This useful information has a tendency to energize your guests who like to lock-in hotel accommodations and make advance airplane reservations to save on fares. Having the right information at their fingertips will be appreciated.

There’s a common misconception that the save the date invite must be coordinated with the wedding invitation. This is simply not the case. Most qualified stationers counsel using an informal invitation that sets the tone for the wedding event. For example, a beach scene for an island destination wedding, colorful leafs for a New England Fall wedding or maybe a rodeo scene for a western-style wedding.

The announcement need not be costly, even a cute postcard will do, but it is a handy opportunity to help include much needed logistical info that your guest will find useful. Planning in advance and crafting a save the date invitation that sets the tone for your wedding will create a sense of excitement well before your guests receive their wedding invitation.

For more practical information on wedding invitations, please get your FREE Wedding Invitation Guide.

Sheila May owns of Therese Saint Clair, a stationery store located in Greenwich, CT. She often writes about wedding invitations and the way to use save the date invitations to help in organizing weddings.