I threw my last post on Save The Dates out to the universe and actually got a good amount of feedback (in comments and via Facebook). Thanks guys! I wanted to share some of the comments because I think a lot of them were very helpful.

J on Facebook (who has an Etsy shop of her own you should check out) had a great idea for saving money on STD’s: “Have you checked out Etsy? My friend did the Alchemy section (http://www.etsy.com/alchemy/) and submitted a price and what she wanted- and got an awesome deal. She did invites there too.”

K on Facebook offered a great DIY suggestion: “Joe and I made save the date magnets — printed business cards, then attached them to business card sized magnets from Staples — like 250 magnets for about $40!”

Bridesmaid L & Bridesmaid E both agreed, if we think we can pass on them and it doesn’t cause us any grief, then go ahead and pass. There’s a lot of “oh but you’ve gotta do this” or “EVERYONE does that at their wedding” stuff that goes around, and we should do what we’re comfortable with.

And last but certainly least, Candy Pam said: “YES! Everyone does it now!!” 

Sooo…. where does that leave us? After some discussion, we’ve decided to skip the Save The Dates. Most guests are local, and it’s not summer vacation or a holiday weekend where they’d need extra notice. However, I do think they’re cute, and gosh darnit, even if you don’t need STD’s but you want them, then go out and get them!!! I just know they don’t rank highly with the NEPA Bride household, so we’ll be just fine without them!

Has anyone else decided to skip Save The Dates? Was it an easy decision?

I’m stuck with a bit of dilemma right now, and it has to do with these babies:

(source: Wedding Paper Divas)

(source: Wedding Paper Divas)

I’ve been agonizing over Save the Date styles and colors, even ordering samples of the 2 above (along with some invites) from WeddingPaperDivas.com. Then it occurred to me – do we even need Save the Dates?

Our wedding isn’t in a faraway land, the majority of our guests are local or already know about our plans, and we’re not going to be getting married close to a holiday. All those very good reasons for saving STDs (make your own joke this time, I’m pooped) don’t apply to us.

I also read something that made me stop and think: I’ll have to send an invitation to everyone that gets a Save the Date. I know, that sounds obvious but stay with me here. In my excitement, I’ll send out my STDs about 6 months before the wedding. Maybe some of those people will leave our office, or we’ll have a fight, or just grow apart… but they still expect an invitation to the wedding (except for the fighting. No fangz allowed at my wedding). More importantly, what if we need to slash our budget as we get closer to the big day? Of course, we don’t expect to, in fact I’m looking for ways to trim or save up extra money so we can include MORE of the people we want, since we do have to limit ourselves. We still have to prepare for the possibility of it up until we’re ready to send the actual invites. It’s much easier to cut the guest list when they haven’t already been ‘pre-invited’.

The pros to this debate are… um, I want purty papers? Ok, so there aren’t a lot. I could save a couple hundred bucks for something else in our wedding if I pass on Save the Dates. We probably will skip this, but it vexes me.

Did you have Save the Dates at your wedding? Why or why not?