STD- are they necessary?

[poohshek]

Absolutely! If you want your guests to be there for your big day, give them plenty of advanced notice so that they can schedule vacation and set money aside for the trip. You can simply send an email.

[MTL Bride]

We sent out Save the Dates, they cost us about $150 with postage, return address labels (vistaprint), info sheet, and a magnet (also vistaprint, soo cute).

 

People got really excited, my almost hubby wrote a witty letter with our intentions(we added a picture of a palm tree and color photocopied them on white paper) and even though we didn't have a specific date or resort, we gave our wedding webites and have updated them from there.

 

Our friends and family loved it. It got them excited, they have thanked us for the advanced notice, and it drummed up support for the trip. The magnet will hopefully keep reminding them everytime they go to their fridge. So if you can afford it, I would do it, and it doesn't need to be expensive or elaborate.

[chocolatedrop04]

Hey Girls,

 

Is it ok to just send the invite with all the info about the resort and booking in lieu of an STD? I am planning to get married Dec 2010 so I want to get the info to my guest so that they can start saving pronto!

 

I feel like if I give them all the info they need from the start (pricing and etc), then that might help them better determine if they plan on going or not. If I send out the STDs I might get rsvp's that all say yes they'll come but then when I send out the actual invites with the pricing it might be a different story.

 

My mother says it would be to overwhelming to hit guest with everything at once, but I think if I was invited to a DW I would want all the info at once so that I could be able to decide at once. If I did do this I would Prob send them out the end of this year maybe Nov or Dec.

 

What do you guys think about this?

 

Thanks a million!

[MiaBrown]

chocolatedrop, I plan on doing the same thing. We knew around December that we would definitely have a destination wedding and told anyone who asked. (For those we knew we weren't inviting, we told them it was going to be a small destination wedding but that we'd have a reception when we return.) We got engaged about a month ago and are getting married in October 2009. My goal is to have the invites out, complete w/booking info, at the end of the month. I've already emailed, texted or called my family and closest friends with the date. I don't want more than 40 people there, so if I start getting no's I'll have time to mail out the B-list invites without them knowing they were B-listers. So I guess my invite *IS* my STD.

 

My question is, how much time should I give them to RSVP? Is two months (July) enough time or way too long?

[elisa1126]

They are not necessary, but I think it is a really good idea to send them out. It gives your guests a heads up as to the date of the wedding as well as the destination. It lets them know they need to save up some money.

[Mrs.Hockey]

I plan on doing the same as MiaBrown and Choclatedrop. All the information will be right in the invite, and I'll be sending them out 9 months prior to the wedding.

[~Jessica~]

Quote:

Originally Posted by SMB&CRZ Thanks for the responses so far. So if I send out STD say in May to everyone, with the booking info etc, when would send the 'invites'? And do you need to send them to people who've already booked? Anyone I am inviting already knows it is a dw and has for at least 6 months now. I'm so anxious for the prices to come out so I can finally get things firmed up. Waiting for quotes is the most frustrating part of this!

I am sending my STD's out by the end of the month so a year in advance. And I would highly recommend sending them, I have had people constantly asking me for the info on them (hotel name, TA info, and when we are going down). I would send them just to give people a chance to book early and save if they want. I know some popular hotels book up pretty fast so people who get the invites then wait a couple months may lose out. I am sending our invitations out in September or October in case people lost their STD. I say yes even if people have already booked, send them an invitation. Just as a formality if anything. It makes it really real when you get the invitation. Then people who have booked and you don't know it will send you the response card back.

[itsfinallyhere]

I am skipping the STD and just going right to the invites. I am sending them out early, just under six months. As I am really only inviting close friends and family I think that is fine. It worked for me as everyone has already been informed tha we are having a DW. Also cost is a big issue with us so I thought this would help with that. As my FI wanted to have them done, I found doing STD and invites to expensive.

[sunsetbride1]

IMHO... they are a courtesy that I feel is necessary for a DW unless you want to send out your invites way in advance. As other posters have said - people need time to save money, take time off of work, obtain passports, etc. It's just a nice little extra to say that "We would like for you to be there with us and want to give you enough time to plan for it". You don't have to do anything expensive ... DIY ones are great!

 

We sent ours out in October 2008 for our August 2009 wedding and most people appreciated the advance notice and loved that we spend the time to send them something special; even if they couldn't attend. Our invites went out in March 2009 to everyone (40 people) even though we know that only 17 people could attend and had already booked. And again, I received a lot of comments from people appreciating the courtesy of including them whether or not they were attending.

[michellepicksbrent]

I don't think that sending out StDs are a must. FH and I opted not to send them and instead told our 70-something guests by word of mouth and then sent our wedding invites out 6 months in advance of our wedding date. We also set up a wedsite that we referred our guests to with all of the important wedding-related information.