Sending Invites Before Travel Agent Picked???

[astef]

Hi ladies,

 

I have read through many invitation and STD threads but cannot find the info I'm looking for...

 

I have been working on my invitations and cannot figure something out...

 

I would like to send invitations out 6 months in advance (I am sending out STDs soon, about 11 months in advance) but I don't think I will know which travel agency I will be going with yet. Speaking to many people, they got their best quotes about 4-5 months in advance, and they got great quotes by pinning various travel agencies against each other, going back and forth with better prices.

 

SO... if I do wait to find that out and get a great quote, I will have to make my invitations REALLY quickly to send them out and give people some time to put down deposits on the group rate. I don't know if this will be feasable. Most quotes are valid for about 30 days, and I'm making about 60 invites on my own.

 

My other option is to send out invitations without specific travel info just letting people know that I will contact them when a good quote becomes available.

 

What did you guys do? Should I wait to get a good quote and make my invites as fast as possible, giving people only about 2 weeks to put down deposits, or should I send out invites without specific travel info? (If it's without travel info, I don't really know what the difference is between them and the STDs, lol).

 

Any insight would be GREATLY appreciated, thank you! Sorry for the long-winded post!

[jszy10]

Honestly, I sent real basic STD's about 14 months out, and sent my actual invites (with TA info) about 10 months out.  From my experience, most of my guests (us included) were booked by 6 months out.  Rates will change ALL the time, so I didn't give ANY info on pricing and just told them the following:

 

"To ensure the best possible pricing and inclusion in our group booking, we are providing contact information to our wedding travel agent and encourage you to take advantage of her services.  Her packages include round-trip airfare, ground transportation and hotel accommodations."

 """

In my opinion, this is something you should probably just bite the bullet, get quotes now, and pick the best person (and don't look back!).  If you guests feel like they can get a better rate by waiting, let them wait, but I think you should give everyone the option.  My guests were begging for booking info up to a year in advance, so I gave it to them!

 

I hope this helps!?!

[X-Chan]

Hi astef,

 

I was going through this dilemma too. My timeline plan was about the same but in the end I decided to get my invites out sooner since my TA got great rates at about 10 months out and told me theres a big chance they'd be going up.. and sure enough, I saw them creeping up every month so I changed my plans and rushed to get them out. I just sent them now about 8 months before the date.

 

About the 30 day thing, I just put a section in my invitation that says that my TA and I will be contacting everyone really soon via email with the booking information so they know it's coming. At the end of next week, just about when everyone should be getting their invites, I'm going to get my TA to get the quotes. She packages up all the information nicely into a pdf document with resort info and prices and I'll be sending that to everyone's email and they'll have the full 30 day to decide if they want to put a deposit down. The invites were sooooo much labour! I don't think I could handle the stress of trying to do them as quickly as possible after getting the quotes. 

 

Hope that helps!

[TammyWright]

i would just include a wedding website address so that you can update and change the information when needed.

[astef]

Thanks for the input... did anyone NOT put TA info on the invites?? If so, what info did you put about booking?

[redginger]

I think it's fine to send out invitations without travel or travel agent information...we included this information on our wedding website as that kind information can change and should be updated as your plans progress.

 

[royalbride610]

I think you can send out an STD if you already know the location, you don't have to know the exact resort, but at least where...  I think it's a very good idea though to send them out this early.  But definitely try to find a TA ASAP and also do your own research on where you'd like to go, that will speed up the process so that you can get your guests prices sooner than later.  Usually air prices come out 9 months in advance, and I think that unless you find a special, it's best to book early.  And if your using a TA, most likely they're not searching for deals for your guests daily/weekly, so they're going to give you whats available.  Prices fluctuate weekly so I don't think it's a good idea to give your guests any prices set in stone until they're ready to book.  And, just my opinion, but prices 4-5 months before your date could be very high... My guests waited until January for my June wedding, and the price quotes they received from November had doubled... So it really depends on how quickly the resort and flight fill up, but I say advise them to be cautious and not wait until the last minute.

[JayKay]

We sent out our STDs prior to having a travel agent.  Once we found a TA we got a quote and have already booked for our wedding 8 months away.  Our TA said prices are better if you book early because most of the time you qualify for early booking bonus.  Also, she said if we wait to long the resort may have booked up therefore, leaving our guests to stay at a different resort, which we didn't want.  I would suggest getting your quotes sooner, then you can send our your invites sooner.

[cGd41812]

I sent out everything together about 14 months before, because I wanted everyone to have enough time to save.  I mailed out STD to hang on their refridgerator, a simple 5x7 invitation and paper that I typed up with the travel agents info and prices.  Also I attached a business card with the info for our wedding website, which also includes resort info.  I did not add response cards bc i knew who was booking and we kept in touch with everyone.