What a save the date is for
A save the date is a short, early notice: two names, a date, a place, and the promise that an invitation will follow. It exists because guests need more warning than an invitation gives. Six weeks is enough to say yes to a dinner. It isn't enough to book flights, take leave from work, find a babysitter for a weekend or join a hotel block before it fills.
It's also a commitment. Everyone who gets a save the date expects an invitation, so send them only once your guest list is settled. If you're still deciding about a second cousin or a plus-one, wait, or leave them for the invitation itself.
When to send a save the date
| Kind of wedding | Save the date | Invitation |
|---|---|---|
| Local, most guests nearby | 4 to 6 months before | 6 to 8 weeks before |
| Guests travelling in from other cities | 6 to 8 months before | 8 weeks before |
| Destination wedding, or a holiday weekend | 8 to 12 months before | 10 to 12 weeks before |
These are the usual ranges, not rules. The deciding question is how far ahead your guests need to book. If half of them are flying in from another country, send it as early as you have a date and a place.
What to put on a save the date
- Both names, written the way you'll write them on the invitation.
- The date. For a weekend of events, the dates of the whole weekend.
- The town or city, and the venue if it's booked. "Lake Como, Italy" is enough at this stage.
- "Invitation to follow", so nobody replies yet and nobody mistakes it for the invitation.
- Travel notes, if guests will travel. A hotel block and its booking code, the nearest airport, or a weekend that clashes with a school holiday.
Leave out what isn't settled. Times, the dress code and the reply-by date belong on the invitation, and putting them on early only means correcting them later.
How to send a save the date and the invitation from one link, step by step
The trick is that the save the date and the invitation are the same page at two moments. You make it once, send it early with replies off, then fill it in.
- Make it with what you knowAt /e/new, type both names and the wedding date. Pick a starting set, or "Just one function" if all you have is the date. Each event needs a time, so put your best guess and add "Times to follow" in its notes.
- Add the placeType the city, and the venue if it's booked. If the wedding is abroad, set each event's venue zone, so guests see the right local time later.
- Turn replies offUntick "Ask guests to RSVP" for each event, or set "Who can reply" to "Nobody (RSVP off)" on your hosts' page. The page then shows the date and the place with no reply button.
- Send the linkCopy it into a text, a WhatsApp group or an email, or send each guest their own link from your guest list. A short note with it is enough: the date, the place, invitation to follow.
- Fill it in laterWhen the details are settled, add the times, the venues, maps, the dress code and any other events of the weekend. Then turn replies on, and send the link again as your invitation.
The full invitation, at the same link
Once you've shared the link or anyone has replied, its address is fixed, so the link in every guest's messages keeps working. When you fill in the details and turn replies on, guests who saved your date open the same page and find the whole invitation: every event with its time, place, map and an RSVP. They don't need a new link, though most couples send it again with a line saying the invitation is ready, because a link that changed quietly gets no attention.
One thing doesn't update itself. A guest who tapped "Add to calendar" on the save the date has a calendar entry with the time you guessed. When the real time is set, say so in your message, so they add it again.
Save the date wording
Short messages to send with the link. Change the names, the date and the place.
Save the date! Emma and Sam are getting married on 14 June next year in the Cotswolds. Invitation to follow.
We're getting married! Keep 14 June open for us. Details are coming, and they'll be at this same link.
Save the date: Emma and Sam are getting married at Lake Como on 14 June. We know it's a trip, so we're telling you early. The hotel details are on the link.
Save the weekend of 13 to 15 June for Emma and Sam's wedding in Toronto: drinks on Friday, the wedding on Saturday, brunch on Sunday. Invitation to follow.
Our invitation is ready, at the same link you saved our date from. Everything is there now, and please reply by 1 May.
On your hosts' page you can also write your own message for the whole guest list, in any language, with each guest's name and their own link filled in.
Sending it by text, WhatsApp or email
Tap Share and your phone offers every app you use, or copy the link and paste it anywhere. Most apps show a preview in your theme with your names and the date. For a guest list, paste your names one per line and Kehdoo gives each guest a personal link. Add a phone number with its country code (+1, +44, +61) to send each one on WhatsApp with one tap, from your own phone. A number without its code can't be read for sure, so it's flagged for you to fix. For anyone without WhatsApp, copy their link and text or email it. The guest list holds 25 names, and "The Chens (3)" counts as one.
If a few guests would rather have paper, print a handful of save the date cards for them and send the link to everyone else. Kehdoo doesn't print stationery.
A countdown from the first day
Every invitation has a countdown page that counts the days to the next event in the venue's time, so a guest in Sydney and a guest in London see the same number. It works from the day you send the save the date. Share it as a tall picture for a story or a status when you hit 100 days.
When the day comes, the same invitation runs a digital guestbook on a screen at the reception. For everything the invitation does, see digital wedding invitations.