To ensure that the VIPs on your wedding guest list are wowed and impressed with your stylish and stunning save the date invites, it’s essential that you choose an original design. Save the date cards notify your guests of your wedding day plans in advance, so that they have ample time to reserve the date, and to make any necessary arrangements.
You and your partner may feel overwhelmed by the volume of gorgeous designs that are available in personalised and luxury wedding stationery. Although save the date cards are not mandatory invitations, most couples choose to include them on their wedding planning checklist, as they beautifully set the tone for the main event.
If you’re keen to surprise and delight your family and friends, with a save the date card that is one of a kind, here are 6 original ideas to inspire you…
Ideas for Save-the-Dates
1. Retro & Vintage
Many couples choose to decorate their pre-wedding invitations with a stunning photo. Instead of featuring a traditional photograph, you can easily capture the romance of the moment with instant Polaroids.
Announce your wedding day plans with a classy retro style card that features one or more of your favourite engagement photos. Add the important date details, and don’t forget to let your guests know that an official wedding invite will follow.
An old-fashioned post office telegram is an excellent alternative, if you’re planning a chic vintage wedding. To ensure that the formal pre-wedding invite design looks the business, include a post office telegram header and an office stamp, on high quality paper that looks authentically aged.
2. Laser Cut Designs
Make a stylish contemporary design statement with save the dates that flaunt gorgeous laser cut details. Your original pre-wedding invitation can show off intricate border patterns that encircle the essential text.
Floral designs, leaves and feathers make especially attractive adornments for this style of card design. Choose high quality paper/card in a vibrant colour to make your ornate invite really pop and stand out on the mantelpiece.
3. Natural Materials
If you’re tying the knot in a less formal ceremony, a pre-wedding invite made from natural materials is the perfect complement for your style. Let your guests know that your wedding features a unique rustic theme by presenting your special day information in an invite that is made of wood.
You can create stylish keepsake wooden cards, coasters or magnets that are embellished with decorative motifs elegantly framing the important couple names and date information. Botanical motif designs like flower crowns, wreaths, garlands and borders are perfect for adding a touch of nature to an original pre-wedding invite made of natural materials.
If you prefer, you can decorate a save the date invitation made of luxury paper with natural elements like hessian, jute, cork and twine.
4. Inspiring Infographics
Infographics offer a cool, contemporary way to design and embellish your unique pre-wedding invites. The graphic visual can include an assortment of information, fun facts, details and illustrations presented in an elegant format.
Play around with colours, fonts, illustrations and motifs, to create an invite that is striking and one of a kind. You can map out the timeline of your romantic relationship with playful humour that complements your personalities, and makes people smile.
5. Literary Ideas
Share your interests with family and friends by creating save the date cards that are quirky and original. If you and your beloved are bookworms, you can tell your love story in the format of a vintage library card. Add the date that you first met, your first date, and the date when you said Yes!
Alternatively, you can share your love of literature or poetry by presenting your invite as a keepsake bookmark that you wedding guests can use over and over again.
Expanding on the literary theme, you can wow your guests with save the dates that showcase your fun personalities in a superhero comic book style.
If you and your partner are fans of a particular book or literary genre, you can use this as inspiration for the theme of your wedding and personalised stationery items.
6. Destination Tickets
If it’s your dream to tie the knot in a stunning exotic location, don’t be shy about showing off with save the date cards that replicate destination tickets. If you’re getting married abroad make sure that you give your VIP guests plenty of time to reserve the date and make travel plans and arrangements. Why not save the date of your wedding?
You can present your wedding info in an aeroplane ticket style format that includes the destination, location and departure date. Add travel themed motifs to make your design more realistic.
Alternatively, impress and amuse your guests by sending them your wedding announcement as a perfectly folded paper aeroplane.
A train ticket design is an inspired idea, if you want to invite guests to celebrate a modern wedding in the city. Make sure guests are traveling 1st Class, and include your names and a valid wedding date.
If you prefer, you can swap the ticket theme for a stylish luggage tag that displays a photo or illustration image of the destination of your overseas wedding.
Don’t forget to give your guests ample time to plan, if they want to attend your wedding aboard. In keeping with wedding etiquette, you should send out your destination wedding save the date cards 8 to 12 months in advance.
Tips To Make Digital Invitations
In a world that’s going paperless, having digital invites just makes sense. They help you save a lot of time since you don’t need to worry about addressing hundreds of envelopes and spending time and money delivering them. Using digital invites, you send your invites with a click of a button, and everyone will get them instantly. They are also eco-friendly, and if you are creative, they can be extremely affordable or even free, as you can make them using free-to-use websites.
If you, too, want to make digital invitations for your websites, here are a few tips.
Keep the Cost in Mind
Contrary to popular belief, digital save-the-dates are not always free. You can design your own invitations and send them out for free, but just like paper save-the-dates range from basic to more elaborate, the better you want your invite to be, the more it will cost. However, digital invitations are generally not too pricey unless you want something extremely elaborate and personalized. They cost comparatively less than traditional invitations that incur costs such as printing cards, stamping them, and more.
Pay Attention to the Wording
When deciding what to write on your invitation, you must choose your words carefully as they set the tone of your wedding day. Since the invitation is the first piece of information the guests will receive, it must make a good impression and map out what you want the guests to experience and feel on your day.
Make Your Email Stand Out
One of the major cons of digital invites is that there is always a risk of your email getting lost among others or sent to the spam folder, which is why you need to ensure that it stands out. The best way is to use a creative subject that stands out. You should also keep the body of the email clean and concise while letting the digital invite do all the talking. Additionally, if you plan to use a service designed to make digital invites, you will likely have multiple options to personalize your message to ensure guests open it.