Save the dates: what to say, who gets one, and examples

What should a save the date say?

Just enough to keep the day free: who, when, roughly where, and that an invitation will follow. A save the date isn’t a small invitation. It’s a polite request to hold a date, sent while there’s still time to hold it.

• Your names. First names are fine; full names suit a formal wedding.
• The date. Day, date and year, because a save the date often arrives in the year before the wedding.
• The place. The town or city is enough. Add the venue if it’s booked and helps guests choose where to stay.
• “Invitation to follow”, so nobody mistakes it for the invitation itself.
• Your wedding website, if you have one, for travel and places to stay.

What to leave off

• The time. It can still change, and guests don’t need it yet.
• A request to reply. Replies come with the invitation.
• Gifts, registry and dress code. They belong with the invitation too.

Who should get a save the date?

Everyone you’ll definitely invite, and nobody else. A save the date is a promise: once someone has one, leaving them off the invitation list hurts far more than never sending it.

• Send one to every guest on your final list, the wedding party and immediate family included. They know the date, but it’s lovely to be included.
• Don’t send one to anyone on a B list, anyone you might cut, or a plus one you haven’t decided on.
• Only to guests who travel? Some couples send save the dates only to out-of-town guests. It works, but people compare notes, so keep it consistent within a family or a group of friends.

Still deciding? Your wedding guest list has fair rules for plus ones, children and A and B lists.

Do plus ones and children go on the save the date?

Yes: a save the date should name everyone the invitation will be for. If a guest’s partner is invited, name them; if a guest may bring someone you haven’t met, add “and guest”. Once it’s on the save the date, it’s a promise, so decide plus ones and children first.

For an adults-only wedding, address the save the date to the adults by name, and consider saying so now. Parents need more notice than anyone to arrange care, especially for a weekend away.

Save the date wording examples

Choose the one that sounds like your wedding, then swap in your own names, date and place.

What changes for a destination or long-weekend wedding?

More notice and more practical detail. Send save the dates 8 to 12 months ahead, so guests can book leave, flights and somewhere to stay, and tell them where travel details will be.

• Name the country or region, not only the town.
• If the celebration lasts a weekend, give the first and last day.
• Point to your website, or say travel details will follow.
• For a long weekend, write the dates, not only the holiday’s name. In Australia, several public holidays fall on different days in different states, and overseas guests won’t know them at all.

What if our wedding has several events?

Give each guest the dates they’ll need, and let each event’s invitation carry its own details. When a wedding spans a henna night and the wedding, or a tea ceremony and a banquet, not every guest goes to everything, so a save the date for the wider list can name the main day alone. Customs vary between families: see Chinese wedding invitations and Henna night, Nikah and Walima invitations.

What if the date changes after the save the dates are out?

Tell everyone as soon as the new date is certain, and tell your closest people personally first. A change is far easier for guests months ahead than after they’ve booked flights.

1. Confirm the new date with your venue and key suppliers before you tell anyone.
2. Call or message immediate family, the wedding party and anyone travelling far.
3. Send a change of date to everyone who had a save the date, the same way you sent the first.
4. Say what hasn’t changed, such as the venue, so nobody has to ask.

When should save the dates go out?

6 to 12 months before the wedding for most local weddings, and 8 to 12 months before for a destination wedding, a long weekend or a date in school holidays. Send them once your date and venue are booked (a date isn’t yours until the deposit is paid) and your guest list is settled. The full timeline, invitations and reply dates included, is in When to send save the dates and wedding invitations.

Save the dates are optional. If your invitations go out four months or more before a local wedding, you can skip them. They can be digital even when the invitation is printed, or the other way round: see digital or paper wedding invitations.

Sending your save the dates with Wonderful Invites

With Wonderful Invites, your save the date is included in one price with your wedding invitation and one more event: a bridal shower, a henna night or a tea ceremony, depending on your wedding’s tradition. Each guest has their own link, sent by WhatsApp, text, email or any chat app, and you see who has opened it.

If the date or the venue changes, change it once and every guest sees the latest version on the same link. It’s free to make and preview, and you pay once, when you’re ready to send.

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