{"id":1016,"date":"2025-10-17T07:45:06","date_gmt":"2025-10-17T07:45:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.dodelinedesign.com\/blog\/?p=1016"},"modified":"2025-10-17T07:45:06","modified_gmt":"2025-10-17T07:45:06","slug":"why-sending-save-the-dates-can-make-wedding-planning-easier","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dodelinedesign.com\/blog\/why-sending-save-the-dates-can-make-wedding-planning-easier\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Sending Save-the-Dates Can Make Wedding Planning Easier"},"content":{"rendered":"

Congratulations, you\u2019re engaged!\u00a0 And you\u2019re so excited you just can\u2019t wait to send out all the details of the big day.\u00a0 The venue is booked, the date is set, and the major vendors are locked in \u2013 why not just send the invitations?\u00a0 What\u2019s the point of a save the date?\u00a0 Wasn\u2019t it just made up by the wedding industry to get you to spend more money?<\/span><\/p>\n

Well, no.\u00a0 Allow us to explain!<\/span><\/p>\n

Sending save-the-dates is a relatively newer thing, for sure.\u00a0 But the world we live in today is very different than even just a decade or two ago.\u00a0 These days, very few people live in their hometown near all their family members.\u00a0 Families and friend groups are spread out across long distances, and the age that people get married is older than it used to be.\u00a0 According to the <\/span>Knot<\/span><\/a>, the average age of marriage in the US in 2025 is 32.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"destination
\u00a9 Dana Cubbage Weddings 2020<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

So why does that matter?\u00a0 Well, at 32 many people are established in their careers (or in the case of medical professionals, perhaps just getting into the \u201creal\u201d job world) and have demanding schedules without a lot of flexibility.\u00a0 Some potential groomsmen and bridesmaids may already\u00a0 be married with kids.\u00a0 Compare that to 1980, when the average woman in the US was 22 and the average man was 25 (<\/span>Census data<\/span><\/a>) at the time of marriage.<\/span><\/p>\n

Alright, alright, where are you going with this?<\/span><\/p>\n

The point is \u2013 save the dates didn\u2019t used to be needed because:<\/span><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. \u00a0More people lived closer to home and would have their weddings in the family church \/ hall \/ etc. instead of lavish and unique destination weddings<\/span><\/li>\n
  2. The length of time spent wedding planning was shorter as there were fewer options and considerations\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n
  3. Younger ages at marriage and less need for travel to\/from a wedding meant that there was more flexibility for attending<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    If you\u2019re still with us, you might now be thinking \u201cwell exactly. That\u2019s why I should skip save-the-dates and just send wedding invitations!\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

    Again, not so fast.<\/span><\/p>\n

    When to send save the dates is an important piece of your wedding planning timeline.\u00a0 Here at Dodeline, we recommend sending them once you\u2019re inside of a year from your wedding date and up to 5 or 6 months before if you\u2019re behind a bit.\u00a0 It\u2019s still helpful even then!<\/span><\/p>\n

    A destination wedding save the date<\/a> (because honestly, almost all weddings are destination in 2025) gives people the bare bones they need to know: whose wedding it is, where am I going, and what\u2019s the date.\u00a0 A year out from your wedding, that\u2019s about all you should put in writing because a LOT can change during that planning process.\u00a0 We can\u2019t tell you how many times a couple has reprinted an invitation due to unforeseen changes, and that happens most often when you print everything too soon.\u00a0 It\u2019s scary to consider but it can happen \u2013 venues can close, important life events throw a wrench in the plan, etc.<\/span><\/p>\n

    If you try to skip it because you\u2019re not sure when to send save the dates<\/a> and think they are redundant, you may find that you sent your information out too soon.\u00a0 For one thing, your guests have busy lives, so even though they are of course happy for you and excited about your wedding, they probably have a lot of information flying at them all the time.\u00a0 Only sending one thing about the wedding many months in advance is asking a lot of them to plan and remember and know their schedule so far out. \u00a0 That\u2019s why a simple destination wedding save the date is important \u2013 give them a heads up a long time before the event, but then you need to give them a reminder and full details closer to the wedding (2 to 3 months).<\/span><\/p>\n

    So all that to say, trust the professionals!\u00a0 We\u2019re really not trying to just sell you more stuff.\u00a0 Modern life has evolved to make the save the date a very necessary part of the wedding process, giving you the chance to get the major info out there while you finesse everything else.\u00a0 It\u2019s also the perfect place to be a little more whimsical and\/or use some of your engagement photos.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

    Here at Dodeline, we\u2019ve been designing save the dates and advising couples on when to send save the dates for 15+ years.\u00a0 We would love to help you with yours!\u00a0 Follow us on Instagram or check out our website to see more of our work.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Congratulations, you\u2019re engaged!\u00a0 And you\u2019re so excited you just can\u2019t wait to send out all the details of the big day.\u00a0 The venue is booked, the date is set, and the major vendors are locked in \u2013 why not just send the invitations?\u00a0 What\u2019s the point of a save the date?\u00a0 Wasn\u2019t it just made […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1018,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1016","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-save-the-date-invitations"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dodelinedesign.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1016","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dodelinedesign.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dodelinedesign.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dodelinedesign.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dodelinedesign.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1016"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.dodelinedesign.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1016\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1019,"href":"https:\/\/www.dodelinedesign.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1016\/revisions\/1019"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dodelinedesign.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1018"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dodelinedesign.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1016"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dodelinedesign.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1016"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dodelinedesign.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1016"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}