Getting Married? What To Consider When Creating Your Rustic Wedding Themed Save The Dates

Friday, April 5, 2019

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What To Consider When Creating Rustic Wedding Themed Save The Dates

Getting married? A huge congratulations! Now comes the fun part, it's time to spread the word and communicate with your loved ones that you want to celebrate with on your wedding day! You might not know all the details yet, but it's important to let your friends and family know the big W's (who, what, when, where) via save the dates as early as possible so that they can also get ready for your big day and mark it on their calendars.

If you're planning a rustic wedding, think down to earth and natural, yet sophisticated, where nature plays a starring role,  I've partnered with Basic Invite to share some rustic wedding themed save the date tips for you! Your save the dates are your first communication with your wedding guests before the big day and the perfect first opportunity to convey your natural meets elegant style.

Whether your venue is a mountain lodge, ranch, forest setting, lakeside resort or a vineyard (my now-husband and I chose a vineyard on an island for our wedding just over a year and a half ago!), these tips are sure to help you on your rustic wedding planning journey and as you create your rustic wedding themed save the dates!

What To Consider When Creating Rustic Wedding Themed Save The Dates

What Information to Include on Your Save the Dates

Think, short, sweet and simple for what information to include on your save the dates. Your wedding invitations and website are where you'll have the opportunity to go into all the details. Your save the dates are the first communication with your guests so they know they're invited and can get it on their calendars in plenty of time to arrange travel, childcare if necessary and request time off from work if needed.

On your save the dates make sure to include: who's getting married (you and your fiancé!), what (it's a wedding!), when (date, and the time if you know) and where (location of your venue - it doesn't need to be the specific location, but should at least include the city, state and a country if it's a destination wedding.) You might also consider including something along the lines of "formal invitation to follow," so your guests know they can expect more information at a later date.

Something else to consider is adding your wedding website to your save the date, where you can have more information available for your guests right away, such as your engagement story, timeline, registries, bridal party information, travel details and directions, accommodations available to your guests, relevant wedding weekend events and/or any unique details for your wedding.

Basic Invite's all-new free wedding websites are a great option and completely customizable, just like their wedding invitations. They're mobile friendly and super easy to use. You can instantly upload all your wedding details, along with images and a map which is super convenient for your guests. Choose from 180 custom colors and even match your wedding invitation suite!

What To Consider When Creating Rustic Wedding Themed Save The Dates

Consider Style, Theme and Colors of Your Wedding

If you're planning a relaxed, romantic, and natural, yet sophisticated wedding, where nature plays a starring role, your save the dates are the perfect opportunity to begin to translate your rustic wedding style.

Consider texture (a recycled paper like bamboo is thick, so it feels luxe, yet the raw texture perfectly embodies rustic) and font (calligraphy and metallic monograms help contrast nature with elegance) when picking out your save the dates.

Also, when looking at save the date designs, consider picking a style that incorporates natural elements in the design such as wildflowers, trees, mountains, beach, vines or whatever natural elements are specific to your style and venue. 

Additionally, you might want to consider adding a photo to your save the dates of you and your fiancé, which can add a nice personalized touch. You could use one of your engagement photos or a photo of the two of you in a location that corresponds with the rustic style of your wedding. Some save the date options even allow for multiple photos.

When my now-husband and I were making our save the date cards for our rustic vineyard wedding, one thing that was also important to us was to incorporate the colors of our wedding. While this is very common with invitations, it is not as common at this point for save the dates, but I think it can be a really nice touch and a way to incorporate your style and theme of your wedding right from the beginning!

Consider incorporating the colors of your flowers or bridesmaid dresses into your save the dates. Basic Invite is one of the few websites that allows customers almost unlimited color options, along with instant online previews. You can change the color of each element on any Basic Invite design to 180+ different color options to make it exactly how you want!

Basic Invite also allow you to be just as colorful with the envelopes you choose, as with your save the dates and invitations. Choose from over 40 different color options to match your wedding colors and make your save the dates and invitations stand out even before opened. Also all of Basic Invite's envelopes are peel and seal, they can be quickly and securely closed!

While using a color or theme is totally up to you, do remember that your save the dates are the first communication with your guests and start to set the tone for your wedding day.

What To Consider When Creating Rustic Wedding Themed Save The Dates

When to Send Your Save The Dates

You'll want to send your rustic wedding themed save the dates as soon as possible, so your guests have plenty of time to prepare for celebrating your big day with you. Traditional wedding etiquette guidelines call for save the dates to be sent 6-8 months prior to your wedding day.

If you're planning a destination wedding, 8-10 months ahead of your wedding is considered an appropriate time to send your save the dates, so your guests can make travel arrangements, book childcare/pet-care, arrange professional accommodations, etc...

What To Consider When Creating Rustic Wedding Themed Save The Dates

Who to Send Your Save The Dates To

This can get a bit tricky and the ideal situation is that you have your guest list completed before you send your save the dates. Etiquette suggests your wedding guest list is fully finalized prior to sending save the dates and in an ideal world everyone you intend on inviting will receive a save the date.

Sometimes, however, this is just not possible. Perhaps your ideal guest list is twice as long as your venue's capacity and you're still trying to whittle your guest list down. Or your budget is in constant fluctuation as the expenses for your big day continue to grow (weddings are expensive!). Or perhaps you have a 'B' list that depends on the rsvp's of your 'A' list because you have to fill a certain number of seats you've prepaid for.

Just know that guests who receive an invitation close to your wedding day and not a save the date will likely assume they made the 'B' list and not the original 'A' list. If this doesn't matter to you, or doesn't necessarily matter to your mom who really wants to invite all her friends (and by all, I mean everyone she's known since elementary school) than this might work for you. Traditional wedding etiquette, however, calls for making a guest list, sticking to it and sending save the dates to everyone invited.

Another option is sending save the dates only to your family and closest friends, which is a great option if you have a flexible guest list, and a way to ensure that loved ones closest to you save the date on their calendars. However, the downside to this is that guests who only receive the invitation and not the save the date may make other plans and not "save the date."

Of most importance though, is that everyone who receives a save the date must also receive an invitation to the wedding! There is an expectation that when a save the date is received an invitation will follow. It would be considered unacceptable and impolite to not follow through and failing to send one is the same as uninviting an invited guest. If budget is an issue, find other ways to cut back, such as on catering, flowers, or even the invitations.

What To Consider When Creating Rustic Wedding Themed Save The Dates

Consider Matching Your Save The Dates to Your Wedding Suite

Something to consider when choosing your save the dates is whether you want them to match your wedding suite: invitations, enclosure cards, wedding day programs, menus, place cards, thank you cards, etc . . . Basic Invite offers over 900 wedding invitation sets and every wedding invitation is part of a set. They also offer save the dates, wedding invitation enclosure cards, wedding menus, wedding programs, and even matching thank you cards. You can also get a free wedding website to match your suite!

Coasters are another fun touch for a rustic wedding that you can have also have match your stationary suite. S and I had coasters at our vineyard wedding that said "please don't take my drink, I'm dancing," along with our names and wedding date. Our coasters were intended for guests to place over their drinks if they needed to step away from them to dance or to keep their drinks protected from natural elements, such as bugs from flying in, since we were outdoors.

They were also intended to help us save a bit of money, as half filled glasses of wine were no longer being discarded from tables while guests were dancing and less alcohol went to waste. Our venue commented how great they were, our guests loved them and so did we!

Basic Invite offers over 90 professionally designed wedding coasters that can be personalized instantly to match your wedding colors. There are no color limitations, allowing you to make as many changes as you'd like at no additional cost to your paper coasters wedding. Each coaster is printed on a premium 200lb matte card stock, with crisp, clean letters, photos and graphics.

Matching all your stationary, printables and website for your wedding adds a nice personalized touch and corresponds with tradition. You can even get customized stamps. And, of course, it looks great in photographs!

However, while it can be a nice touch, it is not absolutely necessary, and a unique save the date is a great way to let your full creativity and personalities shine through as a couple.This is also a great chance for you to try out colors, fonts and motifs if you're feeling indecisive and not quite ready to fully commit on all your stationary and printables just yet.

The most important thing is that your save the date gets your guests excited for the occasion!

What To Consider When Creating Rustic Wedding Themed Save The Dates

Consider Fun Save The Date Alternatives

Since your save the date is the first introduction to your wedding, your might consider sending your guests a fun and creative alternative to the traditional save the date card.

Planning a rustic destination wedding? Consider a vintage postcard, message in a bottle, luggage tag or illustrated map to your destination. Planning a vineyard wedding? Consider putting your save the date on a coaster or cork. Planning a wedding at a beautiful rustic location? Consider a watercolor painting or custom illustration.

Other alternative save the date ideas you might want to consider: personalized magnet, comic book, laser cut design, calendar with your month/date highlighted, paper or mini model airplane, branded wood coaster, key chain, bookmark, custom chocolate bar or whatever fits your rustic wedding and style!

What To Consider When Creating Rustic Wedding Themed Save The Dates

Order Samples

Before you order 100, 200, etc. of your save the dates, you'll want to order some custom samples to see how they look in person. Basic Invite is one of the few websites that allows you to order a printed sample of your actual save the date or invitation so you can see exactly how it will print, as well as paper quality, before even placing your order. Highly recommend doing this!

What To Consider When Creating Rustic Wedding Themed Save The Dates

What To Consider When Creating Rustic Wedding Themed Save The Dates

What To Consider When Creating Rustic Wedding Themed Save The Dates

What To Consider When Creating Rustic Wedding Themed Save The Dates

What To Consider When Creating Rustic Wedding Themed Save The Dates

What To Consider When Creating Rustic Wedding Themed Save The Dates




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