Save the Dates + Engagement Announcement
Lets talk about your engagement announcement + save the date cards! At one point I think they used to be two separate cards? The engagement announcement cards were used for longer engagements and invited people to an engagement party while your save the dates are your wedding announcements! I think people use both of the terms as the same thing now though!
I get asked all the time about when a couple should take their engagement pictures and when they should send out their announcements. There isn’t just one point blank answer- it completely depends on you guys and your capabilities!
The save the date cards themselves play a bigger role into the timeline more than the pictures. I recommend sending the invites out a minimum of 9 WEEKS before the event. Typically your caterers need a head count of how many people will be at your wedding about a month before your special day so then that gives your guests about 5 weeks to respond with their RSVPs.
Engagement Session
Now lets talk about the engagement session! If you have a lot of time before your wedding (like 9 months to more than a year) then you can be more picky about when you do your photos. If you two have a favorite season of the year, take your pictures during that time! I’ve found that couples hang their engagement pictures in their house more often than wedding pictures so make sure you super love your photos! If you hate winter and you aren’t getting married for another 1.5 years don’t take your pictures in the winter haha. For your photos timeline, remember these things:
- You have to find an available date for you + your photographer so sometimes that might take a few weeks until you find a day where you, your partner and your photographer are free.
- The pictures will take time to edit. As a photographer, I try to get engagement sessions edited in 2 weeks or less.
- THIS ONE IS THE MOST IMPORTANT!!!! Its going to take a good chunk of time to design your cards and have them printed. Then you have to wait for them to be shipped to you. BUT the most time-consuming part is labeling each announcement with your guests addresses! That last step took me way longer than it should have when I was engaged. If you know you’re a procrastinator or that you’re going to be slammed with work + school, plan pleeeennnnty of time for this task!
The absolute LATEST I think you could get away with taking your pictures would be 12 weeks before your wedding and then you might just have to cut out RSVP time.
Hopefully that helps you guys out a bit! I know how confusing this all can be since there isn’t a strict guideline on how to do anything! This is just what I would recommend! Happy Wednesday! 🙂
