Guides Guests
Save-the-date wording, written from what you have booked
A save-the-date goes out months before the details are settled, so the wording depends on what you know today. Write only what is booked, add the line that tells guests more is coming, and the card will still be true when the invitation arrives.
The short answer
A save-the-date needs five lines: "Save the date", your names, the date, the place and "Invitation to follow". Add your wedding website address if it is live. Write only what you have booked: a city if the venue contract is not signed, a weekend if the events span days. Posted as a 4 by 6 inch postcard it costs $0.65, while a 5 by 7 card in an envelope costs $0.82 and a square one $1.31.
Most pages on save-the-date wording are long lists of samples. The samples are fine, but they skip the question that decides the wording: what do you actually know yet? A save-the-date goes out about seven months before the wedding, and anything printed on it has to stay true until the invitation arrives. This guide builds the card from what you have booked, then shows one wedding written three ways.
The five lines, and when each is ready
| Line | What it says | Ready when |
|---|---|---|
| 1. The header | "Save the date" | Always |
| 2. Your names | First names, or full names for a formal card | Always |
| 3. The date | Day, month and year | The venue contract is signed |
| 4. The place | City and state, or the venue as well | The city is certain; the venue once it is signed |
| 5. The promise | "Invitation to follow" | Always |
| Optional | Your wedding website | The website is live |
The rule behind the table: a line goes on the card only once nothing can change it. A date with no signed venue can move. A venue you are still choosing between can change. Guests book flights and time off from this card, so a line you have to correct later costs them, not just you.
The decisions, one at a time
The date: only once it is signed
If the venue contract is not signed, the card is not ready, and no wording fixes that. Once it is, write the date in full, with the year. A formal card spells it out ("Saturday, the eighteenth of September, two thousand twenty-seven"). A relaxed one can use numerals ("September 18, 2027") or the short form on many printed designs ("09.18.27").
If you are hosting events over several days, say so here: "Save the weekend" with the range of dates ("September 17 to 19, 2027") tells guests to plan for more than one evening.
The place: city first, venue when it is booked
Guests need the city to decide whether to travel. They do not need the venue name yet. If the venue is signed, adding it is fine. If you are between two venues in the same city, the city alone is enough and still true either way.
For a wedding abroad, write the town and the country, and send the card earlier: the free checklist puts it about ten months out, against seven at home. Our destination wedding timeline has every guest date for a wedding abroad.
Who is invited: the envelope says it
The card says who is getting married. The envelope, or the name on a postcard, says who is invited. If a guest has a plus-one, the envelope says "and guest". If children are invited, their names are on it. A card addressed to two adults tells a family the children are not, which our guide to an adults-only wedding explains, and our plus-one etiquette guide has who gets a guest.
This is also why the list comes first. Only send a save-the-date to someone who will certainly receive an invitation. Taking one back is far harder than not sending it.
The last line: "Invitation to follow"
It tells guests not to reply yet and that the times, the reception and the reply date are coming. A relaxed card can say "Formal invitation to follow" or "Details to come". Keep one version of it; do not add both.
The website, if it is live
A short address under the last line gives guests a place to look for hotels and travel before the invitation comes. Only print it if the page is up the day the cards go out, and if the address is one you will keep. Our guide to what to put on a wedding website has what it should hold by then.
Free toolWedding checklist by dateEnter your date and what you have booked. Get a dated checklist and your next three things to do.Build my checklistOne wedding, three ways
The wedding: Hannah and Theo, Saturday 18 September 2027, in Asheville, North Carolina. The venue is signed. With the free checklist's lead time of 210 days, the save-the-dates go out on Saturday 20 February 2027.
Formal, with the venue
Please save the date
for the wedding of
Hannah Mercer
and
Theodore Lind
Saturday, the eighteenth of September
two thousand twenty-seven
The Orchard House, Asheville, North Carolina
Invitation to follow
Relaxed, city only
Save the date
Hannah and Theo are getting married
September 18, 2027
Asheville, North Carolina
Details to come
getyesido.com/w/hannah-and-theo
A weekend away
Save the weekend
Hannah and Theo
September 17 to 19, 2027
Asheville, North Carolina
Rooms, travel and the weekend's plans at getyesido.com/w/hannah-and-theo
Invitation to follow
Each one is five or six lines. A save-the-date that holds more than that starts doing the invitation's job, and it is doing it seven months early, with details that may still change.
What to leave off
- Times. The ceremony time can move with the photographer's light or the venue's schedule. It goes on the invitation.
- A request to reply. Nobody replies to a save-the-date. A reply line here confuses guests about which card to answer.
- The registry. It does not go on the invitation either; the website is the place for it.
- The dress code and the menu. Too early, and both belong to the invitation or the website.
- Anything you are still deciding. If one of you hesitates over a line, it is not ready.
Choosing the card by what it costs to post
The size of the card changes the stamp. These are USPS retail prices from 4 October 2026, with the envelope versions up to 1 ounce:
| Card | Each | 60 addresses |
|---|---|---|
| 4 by 6 postcard | $0.65 | $39.00 |
| 5 by 7 card in an envelope | $0.82 | $49.20 |
| Square card or envelope | $1.31 | $78.60 |
USPS charges the postcard price only for a card between 3½ by 5 and 4¼ by 6 inches. A larger card, sent bare, pays the letter price. A square piece is nonmachinable, because its length is less than 1.3 times its height, and that adds $0.49 to the $0.82 letter price. One save-the-date per address, not per guest: a couple or a family shares one. Our guide to what wedding invitations cost prices the whole suite the same way.
Yes, I Do
Every guest, every reply
Paste a list from anywhere and it becomes names. Replies, plus-ones, dietary notes and tables stay in one place, for both of you.
Proofreading, as two people
Two of you check the card, one line each way:
- One of you reads the names exactly as you want them on everything that follows. The spelling you choose now is the one guests copy.
- The other checks the date against the signed contract, the weekday included. "Saturday, September 18, 2027" is easy to get one day wrong.
- Whoever keeps the guest list checks the names on the envelopes against it, plus-ones and children included.
- Both of you open the website address on a phone before anything is printed.
Then send the cards out together, so no one hears about the date from a cousin first.
Save-the-dates in Yes, I Do
In Yes, I Do, the invitation designs include a Save the date card, filled in from your wedding: your names, the date, the venue and the town, with "Formal invitation to follow" at the bottom. Every line can be changed, so type a city over the venue if it is not signed. The card's back holds the invitation details and a reply line, which a save-the-date does not need: clear it, and the PDF you save has the front only. The card saves as a 5 by 7 inch PNG or PDF to print or send.
The names on the envelopes come from the guest list you both keep, with each guest's side, so the two of you can split the envelopes between your families and each chase your own missing addresses.
Questions
What do you write on a save-the-date?
Five lines: "Save the date", your names, the wedding date, the city (or the venue if it is booked) and "Invitation to follow". Add your wedding website address if the page is already live. Leave times, the registry and any reply request for later.
Do you put the venue on a save-the-date?
Only if the venue contract is signed. Guests need the city to plan travel, so the city alone is enough when you are still choosing. Adding a venue that later changes means correcting it for everyone.
Should the wedding website be on the save-the-date?
Yes, if it is live the day the cards go out. It gives guests somewhere to find hotels and travel before the invitation arrives. Keep the address short enough to type from a printed card.
Do you need to say "invitation to follow"?
It is worth including. It tells guests not to reply yet and that the times and details are coming. "Formal invitation to follow" or "Details to come" both work; use one.
Do you send a save-the-date to everyone invited?
Send one to every household you will certainly invite, and no one else. You can skip them for a small or local wedding and send the invitation a little earlier instead. Never send one to a guest who might not make the final list.
Can a save-the-date be a postcard?
Yes, and a 4 by 6 inch postcard is the cheapest way to post one: $0.65 with USPS from 4 October 2026. The guest's name goes on the address side, which also shows who is invited.
Sources
- USPS Notice 123, price list, for the $0.65 postcard, $0.82 one-ounce letter and $0.49 nonmachinable surcharge, effective 4 October 2026, read 1 November 2026.
- USPS Domestic Mail Manual 101, physical standards, for the card price sizes (3½ by 5 to 4¼ by 6 inches), letter pricing for larger cards, and the aspect ratio under 1.3 that makes a square letter nonmachinable.
- The send date follows the free Yes, I Do wedding checklist by date: save-the-dates 210 days before the wedding, 300 for a destination wedding.