Save the Date!

What a great way to let help your family and friend remember not to make any other plans on that special date! Send your out-of-town guests save-the-date cards four to six months before the wedding so they can plan accordingly, and then send all your invites (local and out-of-towners) at least eight weeks prior to your wedding date.

Here are a few of my favorites:

• Your save-the-date cards can be as simple as a postcard or as elaborate and interactive as a magnetic puzzle.
• We're fans of a picture taken shortly after the engagement (think holiday cards).
  Some brides favor save-the-date cookies, although you may have to send out a second reminder to all your sweet-tooth friends who might munch before they mark down your date!
• We absolutely love the idea of save-the-date stickers that will fit into those tiny boxes in appointment books or on desktop calendars.
• Refrigerator magnets -- ones with just your names and wedding date -- are cool too.
• An all-time favorite done many different ways is the calendar. Invitation designers are creating cards that look like a mini calendar month with the date you've chosen circled or decorated or knocked out with a mini three-hole punch.
• The hottest trend is a photo strip (the kind you create yourself on a beach boardwalk) with funny faces and the wedding date. In each of the four pictures, hold up a sign. 1) We're getting married. 2) Save the Date. 3) June 5, 2005. 4) Be there! (You get the idea.)