Planning Guides, Style Guide
Cheap Save the Dates: Budget-Friendly Announcement Options
Mar
So you’re trying to save money on save the dates and honestly yeah, this is like the EASIEST place to cut costs in your wedding budget. I’ve been doing this for 15 years and I’m gonna tell you exactly what works.
Digital Save the Dates Are Totally Fine Now
Look, back in spring 2022 I had this bride who was SO stressed about spending $300 on save the dates and I was like… why are we even doing paper? Just send a nice email or text. People check their phones way more than their mailboxes anyway. You can use:
- Paperless Post (they have free templates, or pay like $20 for the fancy ones)
- Greenvelope (similar deal)
- Literally just Canva and email it yourself
- Even a private Instagram story or Facebook event works if your crowd is casual
The thing that REALLY annoyed me though was when couples would spend hours agonizing over digital designs and then still buy paper ones “just for grandma” – like, just text grandma separately or print ONE at Walgreens for $0.39. You don’t need 150 printed versions because three elderly relatives don’t use email.
Postcard Style Saves You Money
If you’re set on paper, postcards are where it’s at. No envelope = saving money on materials AND postage. Current postcard stamp is what, $0.53 versus $0.68 for regular mail? That adds up when you’re sending 100+.
I designed mine as postcards when I got engaged (way back before I was doing this professionally) and nobody cared that they weren’t in fancy envelopes. Actually people stuck them on their fridges which was kinda cool.
Where To Print Cheap Postcards
- Vistaprint – always has sales, you just gotta wait for the right coupon
- Costco Photo Center – seriously underrated for wedding stuff
- CatPrint – good quality, reasonable prices
- Local print shops sometimes beat online prices if you ask
Template Sites Are Your Friend
You don’t need to hire a designer for save the dates. There’s this weird pressure to have everything custom but like… templates exist for a reason? I use Etsy templates for clients all the time – you buy a template for $8-15, edit it yourself in Canva or Templett, and boom. Done.
My cat just knocked over my coffee while I’m writing this, great.
Anyway umm the key is finding templates that are simple. Don’t pick something with 47 fonts and flowers everywhere because A) it looks cheap even if you paid money and B) save the dates just need to communicate DATE and LOCATION. That’s it.
What Info Actually Needs To Be On There
People overcomplicate this SO much. You need:
- Your names
- Wedding date
- City/location (not full address yet)
- Website if you have one
- “Invitation to follow” or similar
That’s literally it. You don’t need your engagement photos, your love story, fourteen different fonts, or – and this drives me crazy – your entire wedding day timeline. Save that for the actual invitation.
The Photo Thing
Everyone assumes save the dates need an engagement photo. Nah. I mean you CAN use one if you already have photos, but don’t go spend $500 on an engagement shoot just for save the dates. Summer 2024 I had a couple who used a candid photo their friend took at a barbecue and it was perfect. Another couple just did text-only design with a nice color scheme.
If you do want photos but don’t wanna pay a photographer, just take iPhone photos in good lighting. Golden hour, solid color wall behind you, clean outfits. Nobody’s examining the image quality that closely.
Timing Means Saving Money
Here’s something people don’t think about – the earlier you send save the dates, the cheaper your printing options get because you’re not rushed. You can wait for sales, compare prices, even do slower shipping.
Send them 6-8 months before your wedding (or 8-12 months if it’s a destination thing). This gives you TIME to be cheap about it, which sounds bad but you know what I mean.
DIY Assembly Isn’t That Bad
If you’re doing paper ones, buy blank postcards from Amazon or a craft store and print at home if you have a decent printer. The quality won’t be professional but for save the dates? It’s fine. I’ve seen couples do this while watching TV over like three evenings and it cost them maybe $40 total.
Or there’s this middle ground where you get them printed cheap but you address them yourself instead of paying for calligraphy or printed addresses. Just use a nice pen and take your time or– actually you could even print address labels at home.
What About Magnets Though
Okay so magnet save the dates SOUND expensive but they’re not really that much more than cardstock postcards if you shop around. Check Oriental Trading or Magnet Street. Sometimes the price difference is like $30 for your whole order and people actually keep magnets whereas cards get tossed.
But honestly if budget is REALLY tight, just… don’t do magnets. Nobody’s offended by regular paper.
Free Design Tools You Should Use
Canva is the obvious one but also:
- Adobe Express (has free templates)
- PicMonkey
- Even Google Slides works if you set custom dimensions
The trick is keeping it simple. Two fonts maximum. One or two colors. Clean layout. Simple designs look expensive, busy designs look like you tried too hard with limited resources even if you actually spent money.
Address Collection
This isn’t directly about cost but it AFFECTS cost – use a Google Form or something like WithJoy to collect addresses instead of texting everyone individually. You’ll get accurate addresses faster which means fewer returned/wasted save the dates.
Also you can see who actually responded so you know your real count before ordering.
Skip The Extras
You don’t need envelope liners, wax seals, silk ribbon, or any of that stuff on save the dates. Actually even on invitations you don’t need it but that’s a different rant. Save the dates are purely functional – they’re saving the date, that’s the whole job.
I had a bride once who wanted to include little personalized luggage tags with each save the date because it was a destination wedding and the cost was gonna be like $600 and I just… sometimes you gotta tell people no? We sent regular postcards and it was fine.
Real Cost Breakdown
For 100 save the dates you should be spending:
- Digital: $0-30
- Printed postcards: $30-80
- Printed cards with envelopes: $60-120
- Magnets: $80-150
If someone’s quoting you more than that you’re either getting luxury quality (which, why?) or you need to shop around more. Postage will add obviously but that’s unavoidable unless you go digital.
Anyway the main thing is don’t stress about save the dates being “impressive” because they’re not supposed to be – they’re just a heads up about your date so people don’t book vacations that weekend or whatever
