Save the dates:

Save the dates can be expensive and a hassle just to tell people, "Hey! Soon I will be sending you an invitation! If you are somehow challenged in how mail works then this is a reminder for you not to overlook it!" Also, for it to say all that is a bit contradictory because someone could just as easily overlook a save the date.

When I was still struggling with an cheap and easy idea for save the dates (and leaning towards skipping them altogether) I got a Facebook ad for a little start-up company called Greenvelope that offers web based guest list and invitation managing.

You can purchase a package that ranges anywhere from just save the dates (which is free) to the full set up RSVPs and thank you cards.

We decided that for us save the dates were the way to go. Paperless invites just weren't easy enough for a large enough portion of our guest list.

When you register with Greenvelope you can upload your guest list via e-mail or input manually. The guest information includes a place for how many people are expected for that particular guest (John Doe Plus One = 2, The Smith Family = 6). It also give you the capability to e-mail all guests at once and to see who has opened their virtual invite (this way, you can tell if somebody's invite might have sent to their spam folder and remained unchecked - this was a problem for a number of my guests).

You get a choice from a lot of different templates (I chose dandelions, I sort of have a thing for dandelions). The text editor is set up in a basic "we announce yada yada this person and that person yada yada month/date/year" format but if you're careful enough you can fit more in. This was nice for us as we used the save the dates as a sort of "RSVP for invitation" service. This gave us an idea of how many out of town guests REALLY thought they could make it and allowed us to skip sending out some invites without hurting feelings. It also provided a quick and efficient way to collect snail mail address for those who were confident that they could make it. We asked people to simply RSVP with address to a Google account setup for the event. I also really recommend setting up an e-mail for your wedding. Use it on any forms on websites of vendors that relate to the wedding. This way, when jerks like David's Bridal sell your information it all goes to one tidy place. It also provides an e-mail that the couple can access without infringing on each other's privacy. I used it for all my online transactions for the wedding, all guest correspondence, and anytime I just felt the urge to "REGISTER TO WIN FIVE FREE BRIDAL PARTY DRESSES!" Google is a great place to setup a wedding e-mail account mainly because you can use Google Docs for guest lists, shopping lists, or to jot down to-dos and you can make the document accessible to your primary e-mail account and that of your future spouse.

We also managed to link the complimentary wedding website that The Knot gives you when you register for their (re: awful) website.

Pros: Quick, free, efficient, saves trees. Who doesn't love trees? It's a cute idea most of your guests will find interesting and allows you to cut corners with tradition and maybe even save some money.

Cons: Some people (older relatives, friends who think using the internet isn't indie enough) will never get it or open it. For others, it might get marked as spam, or they can't view it at work and forget when their at home. However, most of these problems won't hurt the majority of your guests.

All in all, I recommend this to people on a bduget or DIY wedding, especially if most of your guests are wired in. It helped me tremendously and set the tone for how low key and offbeat our wedding will be. The template also inspired my template for this website and (I haven't hashed this out yet) probably how my programs will look.

My save the dates: