Should I Send Wedding Reminders the Week Before My Wedding?
Night photo of the bride and groom at their wedding venue. © Dan Wagner 2023
The most important wedding reminder message is the one that comes a week before your Long Island wedding! As a Long Island wedding photographer I’ve seen and heard it all. No matter how hard you try, there’s always the possibility that one or more wedding guests will suffer from WDCD — wedding date confusion disease. We live a busy world. That’s why it’s important to stack the deck in your favor by sending your wedding guests more than one reminder message.
Please remember, this blog article is not the be all and end all of information on this topic. While researching, I found that there is a lot of conflicting information on the topic of sending wedding guest reminders. That said, the following advice and information would have been useful back when my wife and I were planning our own wedding.
My vendor table seating assignment! The venue had extra room. © Dan Wagner 2023
How Many Wedding Reminders Should I Send My Wedding Guests?
That’s up to you. Naturally, nobody wants to act like a nudge by sending wedding date reminders too often. However, sending a thoughtful wedding reminder at regular interviews is something your guests will definitely appreciate.
When sending out emails to your wedding guests, always remember to BCC - blind carbon copy, instead of CC - carbon copy. “For security and privacy reasons, it is best to use BCC when sending an email message to a large number of people. When you place email addresses in the BCC field of a message, those addresses are invisible to the recipients of the email.” More importantly, using BCC prevents your recipient from accidentally hitting Reply All—which if so annoying!
When Should I Send My Wedding Reminders?
Common practice dictates sending out Save-The-Date cards 4 to 6 months prior to your wedding date. Even so, some sources recommend sending them 7 to 8 months in advance.
If it were me, I’d consider sending email Save-The-Date information as early as possible—especially if my wedding date was on a holiday weekend or popular travel time. Let everyone know they’ll be receiving a Save-The-Date card by mail in the near future.
Your wedding invitation can also be considered a reminder as well. Often sent between 2 to 4 months prior to your wedding, the invitation commands a great deal of respect. Tangible, and beautiful to behold, your wedding invitation is a powerful reminder. And the included RSVP cards make it an even better reminder!
Responding to wedding guests when they return your RSVPs with a “yes.” Many couples respond to their RSVPs with an email that they’re looking forward to sharing their wedding day with them. In addition to be a nice gesture, it’s also a great added wedding date reminder.
The last and most important wedding date reminders are often sent by email a month, and a week before your wedding. Be sure to include the day of the week. Something like Saturday, June 3, 2023 is more memorable than simply June 3, 2023.
Should I Send Reminders to My Wedding Vendors?
Yes! As a Long Island wedding photographer, I appreciate the opportunity to reply to the bride and groom’s email reminder with a “Great to hear from you! I can’t wait to photograph your wedding!” Other wedding vendors I’ve spoken to feel the same way. Being a Professional Photographer, I regard every couple’s wedding date as something sacred.
For me, the reminder is not really to remind me to remember their wedding date. Instead, it serves as an added opportunity to look over their wedding contract and info sheet, and see if I need any additional information and if there’s a balance due. It’s also a great time for me to confirm that the wedding florist will be delivering the bouquets and boutonnieres in time for photos, and that the bride will have a wedding invitation on hand for me to use with the bouquet and ring photos.
Tips for Managing Your Wedding Guest Email Reminder List
Managing your wedding guest email reminder list can be quite a pain. One way to make this task easy and enjoyable is to use an email management service such as The Knot’s Free List Manager.
From The Knot: “Easily add guests to The Knot Already started your list? You can quickly import multiple guests at once from your phone’s contacts or a spreadsheet template.” Their List Manager provides a choice of contact templates, automatic RSVP tracking, wedding website creation and sharing, and more. It’s basically a one-stop-shop for your wedding reminder needs.
Not to be outdone, the Wedding Wire offers a Free List Manager of their own. Wedding Wire has the same features as The Knot, but adds some really valuable things such as Checklists, Vendor Management, Budgeting, and Seating Charts! Too cool!
Well, there you have it some simple, yet useful thoughts on sending wedding reminders the before your Long Island wedding. Enjoy!
Stay tuned for more Long Island wedding photography blog articles!
“Dan Wagner was the best money spent on our wedding. He was nice, professional and did a great job. He took great candid photos—which I love. Not only did we get every picture he took, but the photos were full size and without any writing on them, and they arrived just a few days after we came back home from our honeymoon. We got to choose many pictures for our album. Because everything was digital, he e-mailed me exactly what the layout of the album would be before it was printed, and I was able to make changes. Our album was the nicest I have seen, and everyone who has seen it wishes they had hired him.”
—Genevieve and William
Every Bride and Groom Deserve Beautiful Wedding Photos!
Please feel free to share your thoughts and experiences on sending wedding reminders in the comment box below. Have a wonderful wedding, and many thanks for visiting my Long Island wedding photographer blog!