Save the dates: What , When & How it's done

Finding its way into the shaadis & kalyanams, Save the Dates have not only become popular but are getting extremely innovative too. And like every other borrowed western concept, this one too has its share of pros & cons. The reasons you should have a Save the date (or the pros):

• Announcement: Most couples in India today have an elaborate private proposal (yes, yet another borrowed concept) and then a wedding. With most friends and family missing the big proposal, a Save the Date serves as a formal announcement of the wedding.
• Plan:With over half of our relatives living abroad and visiting only once or twice a year, planning the trip around the wedding requires them to know the date well in advance. A Save the Date is a good way to give relatives plenty of notice to ensure their presence at the wedding.
• Put those pre-wedding pictures to use:Most wedding photographers include a pre-wedding photo shoot in the wedding package. These pictures include romantic moments — couple walking off into the sunset, staring into each others eyes, holding hands, interlacing fingers as they walk down a dusty road – that are extremely easy to turn into a Save a Date.

The biggest “con”, pun intended, with a Save the Date is that not many people in India understand the concept and think that you’re sending them an impersonal, unconventional invite in advance. In my mind having the pros outweigh the cons, so here are some simple ideas to make an innovative, out-of-the-box Save the Date. These ideas are mainly for long-distance couples, though they can be easily adapted to you “joined-at-the-hip” pairs, too.

• Logos:Many couples don’t want to be or simply can’t be in the pictures. For you, think of creating a logo with the theme and color of your wedding & incorporate the date in this logo.

A Fun Tip: this can be used later as tags on return gifts.

• Doodle:Doodling is easy and so much fun! Doodled Save the Dates can be as simple or elaborate as you want. From a funny scribble of the wedding details to an entire depiction of the love story, you can be as creative as you like.

Recommended:Confetti –https://www.facebook.com/Confetti16

• Pets:If one of the things you share with your partner is love for pets, this is the perfect idea. Dress your pets up in traditional wedding attire and photograph them to make a Save the Date that makes everyone go “Awwww!”.

• Families:A wedding is a coming together of two families not just two people. In honor of this union, invite family members to participate in your save the date. Have each of them hold up a number (of the wedding date) or letter (names of the couple) for a unified save the date.

• Ambigram: Just before you set your heart on this, here is a warning: it isn’t that common and it doesn’t happen to everyone. Only a few names can come together to create an ambigram, so if you are among the lucky ones you should give this one a try.

  And finally, here is how we did it. The big DIY Save the Date. We were keen on trying the chalk effect on the ground. However, we wanted it to be unique, so we decided to capture all four ceremonies of the wedding; the fire frame (pheras) was the most difficult to draw and work around. Once we took the photos, we settled on having two layouts: one that looked like an old photo album and the other that brought out the element of creativity in the pictures.  When we sent the final save the dates, we personalized them for all our friends and family by including bulleted sentences on why we want them to be there and what would happen if they missed it.   If you have a fun and new save the date idea, share it with us. We would love to see it. About the author: Krupa Kumar is a soon to be bride and digital media enthusiast. She is currently setting up the digital wing of Oysters Advertising in Bangalore . she draws inspiration from people, places, and pretty things. Krupa enjoys baking, dancing, and food. You can catch her on twitter @kkrupa29.  Instagram on @krupakumar. Facebook: www.facebook.com/krupa.kumar.7  Are you a bride to be who wants to share your experiences / articles with us? Write in to info@wedmegood and we would love to hear from you