stinkerpants design

This post should actually be titled, “Why I don’t recommend postcard Save the Dates, but postcard RSVPs are okay.”  But that was too long (haha).

When I was planning my own wedding, one of my first projects was creating our Save the Dates.   At the time, Save the Date magnets and postcards were super hip.  I didn’t want to spend a ton of money on magnets, so I decided on postcards.  I slaved over the drawing for the postcard, and when I sent them out, I expected at least some comments from our friends and family.

Not a peep, I kid you not.

Rather than admit to myself that my awesome Save the Dates weren’t as cool as I thought they were, I decided to think logically rather than emotionally.  The following are my excuses for the radio silence (which have since been substantiated by the not-so-scientific experiments of mailing myself postcards).

Reasons why Save the Date postcards are a bad idea

• Postcards are easily missed. In the sea of junk mail people receive, they can get lost in the shuffle or accidentally slip into a Penny Saver and get sent straight to the recycling bin.
• Postcards can get absolutely mangled in the mail.  My not-so-scientific experiments involved sending myself 10 postcards.  All of them were scuffed up and torn, and sometimes the postmark was on the wrong side of the postcard, totally smeared and obscuring the image.
• Allegedly, postcards are lost more often than regular envelopes.  I’m not sure if I believe this (we used postcard RSVPs, too, and I received every single one that was sent).  However, other stationers swear by this statement, so I thought it was worth including.
• Save the Dates in envelopes are more formal than postcards.  This may or may not matter to you.
• Getting something in a pretty envelope is just more exciting! I love getting a colorful envelope in the mail.  And with a boatload of awesome envelope colors to choose from with Stinkerpants, your envelope will grab your guests’ attention and will not be boring.
• Postcards will only save you $50 bucks, on average. One of the main arguments for sending postcards instead of cards in envelopes is cost savings.  But think of it this way: if you send 100 postcard Save the Dates, you’ll save $35 on classy A6 envelopes and $16 on postage (because postcards are cheaper to mail than regular envelopes).  That’s $51.  And at the end of the day, what’s $51?  After you’ve spent so much time and money creating the Save the Dates themselves, it would be a shame to have them ruined because of $51.

Those are some pretty good arguments against postcard Save the Dates, don’t you think?

Make no mistake, however: I am not opposed to postcards in and of themselves.  Most of the reasons above relate to your guests’ experience of receiving the postcards.  After all, this Save the Date is the first impression they’ll have of your event, and you want it to be a good one.

I have a completely different take on postcard RSVPs, which were also gaining in popularity around the time of my wedding.

Reasons why it’s totally okay to send postcard RSVPs

• When your guests see the postcards, they’re in perfect condition.  And once they get to you, it doesn’t really matter if they’re mangled.  Hopefully you’ve kept a few in perfect condition for your scrapbook.
• They might fit with your invitation design better. Our wedding invitations were tri-fold invitations, and it made more sense to include a postcard, rather than an RSVP in an envelope.  I was able to use a removable glue dot to stick the RSVP to the paper, which worked very well.
• You’re expecting them, so you’re less likely to miss them.  If you’re waiting to receive your RSVPs, you’re going to check inside that Penny Saver to make sure none of them are stuck in there.
• Postcards will save you $50 bucks, on average. Okay, so it’s only $48.50 per 100 RSVPs (for A2 size envelopes and postage), but heck: if it doesn’t matter what they look like when they get to you, why not?

And there you have it: Stinkerpants’ basic list of pros and cons of postcards as both Save the Dates and RSVPs.  As a stationer and semi-newlywed, I’ve had experience both personally and with my clients.  Hope it was helpful!  If you have anything to add below, feel free!