The ring has been picked, the question has been popped, and the answer has been exclaimed: YES! Congratulations on your engagement! Now it’s time to make sure your nearest and dearest know about your upcoming wedding – assuming you have a venue and a date, of course. Small details people. You need a Save the Date of course! Here are a few unique and memorable Save the Date ideas to help get the inspiration flowing. –Nichole of Coral Pheasant

Often there is a push to get Save the Dates out as soon as pos­si­ble and it can be over­whelm­ing to make a quick deci­sion. A tried and true option is to use a favorite photo – and that’s great! Your friends and fam­ily will cer­tainly know whose wed­ding is com­ing up. But if there’s time to put a lit­tle more thought into your Save the Date, the result can be unique and mem­o­rable. Con­sider favorite mem­o­ries and past times. Maybe you met in col­lege or the two of you love sam­pling wines. Or if you have a solid sense of the cel­e­bra­tion you are plan­ning, take inspi­ra­tion from that. Below are a col­lec­tion of Save the Date ideas that break the mold and truly set the stage for a wed­ding not to be missed!

It’s always a treat when a cou­ple has enlisted the help of a sea­soned event plan­ner. Bren­dan and Ryan hired Diana at Jubilee Events to design and coor­di­nate their upcom­ing wed­ding. Diana learned that Ryan, who works in fash­ion in NYC, was hav­ing a cus­tom navy blue Tom Ford tuxedo made. A light ­bulb went off and they had the idea to cre­ate a Save the Date inspired by the tux. When they shared the con­cept with me, I thought it would be a fun guest expe­ri­ence to be able to inter­act with the design. Here, the tuxedo is laser cut out of navy blue stock and the “shirt and bow tie” insert slides out to reveal the details of their day.

Sarah and Mike might just be the fun­ni­est clients I’ve had the plea­sure of work­ing with. Sarah’s vision for her wed­ding was a gor­geous affair inspired by Hol­ly­wood Regency details with lots of shim­mer­ing gold. And hip-hop. The two of them love their music and cer­tainly didn’t take them­selves too seri­ously. Their Save the Dates fea­tured a strong typo­graphic design with Regency details and slightly inap­pro­pri­ate language.

When your wed­ding is inspired by a vin­tage car­ni­val, what bet­ter than to “announce” it with an illus­trated pull tab Save the Date?! The cus­tom illus­tra­tion by Myr­tle and Lloyd incor­po­rates the wed­ding col­ors and a small slit in the mega­phone allows for a tab that, when pulled, reveals “Save the Date!” The enve­lope was flipped upside down so that the cir­cus tent above their return address fit sweetly onto the flap.

The first three exam­ples of Save the Dates were clearly derived from the couple’s indi­vid­ual wed­ding designs – but that’s not always the case. It’s per­fectly fine for your Save the Dates to be unique and sep­a­rate from your actual wed­ding. Megan and Mike wanted to use their engage­ment pho­tos and I – always lov­ing the chance to engage the guest – cre­ated a fold out card that showed sev­eral of them. The enve­lope was sewn in half to cre­ate two pock­ets. The photo card slipped into one side while the other pocket held a small card with their wed­ding website.

When your wedding is on one of the most festive nights of the year, you werk it. New Year’s Eve, gold foil, festive language, fireworks. You get it. AmIright?!

Kacie and Chris met and fell in love while stu­dents at Quin­nip­iac Uni­ver­sity. A cus­tom pen­nant in the university’s col­ors serves as their Save the Date. The pen­nant was rolled and mailed to guests in a mail­ing tube with a coor­di­nat­ing label and postage stamp.

This casual clam­bake lob­ster fest wed­ding was announced with step-by-step instruc­tions on how to chow down. Their upcom­ing nup­tials are cer­tainly claws for cel­e­bra­tion! (See what I did there?!)

A new take on a mag­net Save the Date. The announce­ment was printed on double-thick stock and the mag­net was mounted within a printed frame.

Jor­dan and Mike’s rus­tic vin­tage wed­ding will be held at the bride’s fam­ily home in Sep­tem­ber. Their tri­fold Save the Date unfolds to reveal the details and a lit­tle glas­sine enve­lope filled with coor­di­nat­ing con­fetti and a card with their wed­ding web­site. A vin­tage flo­ral pat­tern in their event col­ors appears on the reverse (that’s the flo­ral pat­tern seen in the back­ground) and hints at the event design dreamed up by Diana of Jubilee Events.

When Britt described her ideal wed­ding as a “big fun boozy party” I knew we would have some fun with her Save the Dates. For these oenophile’s (aka wine lovers!), wine rings and splat­ters announce their wed­ding at Jonathan Edwards Winery.

Photo Credits: Coral Pheasant