SHARE A DATE-CHANGE VIA OUR POSTPONE WEDDING ANNOUNCEMENTS
Wedding postponements are unfortunate but inevitable. Whether your reason for a wedding delay is a personal emergency or a completely unforeseen macro-event, coordinating a change of date can be a stressful and emotional experience. With the recent outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent government guidance about appropriate group gatherings, we’ve been hearing from more brides than ever that they need ways to explain a wedding postponement or cancellation to their guests. Here at Minted, we have curated an assortment of event change or “change the date” cards for couples to help keep their guests apprised of the news, no matter what your current status is: fully canceled, slightly delayed, or postponed with a complete venue change. There are, of course, many different styles and tones for our change the dates cards that will help you effectively relay information to your guests.
WEDDING POSTPONEMENT ETIQUETTE
Changing your wedding date with a postponement card is generally a lighter touch than the original invitation suite that you sent your guests. The goal here is to provide essential information so that guests can quickly reconfirm their availability and rebook travel should it be necessary. In general, a change-the-date card should include the couple’s name, an acknowledgment of the postponement, and a new date and/or location if it is available. We also recommend featuring your wedding website address prominently and directing guests there for more detailed information and updates, which is particularly important for those who may have lost your web address or are not checking it as regularly as you are! Here are a few samples of our favorite wedding postponement messages for differing levels of formality:
Classic and Simple:
We regret to announce that the wedding of
[Couple’s Names]
has been postponed to
[New Date]
[Location]
For further details and updates, please visit
[Wedding Website]
Formal:
It is with the deepest regret that
[Parents’ Names]
announce that the marriage of
[Couple’s Names]
has been postponed due to the current global health crisis
Please join us to celebrate their love
On [New Date]
at [Location]
Familiar:
Save our New Date
For the wedding of
[Couple’s Names]
[New Date]
[Location]
Thank you for your love and patience
Fun and Casual:
Let’s Try This Again
[Couple’s Names]
Are still getting married!
[New Date]
[Location]
As noted above, in addition to sending a wedding date change card, you should also update your guests in a few other places to make sure nobody misses the news. You don’t want a wedding guest traveling to attend a wedding ceremony that has been postponed! We recommend (if you already haven’t) that you first call, text, or email your immediate family and members of the wedding party to confirm that the new reschedule date works for them. This has the added benefit of being able to field questions directly from your guests or proactively spread the postponement details, so you aren’t inundated with more requests down the line. In the current climate, guests are more likely to anticipate a wedding cancellation or postponement due to country- and state-level guidelines for the containment of coronavirus. Having you or your wedding party continuously affirm that a card with information is in the mail and the wedding website will be updated regularly is particularly helpful with stemming additional undue stress stemming from guest’s well-intentioned questions and concerns. For many brides, we’ve seen them doubling up on both an email to the full guest list and a paper event-change card to their guests to ensure that everyone has been made aware of the change as quickly as possible, while still preserving some of the joy and style of the event.
Many couples have also been asking us if it’s possible to send a wedding postponement card if a new wedding date is not yet set. This is particularly relevant if the cancellation is within the next 4-5 weeks and you want to give yourself the time and space to re-plan the perfect big day. This is absolutely acceptable. All you need to do in this scenario is, like above, confirm where new details about the wedding will be made available to guests, usually on your wedding website. This can be a bit trickier because guests may not be actively checking the site, so you should think in advance whether you plan on sending a new batch of invitations or a follow-up change-the-date for guests who may not be as tech-savvy or who may be expecting a paper invitation to keep all details organized.
Given the lead time associated with travel cancellations, it is advisable to send out your news of a postponement as soon as possible. There are no “X months before” rule of thumb like there are for wedding invitations or save the dates, but, if you are expecting guests to rebook and confirm new travel arrangements, you will likely get the best response from your guests if you send at least six to eight weeks before the new date, just like an invitation. In the event you’re a little tighter on time with your wedding postponement cards, we also recommend that you direct guests to your website to digitally RSVP as opposed to sending paper RSVP cards so that you can keep management simple and increase the speed with which you are able to collect responses for your new wedding plans.
CUSTOM DESIGN OPTIONS AVAILABLE THROUGH MINTED
Chances are that if you’re postponing your wedding, you’re a little upset. That’s okay! The silver lining is that our team of wedding merchants has curated this assortment of change-the-dates to reflect a wide variety of styles and levels of formality to match your revised wedding perfectly. As with all Minted wedding stationery, you can customize almost every element, from text to format to color. Below are some of the elements you can tailor with your Minted dedicated designer to match your original invitations or the overall look and feel of your wedding event.
- Format: You can start by choosing your wedding date postponement card’s size and format, which should match the tone and formality you would like to convey to your guests. Most change-the-date designs are available as a classic 5” x 7” card, a petite 4.25” x 6” card, or a postcard. Our petite and postcard event-change cards are also two of our chic and savvy formats that can be helpful in managing your budget when you’re juggling the costs of a wedding delay.
- Text & Wording:: You can update any of the text on the card to match the tone of the message you are trying to convey. The greeting “Postponed” can just as easily become “Love Conquers All” or “Let’s Try This Again”. Likewise, additional text boxes can be added to provide additional information. You can also elect to make any text on the card stand out in custom foil to add extra shine.
- Colors & Fonts: Each card design comes pre-styled with suggested fonts and colorways, but you can update or change any one of them to match your wedding colors or fonts from other correspondence previously sent. If you need help, you can just input information into the “Special Requests” box as you customize your design, and a dedicated Minted designer will be able to update your postponement card based on your direction.
- Envelopes: The Minted envelope is offered in several different colors and can also include a slip-in liner available in a style paired to your chosen design or in metallic offerings options like gold, silver, or rose gold. More importantly, Minted offers free recipient address printing in a variety of dressy fonts. This service is particularly helpful if you used Minted for your invitations or save the dates. If you have your guests’ addresses on file with Minted, there’s no need to update your address book, as we can access these and print them automatically to match your newly designed postpone wedding announcement.
SEND YOUR CHANGE THE DATES QUICKLY & EASILY
We know that the card-creation process needs to be relatively quick in most cases, as you are trying to help update guests as soon as possible. Minted’s easy customization process and quick turnarounds mean that you will be able to design, proof, and print your cards in a matter of days. The process to start your wedding postponement cards is simple. Just click “Personalize” and you’ll be able to start customizing the design that you’ve selected. You’ll be able to chat live with any member of our customer service team throughout the entire process. We’ll text you when your proof is ready, usually within 24 hours, and then offer a variety of expedited shipping options to ensure your wedding change the date cards get to you as soon as possible, anywhere from 2-6 days after your approval.
All in all, we know that changing your wedding date is a difficult process, but we hope that with this assortment and the variety of tools that Minted has available, this to-do will be an easy and fun one to complete. As always, we are standing by to help, so don’t hesitate to email help@minted.com or give us a call at 1-888-828-6468 to get your wedding postponement cards started today.
