Save the Dates

So... The survey is complete and the results were very close! Thanks to everyone who responded.

The results were:

Absolutely Necessary.	20 (47%)
No. Why send 2 invitations?	22 (52%)

It has also come to my attention that some people would have voted had I had more than just two brightline answers. And by "some people" I mean my law school buddies. See below for examples.
K.E.:

hey! i saw the survey on your blog, but i couldn't vote because i don't necessarily agree with either (do i sound like a lawyer yet?) haha:) anyway, i think a nice way of making sure people save the date without the added effort & expense is to include a mini save the date in holiday cards. i just printed up a cute save the date type note on nice paper & put it in the cards. added bonus: december is the perfect time to send save the dates for summer weddings. hope that helps!

C.M.R.:

I'm going to join K.E. and say I didn't respond to your poll because while I don't think save the dates are absolutely necessary, they are a nice way to get people to put it on their calendars well in advance, and make sure they don't plan things that would get in the way - I am glad to have the one from my friend who's getting married in April so that I don't have to always be wondering which weekend it is, etc. Also, we went the magnet route (as did this friend) and I think that it's nice because that way you don't lose it among your papers somewhere - always easy to find! That's just my two cents on save-the-dates ;)

The reason for the survey and the questioning about "Save the Dates" is the fact that historically speaking "Save the Dates" were only mandatory if your wedding was on a holiday weekend OR was a destination wedding. Part of me is also bothered by the fact that people close to me wouldn't remember the wedding date - or, at the very minimum, the wedding month. If the wedding month is known, then they can always call before making big plans - if remembering the actual weekend is a problem. Also, a Save the Date would not apply to you, person reading this blog, because I would assume that you know the wedding date (hint: it's on the right hand side of the page).

Not trusting my own intuition on this, I have done some outside research. It appears that there are conflicting views. Some agree with my aforementioned misgivings about Save the Dates, but there was some merit to the argument about weddings during busy times of the year. August 15 is right around the beginning of the school year - as many of the invited guests are teachers, have children, or are in school themselves, this seems like the strongest argument in favor of Save the Dates. (As a funny side note, I almost abbreviated Save the Dates to StDs... yeah, going to write it out...) AND I talked to Erik about it, and he was like, "Of course we should send Save the Dates..." Right... Too bad he didn't say that a week ago...

At any rate, now, I guess, it's a manner of what kind of Save the Dates to send...

Peggy Post's website says:

E-mail Go’s: “Save the Date” notices. It’s a great way to send an informal note to friends and relatives to put the date aside.

Also, I have found some relatively reasonably priced magnets (always a crowd favorite), postcards, and some ideas on MS for making my own. Sigh. I should just resolve myself that cutting corners is not my nor my future husband's style.