A save the date says four things: your first names, the date, the town, and that an invitation will follow. It does not yet say the time, or the exact address, or the run of the day, or the reply deadline.
It is the only announcement text that leaves almost everything out, and that is deliberate. Its job fits in one sentence: to get a Saturday written into a diary, months before you know the rest. Here is what you write, texts to copy, and what changes when the announcement is a page. The timing is dealt with elsewhere: the sending calendar says how far from the day itself each step falls.
What it has to contain, and nothing more
Four lines are enough, and the fourth is the one people forget.
- Your first names. Nothing more: the surname belongs to the full invitation.
- The date, with its day of the week. "Saturday 20 June 2027" sticks better than "20/06/27".
- The town, or the region. A guest coming from far away books a train with that line.
- The promise of more to come. "Invitation to follow" stops people looking for what is missing.
What waits for the full invitation: the time, the address of the venue, the run of the day, the dress code, and your reply deadline. An address given too early is an address you will have to correct. For the wording of the invitation itself, twelve templates are there.
One exception only. If your guests are sleeping over, add a line straight away: "accommodation on site, details to follow". The sending calendar says why that line cannot wait.
Eight announcement messages, to copy
Here is the text of the message that carries your link, the one your guests will read before they open the page. Replace what is in brackets. Each message fits in three lines, because it is read in full on a phone.
The essentials. "[Camille] and [Julien] are getting married. Saturday [20 June 2027], in [Barbizon]. Invitation and details to follow."
Measured. "Our date is settled: Saturday [20 June 2027]. We would be happy to see you there. The invitation will reach you in the spring. [Camille and Julien]"
Straight to the point. "Block out Saturday [20 June 2027]. We are getting married, over near [Fontainebleau]. The rest is coming soon."
Gently does it. "There is a Saturday we would like to spend with you: [20 June 2027]. It will be in [Seine-et-Marne]. Keep the day for us, we will tell you everything very soon."
Between us. "We said we would see. We have seen. Saturday [20 June 2027], in [Burgundy]: write it down, the rest will reach you here."
The good news. "We said yes! Well, we are going to, on Saturday [20 June 2027], near [Bordeaux]. Come along, there will be music."
For those coming from far away. "[Camille] and [Julien] are getting married on Saturday [20 June 2027], in [Barbizon], in France. We are telling you early so you can book your time off. Programme and accommodation to follow."
For a wedding abroad. "We are getting married on [20 June 2027], in [Sicily]. Three days, Friday to Sunday. Book the week if you can, we will help you with the journey."
On the page, you do not have to copy this message out. Your first names make the title, the date and the town have their own fields, and the page displays them on its own. The subtitle is for one short sentence, one only, something like "Invitation to follow".
What the announcement gains by being a page
You are not sending a card, you are opening a page that will fill in. Your guests will come back to it for the programme and the address, in the same place.
Choose the page's address before you announce. With no setting, it is drawn at random. An address in your own names opens with the Essentiel plan, and it is better to settle it now: changing it later leaves your guests with a dead link.
The countdown works for you. You have nothing to switch on: as soon as your date is saved, the page shows the days, the hours, the minutes and the seconds left. No plan holds it back.
The time is not compulsory. At the moment of the announcement you do not know it: leave it out, and the page shows the date alone.
A photo is no more compulsory. A plain colour on the cover works perfectly well, until your couple photos arrive. The Classique template comes with every plan; the others open with the Signature plan.
Your guests can reply from the moment you publish. A reply given months ahead can still be changed up to your deadline, and leaving that date empty keeps the replies open.
How the announcement goes out, and to whom
Four choices when you send: email, SMS, both, or your personal links to share yourself. Email is included in every plan. SMS opens with the Essentiel plan. The links are copied one by one, to send by message or by WhatsApp.
Count your households before you choose your plan. The list takes 10 personal links on the Découverte plan, 50 on Essentiel, 150 on Signature and 400 on Prestige.
One point to know. The automatic reminders only follow the guests you wrote to from your own space, at an email address. A link passed from hand to hand will trigger no reminder. The RSVP article says what gets the others to reply.
Two conditions before the first send: the invitation has to be published, and your email address confirmed. Without that, nothing goes out.
The mistakes that cost
Announcing on the Découverte plan. It takes 10 personal links and 30 replies, and its 30 days online begin when you publish. To announce a date to a whole wedding list, it is not the right size.
Publishing very early without thinking about the term. A pass covers 12 months of hosting. A renewal is added to the term you are already on, without costing you a day, and the pricing page gives the prices line by line.
Forgetting the town. It is the most common omission, and the most costly: your most distant guests are the ones who need that line.
Dropping the public link into a group chat. Nobody is recognised there, everyone has to write their own name, and you will not know who opened it. A guest list gives you one link per household, and the sending is done for you.
Waiting until you have everything. The venue is not signed, the caterer is not chosen, the programme does not exist: that is exactly the moment to announce.
Create your invitation and put the page together without publishing it, while you choose your wording. Or open a sample invitation on your phone to see what your guests will receive.
