How to send save the dates by text, WhatsApp and email

A digital save the date is only as good as the way it arrives. The same link can feel like a personal note or like spam, depending on the message around it and the channel you choose. This guide covers each channel, the order to do things in, and the mistakes that cause the most confusion.

Before you send: a five-minute check

1. Open the link on your own phone, on Wi-Fi and on cellular data. Check that the names, the date and the place are right.
2. Send it to yourself on each channel you plan to use: text, WhatsApp, email. Look at the preview your guests will see.
3. Prepare your guest list as households, not individuals. One message per couple or family is enough.
4. Write two or three versions of your message: one for family, one for friends, one more formal. Our save the date examples include ready-made messages for text and WhatsApp.
5. Pick a sending window. A weekday evening or a weekend morning, not late at night.

Which channel for which guest

You will probably use two or three channels. That's fine: what matters is that everyone receives the same save the date within a few days of each other.

Sending by text message

On iPhone (iMessage) and on most recent Android phones (RCS), a link shows up as a preview: an image and a title. On older phones, or when messages fall back to plain SMS, the guest may see the bare address. That's why the sentence before the link matters.

How to do it well:

• Send one text per household. Copy your message, paste it, change the first name. It takes longer than a group text and it's worth it.
• Put the link on its own line, at the end. It keeps the preview clean.
• Say who you are in the first words if the guest may not have your number saved.

Hi Uncle Mark, it's Emma (Robert's daughter). James and I are getting married next September, and here's our save the date:
[link]

Avoid group texts

A group text to a large list shares every guest's number with everyone else, and each “Congrats” notifies the whole group. For a large list, send individual texts or use WhatsApp's broadcast list instead.

Sending by WhatsApp

WhatsApp is the easiest channel for guests abroad, since messages are free over data and arrive instantly.

Individual messages or a broadcast list

• Individual messages are the most personal. With a list of fewer than 50 households, this is the method we'd choose.
• A broadcast list sends the same message to many people at once, but each person receives it as a private message, and their replies come only to you. WhatsApp's help pages state that only contacts who have saved your number in their address book receive broadcast messages; lists are also limited in size (256 contacts at the time of writing). Anyone who hasn't saved your number simply doesn't receive it, without any error on your side. For close family, send individually to be sure.
• A group is for conversation, not for a save the date. Use it later, if at all, for wedding-party logistics.

Check the preview

When you paste the link, WhatsApp loads a preview before you send. Wait for it to appear: if you send too quickly, the message goes out as a bare link. Each of our save the dates is shared as your own link, with a preview of the design.

Hello everyone, Sophie and James here. We're getting married on Lake Como on June 19, 2027, and we'd love you to be there. Our save the date, with the date and travel basics:
[link]

Sending by email

Email suits guests you don't text: coworkers, older relatives who prefer it, family friends whose cell number you don't have.

• Send from your personal address, not a new address created for the wedding. Messages from an address the guest already knows are less likely to end up in spam.
• Write a plain subject line with your names: “Save the date: Emma and James, September 18, 2027.” Avoid all capitals and exclamation marks.
• One link, no attachments. A large image attachment or several links make a message look like marketing.
• Use BCC, or send individually. Never put 80 addresses in the “To” field.
• Send in small batches if your list is long, rather than a single message to everyone.

Subject: Save the date: Emma and James, September 18, 2027

Dear Helen and Tom,
We're getting married on September 18, 2027, in Napa, California, and we'd love you to be there. Our save the date is here: [link]
The formal invitation will follow this summer.
With love, Emma and James

For guests who won't open a link

There are guests for whom any link is a barrier. Call them. Tell them the date and the place, say an invitation will follow, and offer to send a printed card if they would like one. This takes ten minutes and is often the moment they remember most. The digital vs. paper save the dates guide covers the mixed approach in more detail.

After you send

• Don't expect replies. A save the date doesn't ask for an RSVP. Some guests will answer, many won't.
• Note who you sent to and how. A simple spreadsheet column (text, WhatsApp, email, call) saves time when the invitation goes out.
• Follow up with silent close contacts a week later, especially on WhatsApp broadcast lists.
• Send the invitation on the same channels, 6 to 8 weeks before a local wedding and around 3 months before a destination wedding. The full timeline is in when to send save the dates.

Common mistakes

• Sending before the details are final. A second “change the date” message costs more goodwill than a two-week wait.
• Different dates in the message and on the save the date. Copy the date from the save the date itself.
• A link with no message. People are right to be cautious about unexplained links.
• Late-night sending. A message at 11 PM wakes people up; one at 7 PM gets read.
• Forgetting the wedding party and close family. Send to them first, ideally with a personal note, before the wider list.

What our save the dates add

Each of our seven designs, from Lucky Us to Bordeaux, is delivered as your own link, with an “add to calendar” button; most open with an animation, and Biplanes and Élégante add a countdown. The calendar button is what turns “we should keep that weekend free” into an entry in the guest's calendar. You can open every design's demo before ordering, on the phone you'll send from.