How to make a save the date video

A save the date video needs only four things: the couple's names, the date, the city, and a line saying the invitation will follow. Keep it under 40 seconds and vertical for phones. Make it from an animated, caricature or 3D template, add your names and one photo if the design needs it, and send it on WhatsApp to the families who will have to travel or book leave.

What should a save the date video leave out?

Leave out the functions, their timings and the venues. At the save the date stage they are rarely final, and whatever you send first is what people remember. If the sangeet later moves to a different day, the invitation has to undo what the save the date said. The full schedule belongs in the invitation, six to eight weeks before the wedding.

How long should it be?

Between 15 and 40 seconds. It has one job, to make people block the dates, and a short film gets watched to the end. Put the date on screen long enough to read twice, and once more at the end, because that is the frame people screenshot.

What kinds of save the date video can you make?

• Animated: a painted scene, a villa or a lake, with your names and date. ShaadiMode's 14 watercolour films each greet the family by name and arrive on WhatsApp as a video.
• Caricature: a couple drawn as cartoons in a palace, a convertible or a snake boat. ShaadiMode's short caricature films run 18 to 40 seconds, with a painted couple or your own caricature uploaded.
• 3D with your photo: you are placed in a photoreal world, from Royal Rajasthan to Kailash, with each family's copy opening with their name.
• A game for friends: an interactive save the date, such as Save the Groom or Guard His Juttis, where the date appears when they finish.
• A card for elders: a blessing such as Aashirwad or Light a Diya.

Step by step

• Fix the date and the city. Nothing else needs to be final.
• Choose one design for everyone, or one per group: a game for friends, a blessing for elders.
• Add your names, the date and the city. For a 3D film, add one clear photo of the two of you, in daylight.
• Watch it on your own phone before sending, with the sound on.
• Send it to each family with their name in the message, three to six months before the wedding, or six or more if they fly.

On ShaadiMode you can make 2 save the dates free, in any card or game, with no watermark. The 3D, caricature and animated films, and a different save the date for each group, come with Plus at ₹2,999 once per wedding.

What to write on a save the date video

Four lines are enough. Here is the text for a family save the date and a friends' one, in English and Hindi.

Common mistakes

• Putting the function timings on it. They change, and the save the date stays in people's phones.
• Making it so long that the date only appears at the end. Show it early and again at the close.
• Sending it to everyone. Guests in your own city don't need it; the invitation is enough for them.
• A dark, side-on photo for a 3D film. Faces come out best from a clear daylight photo, looking at the camera.
• Forgetting the year. A save the date sent nine months ahead can cross into the next year.

Questions people also ask

Read next

• All save the dates
• Animated save the dates
• Save the date wording
• Save the date messages

Every save the date, from games to 3D films, is on one page with a sample of each. See the save the dates