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They were worth it for us because half of our guests were traveling. You don't have to invest a lot of money -- just send an email save the date! 
In all honesty, as a guest, I greatly appreciate a save-the-date. It allows me to post it up on the fridge, until eventually replaced by the actual invitation. It keeps that particular date in mind, so I keep my schedule clear.
However, there's no need to go to great lengths or high costs to make save-the-dates happen. We actually ordered a box of business-card sized STDs through www.zazzle.com . They turned out ADORABLE....and what's great is we kept them in our purse/wallet, handing them out as needed. We would also tuck them into Christmas cards, thank you cards, laid them out at the engagement party, etc. We didn't incur any postage costs. Only the $17 for cards, after S&H.
I say still consider them...but choose the thriftier route. Your guests will appreciate the heads up!
Ours were really cheap (less than 1 dollar a piece to design, print, and send), and we had fun making them. We got a lot of comments from people who said they loved the originality, but I'm not sure if it really mattered (since most of the OOT guests didn't come anyway). I guess it was worth it to us just because we liked them and had a good time together making them!
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I'm pretty sure the rule of thumb with Save the Dates is to send them if you are having a destination wedding or a wedding where most guests will need to travel...so they can plan their travel early...like you mentioned. Neither example applies to be but I decided to send a few Save the Dates to those guests I absolutely HAVE to have at the wedding. It saves money by not sending them out to all the guests but I still get to remind a few. It was a good compromise for us and our budget. My wedding philosophy has always been - what works for us is the right thing to do. If STDs aren't something you want to worry about you defintely don't have to do them. Wedding info spreads pretty fast by word of mouth anyway.
Our venue had magnetic STDs that were free with our package and easy to pick out, so they were well worth it for us. The only pressure was finalizing the guest list and gathering all addresses.
They were actually helpful in the sense that we had some addresses wrong, so now we have a chance to correct them before the invitations go out.
If you have a B list, or are considering taking some people off the original guest list, I like the idea of just sending STDs to out of town guests and the ones you know you are inviting.
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We sent them. We had several out of town guest. They were pretty inexpensive. People seemed to get excited about the wedding. I made simple luggage tags using a stamp and my computer printer.
We didn't do STDs and I don't regret that decision. We had a small wedding (invited 117, 86 attended) with mostly local family/friends, so we didn't think a formal STD was necessary. We were able to let everyone know of the date individually (in person, phone, via email), so we didn't have any problems. Also, at the time when it would have been appropriate to send them, we were still fighting my MIL on the guest list, so I'm glad we didn't have to decide who we were inviting at that time.
Miss Pino Grigio, are you saying all of your STDs cost $17 total? I suppose that is pretty good. How many did you send?
Mrs. Spring, I guess $1 a guest isn't too bad. But I'm think if you have 200 invites (I don't know what's average,) that might be around $100. I'm thinking that money could go towards nicer favors or something.
For us they were worth it for out of town guests. We didn't send them to everyone on our guestlist--just family that we knew we wouldn't dream of cutting from the guestlist and people who would have to make travel arrangements (or people we wanted to make sure *didn't* make travel arrangements, like our grad school friends since our wedding is at the beginning of spring break). They got the word out about (1) the date, and (2) the wedding website, where we will be gradually posting a lot of important information (and ALSO our registry! ;)
I just bought business cards with flower designs on them, and printed them off my own computer. I like getting Save The Dates since I'm so forgetful! ...It keeps the date in your head, so you don't forget to show up to your friend/relatives wedding! Super cheap, and easy :)
I think its worth it especially for out of town guests. However, my main reason for sending it was because I placed our wedding website with the password on it - which really helps because after a while getting asked the same question over and over about wedding events gets annoying (especially if you have an FH that isnt really pulling his weight with regards to informing guest) I even send it to in town guests b/c I dont have time to call every single person and explain everything to them - no to mention I get about two calls a week from in town relatives asking me about the dates of my shower and wedding, etc. Im a law student and I work - I dont have the time - so the STD's we were it for me
Most importantly, since they cost us $32 at Walmart (we used a black and white pic my father took for us during our engagement shoot downtown miami) so it was around 84 cents a piece with envelopes.
www.walmart.com go to photo & upload you picture & design your STD - totally within in budget.
They were worth it for us for a few reasons.
1. They didn't cost a lot. We found a designer on etsy who designed them for a song, then we printed them for free (well, just paid shipping!) at Vistaprint.
2. They introduced our board game theme to our guests.
3. Most importantly: since more than half of our guest list is out of town, they were able to mark the date on their calendar.
We did 'em online so they didn't cost a penny...except for my very valuable time ;)
We knew that many people would be travelling and need to plan for that furhter in advance. We also included a link to our website which had a form where guests could enter their address, name of guest etc. That made our lives soooooooooooo much easier. I wanted to do it via email b/c they would have the link right there with the STD. I always lose those things and then have to search around to find the wedding website, spelling of last name for the person I know less etc. I'm not sure if email is poor etiquette, but many people actually replied letting us know they thought it was cute and the address thing was a great idea.
Oh, ours were actually 78 cents an STD. We sent out 65 (invited 130-ish guests). So we spent $50 altogther. It really wasn't very much money, and since we saved in a lot of other areas (like getting a huge discount from our DJ just because we're locals :), I don't think the money was missed from the wedding or reception. If we spent a ton of money or time (it took like an hour to design and order; the company mailed them for us) I might feel different; luckily, everything fell into place for us, and we really liked the end result!
I'm planning on doing my online like fizicsGirl; therefore, free!. About half the guests have to travel, and all of those are internet savvy. The computer illiterate are my family members, so that's not an issue.
Are STDs required for a wedding? I don't think so; I thought it was something nice so that people would be aware of the date and prepare for travel/hotel/car rental if necessary. Therefore, I don't think online STDs are poor etiquette. In my circle of friends, I never received an STD. One friend just gave me a heads up e-mail for her wedding. I was fine with that!
We didnt have them and a lot of guests are traveling. everyone that we really want there already know the date and have it set aside, we just never really felt the need for it.
It was worth it since most of our guests were out of town. Also, we didn't have to spend a lot since I designed them myself and printed them on vistaprint.
I think it'll depend on the size of your wedding and whether or not your guests will likely be out of town or not. If it's a small, hometown kinda thing, it might not really be worth it for you.
They were very worth it for us. We had our wedding over Labor Day weekend on that Saturday, so a lot of people make shore plans here in Pennsylvania. We sent the STDs out in January so that people knew not to make plans if they wanted to attend. Very glad that we did that! To save money, only send to those people you're positive you're inviting.
If you've got a lot of people traveling then it's really good to do STDs. The wedding I'm in this weekend is one where literally no one is from the place where the wedding is taking place, and not only did they not do STDs, they sent their invitations out a month before the wedding! The only reason I even knew when the wedding was was because I am in it! I'd consider STDs if you have a lot of OOT guests - but if cost is a factor, I don't see any problem with an e-mail. You can fit more info in an email, too - web site, etc. I would do something, though. You may want to really try to nail down your guest list beforehand. I don't know how much of a B-list you're going to have because that can get tricky if people know each other and talk. If you think that will be a factor then that's really the only reason I can think not to do it.
FI has a big family and we have many friends from OOT. Approximately 85% of our guest list is from OOT so its important that all our loved ones have enough time in advance to reserve rooms and make arrangements for work if necessary. Save the dates are essential but we are also doing them ourselves and we imagine they won't cost us more that $45.
Totally depends on your situation. Are you inviting a lot of OOT guests? Is your wedding on a holiday weekend and/or a non-Saturday? Is it a destination wedding? If yes to any of these, then STDs can be VERY helpful to you to make sure that more of the people you want there are able to attend.
We did post card STD's that were super cheap and easy...that is until I decided to hand write a note on each of them. uhg, mistake. But, I'd like to still think overall they were great and helpful to our guests. That is if anyone had bothered to book travel before getting the invite, that is an entire other rant though...uhg
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I didn't want to hijack another thread, so I'm here. How important are STDs? I know they help let your guests clear their schedules or make travel arrangements with plenty of time.
But.... they cost money, valuable "wedding brain" energy, and cause snags. Like if you send someone and STD do you have to go ahead and invite them to the wedding. (Which I think you do.) But then someone else brought up if you think of sending STD's to only certain people.
I could see sending STDs to OOT people, for travel reasons. Then you mgiht not have to worry about folks who you change your mind about. (Presuming most OOT people invited, are close enough to you that you wouldn't be waffling about their invitations.)
SO are they worth it? If you sent them, do you feel looking back, they were worth the time, money, hassle?