While the actual wedding invitations tend to formal affairs, there’s no problem having fun with a save the date announcement.

If you’re doing anything unusual for your wedding – for example, I’m hoping to be able to create an informal “wedding weekend” – then it’s a good idea to send out a save the date card. It lets your guests plan for time off, get childcare and make reservations for flights and hotels. If you’re planning a wedding around a holiday, the save the date notice may also help family and friends know what other holiday invitations they can accept.

The save the date notices go out about four months before the wedding, two months before the wedding invitations. But if you’re planning something big, like getting married on camel-back in the Sahara Desert, you may want to give your guests even a little more notice.

Some fun ideas I’ve come across:

n At designhergal.com, you can design caricatures of you and your fiancé for your cards. Figure roughly $1 per card. And a portion of the proceeds go to the Gal to Gal Foundation, which provides funds for late-state breast cancer patients.

n Savethedateorginals.com will put your info on a magnet for guests to hang on the fridge. The more you get, the cheaper it is, about 50 cents a magnet.

n At invitationconsultants.com you can purchase scratch-off cards. Like a scratch ticket, guests have to scratch the card to get your wedding date. These are a lot more expensive and may not be worth the novelty; $90 for 25.

n Weddingcram.com will take a favorite photo and turn it into a save the date invitation. Prices were hard to come by on this Web site.