How to properly modify xml in snapshot memory / managed save file

I am trying to move virtual machines to a new location on the same host. I want to preserve not only snapshots, but domain manage saved state as well as snapshot saved state. The xml is embedded in the snapshot and domain saved state and paths base image files are hard coded. I tried to sed replace the paths and necessary info, but it seems like libvirt expects the xml to be a certain length so it fails parsing. Parsing fails at different points of the embedded xml when I change the length of the path in the embedded xml. How can I properly edit the snapshot and domain managed saved state xml?