When should I send out my wedding invitations?
Working out exactly when to send your wedding invitations can be a little anxiety inducing. The concern is, if you don’t send them early enough, then people are booked up and may not be able to come to your event. And if you send too early people’s life circumstances may change and they end up canceling their attendance closer to the date anyway. So what’s the sweet spot?
There’s a three questions you can ask yourself to work out the perfect send time for you:
1. Did you send save the dates?
If you sent out save the date cards – either digitally or in print – then you have a little more time. It means that people are aware of the date well in advance and while they don’t have all the details, it’s on their radar. If you’ve let people know the date ahead of time, then I recommend sending invitations around 4-5 months before the wedding at a minimum.
If you didn’t send save the dates, then I recommend sending your invites a little earlier. Often people opt to skip the save the dates if the venue is all booked and key timing has been locked in. For these couples, I would recommend sending invitations out at least 6-8 months before the big day.
3. Do you have international guests or do guests need to book accommodation?
Remember that your guests will need to make arrangements depending on the specifics of your wedding. If you’re planning a midweek wedding, they’ll need to get time off work.
If your guests live along way away or you’re planning a destination wedding, they’ll need to arrange travel and accommodation. It’s important that you allow enough time for them to budget for this and plan everything so they’re not under pressure.
Early invitation sending is particularly important if you’re planning an overseas wedding. For some families, this kind of travel requires a year lead time for budgeting and logically planning. If there’s preparation and planning for your guests then sending invites closer to the 10-12 months mark is more appropriate.
2. When is your RSVP date?
Lastly consider when you need your guests to RSVP and ensure that your guests have at least a month between receiving their invitation and RSVPing.
A few tips on setting your RSVP date:
- Double check with your vendors when they need final numbers, list them all down and take note of the date furthest from your wedding.
- Then add at least 2-3 weeks to allow you time to chase up people who haven’t responded.
Remember that vendors such as stationery designers like me need 4-6 weeks to produce your on the day stationery so it’s important to factor in that time.
Regardless of what you land on for your perfect send date, it’s important to start the invitation and stationery planning process around 3-4 months before you intend to send them, however it can also be handy to book in as soon as you find a wedding stationery designer you love. We do book up quickly and can book out for certain periods well in advance. If your wedding is still 12-18 months away, you can even ask your stationery designer about placing a holding deposit that’s just a small amount to hold your place in their calendar while you work out exactly what you need.
What do you do if you’re planning a wedding with a quick turn around? That’s ok! You can still send invitations! Simply get everything in motion and send them as quickly as you can. You may just want to make some choices that allow the process to move more quickly. Eg. Choose digital printing rather than letterpress as letterpress can add up to 10 days to the printing process. Or you may like to send out digital invitations instead to ensure people are getting the info as quickly as possible.
In summary, there are lots of variables to factor in when working out when to send your wedding invitations, but my general recommendation is somewhere between 6-10 months before your big day. The only exception being weddings that require overseas travel. In that case let guests know as soon as possible.