Timing guide

When to send wedding invitations

Six to eight weeks before the wedding, and twelve if people are flying. The part nobody plans for is the four weeks before that.

Addressed envelopes fanned across a pale counter

The answer everybody wants is six to eight weeks before the wedding, twelve if a meaningful number of guests are travelling or it is a holiday weekend. That much is settled convention and it works. The reason weddings still end up in a paper panic is that the invitation has to exist before it can be sent, and almost nobody builds in the design, proofing and, if they are printing, the production time in front of that date.

Working backwards is the only way this stays calm. If the invitation mails eight weeks out, the wording needs to be final about two weeks before that, which means the guest list needs to be settled a week before that, which means the venue and the ceremony time are locked at least three months out. None of that is dramatic on its own. It only becomes dramatic when the date arrives and the guest list is still being argued about.

The RSVP date is the piece that gets set carelessly and causes the most damage. It has to sit far enough ahead of the wedding that you can chase the people who ignored it and still give the caterer a real number. Three to four weeks before the wedding is the working range, and the venue almost always needs the final count a week after that.

The timeline, working backwards

Eight to twelve months out

Save the dates go out

Only once the date and venue are actually booked. A save the date is a promise, and it cannot be walked back.

Four to five months out

Invitation design starts

This is the step everybody discovers late. Concepts, revisions and a proof read by somebody other than you takes real weeks, and printing adds more.

Ten weeks out

Wording final, guest list closed, addresses collected

Chasing thirty addresses takes longer than designing the invitation. Start collecting them the week you start the design.

Six to eight weeks out

Invitations mail

Twelve weeks if guests are flying, if it is a holiday weekend, or if the wedding is abroad. Earlier than twelve and people file it and forget it.

Three to four weeks out

RSVP deadline

Leaves time to chase the silent third of your list before the caterer needs a number, which is usually a week later.

Two weeks out

Day-of paper finalised

Menus, programmes, place cards and the seating chart all depend on the final count, so they are the last thing designed and the first thing forgotten.

Within three months after

Thank you cards sent

The convention people cite is a year, which is far too generous. Three months is the real standard, and gifts that arrived before the wedding should be acknowledged as they come.

What goes wrong

The mistakes worth avoiding

Sending save the dates before the venue contract is signed.
Setting the RSVP date one week before the wedding, which leaves no time to chase anyone.
Starting the invitation design four weeks before it needs to mail and discovering that proofing and printing eat all of it.
Mailing twelve weeks out for a local wedding, which is early enough that guests set it aside and lose it.
Forgetting that a Saturday wedding on a holiday weekend competes with everybody else and needs the twelve week runway.

Questions people ask

Is it too early to send twelve weeks out?

For a local wedding, yes. Guests put an early invitation somewhere safe and forget it. Twelve weeks is for destination weddings, holiday weekends, and lists with a lot of long-haul travel.

Do we still send an invitation to people who got a save the date?

Yes, every single one. A save the date is not an invitation, and skipping the invitation is how people end up not attending a wedding they had marked in their calendar.

How long does the design side actually take?

Here, a First Look concept is back in three days, a full custom invitation runs about two weeks with revisions, and a complete suite runs three to four. Printing, if you are printing, is on top of that.

What about digital invitations, does the timeline change?

The send window is the same, but you lose the print and mail time in front of it, so you can decide later. That is the practical argument for digital more than the cost is.

Want the wording set properly?

Wording is included in anything designed here. Tell me who is hosting and anything delicate about it, and I will set it and show you two versions to choose between. $45 for a First Look concept, back in three days, and it comes off whatever you book.

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