Wedding Invitation timeline
Wedding invitations are very crucial since they give your guests important details that regard your wedding. It is out of the wedding invitations that your guests get a glimpse of your wedding theme. But what exactly is the perfect time to send out these invitations and get responses from your guest? Let’s take a look at what needs to be sent out when.
Save the Date – When do you send save-the-dates?
Essentially, save the date cards are cards that you send to your loved ones who are on your guests list to officially communicate your wedding date and location. Ideally, they should be sent out four to six months before the wedding date. This gives your guests time to clear the set date in order to make it to your wedding.
However, if you are planning for a destination wedding, the save the date cards need to be sent out six to twelve months before the wedding. This allows your loved ones enough time to plan for the travel, book accommodation or even save up for a short holiday. This also applies if you are hosting a hometown or local wedding but have invited international guests; their save the date needs to reach them earlier to enable them make the travel plans.
Remember, save the date should only be sent to the people that you intend to invite to your wedding.
When should wedding Invitations be sent out?
Having sent the save the date card to your guests, you need to follow it up with a wedding invitation. This is an official invitation to the wedding and is more detailed compared to the save the date. Dress code details, the itinerary could be included in the official invitation. This is also a good place to indicate whether kids are invited to the wedding or not.
The wedding invitation should be sent out six to eight weeks to the wedding. Remember you don’t want to send the wedding invitations out too early or too late. However, it should be done in a good time to give the guests time to confirm their attendance.
In the event that you had not sent the save the date cards, you’ll want to send the official invitations earlier especially for international guests or in the case of a destination wedding.
RSVP – When should I expect my guests to RSVP
After sending the invitations, you expect your guests to confirm availability. This is essential to allow you to compile the final guest list and share it with your caterer, venue or even the wedding planner.
To avoid last minute pressure, all your guests ought to have responded two weeks to the wedding. When sending out the wedding invitations, ask your loved ones to RSVP three to four weeks to the event date. This gives you a window period to follow up via phone calls to anyone who may not have responded.
Today, you don’t have to be restricted to sending hard copy invitations. Depending on your preference and time window available you could consider sending out all the three cards in soft copy or send some on soft copy and others in hard copy, the choice is yours.
