When Should I Send Wedding Invites?

When to send wedding invites

So what is the ideal time to send wedding invites, the general rule of thumb is;

Save the date: send out 9-18 months before your wedding

Invitations: send out 2-8 months before your wedding

When I first start talking to my couples, and they tell me about their wedding date, my mind quickly starts doing a mental calculation to work out when is the best time to begin designing their invitation. Then the best time for the invitations to be popped into the post.

To help you work out your own timeline, and discover when is the best time to send your wedding invites out I have designed this easy-to-use chart below.

Important things to remember when you order wedding invites

When you consider when to order your wedding invitations, please allow your stationery designers time for creation, printing, packaging and posting. The style or type of stationery you order can affect the time your items take to be created.

Here is a guide to approximate production times.

Save the Date: 4 weeks
Semi-Custom: 4-6 weeks
Bespoke: 8-10 weeks
On the Day: 4-6 weeks
Thank you cards: 4 weeks

Keep things simple and avoid delayed wedding invites

When I first book you in my diary, you will receive your own timeline. This will inform you of when I require all your information, when I will design your invitation and when I will produce your all your items. All ready to be sent to out to you.

The quicker you reply to any emails or correspondences I send you, the smoother and quicker your invitation creation will be. I love nothing more than keeping things simple. But if your information is not submitted by the dates I request, it can not only delay your design (and we do not want that). It can also affect other couples’ timelines, who are booked in the week after you.

Here are some quick tips to help your stationery order become stress-free;

• Return information requested quickly, supply all information as you want it to be printed
• Gather all your information together and send it to your stationery designer in one batch. In a format that your stationery designer requests. This way nothing gets lost or missed
• Send amends or approval quickly to your designer after they send designs in a pdf for you to review
• Check all designs provided carefully. Once your design is submitted to the printers, amends can not be made
• Stick to deadlines that your stationery designer has provided. Especially print deadlines, these have been carefully calculated. To ensure your stationery arrives on time
•  Please remember some specialist printers can take up to a fortnight, if not longer at busy times of the year. Any hand finishing can take an additional week.

Extra stationery tips

I love to share tips with my couples. As there is nothing more joyous than helping make people’s lives easier and stress-free.

Here are a few tips to help you when you are ready to send your wedding invites out;

• Make sure you pop on the correct postage. Wallet invitations, extra cards, ribbons or wax seals can add extra weight or depth to your invitations. I will always check the weight and width with my clever gadgets. Then advise you on the correct postage you will require.
• Add your address and a stamp to your RSVP envelope. Some guests can be terrible when it comes to replying. Make things as easy as possible for them to say ‘yes’ and pop that RSVP in the post box.
• What leads on nicely to always state an RSVP return date, like your suppliers have a deadline you should too. Your caterers and venue will always tell you when they need numbers by, so use this as a guide. Then, when you have your guest numbers we can start designing any place names or menus you require on the day.
• Not got time to think about postage? No worries, we all have busy lives, postage is a service I can provide. Supply me with your addresses, and I can get everything popped in the post on the way to your loved ones, whilst you can relax and wait for all those glorious ‘yes’ rsvp cards.