Sending the Wedding Invitations

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How long before the wedding should wedding invitations be sent? (Client Tip)

Sending the Wedding Invitations

Timing is everything and nowhere is that truer than when you are planning a wedding. Wedding invitations are critical to wedding planning not just for the bride and groom but also for the wedding guests. The wedding invitation itself serves a dual purpose. It's first purpose is to announce the wedding plans of the couple sending it out. The second purpose is to provide the guests with a wedding planning tool of their own.

Wedding invitations provide the date, time and location of the wedding. It will also alert the guest to the type of apparel that may expected from the formal to the informal. A wedding invitation to a beach wedding will indicate a different type of clothing than one might wear to a formal Catholic wedding ceremony in a grand old cathedral. Because the wedding invitation provides so much information and the couple needs the RSVPs returned from the guests to confirm how many are coming – you might say the wedding invitation is the lynch pin that makes the wedding possible.

With that in mind, you should send out the wedding invitations no later than 12 weeks prior to the wedding. If your wedding invitations are ready, you should send them out 16 weeks prior to the wedding. 8 weeks prior to the wedding contact the guests you have not received RSVPs from. Most vendors will require a final count 4 to 6 weeks prior to the wedding, so this gives you and your guests the perfect window to coordinate their schedules with your plans.

   

Comments

3/1/2007 6:11:14 PM
May Bride said:

This comment far out of line with everyhting else I've read. The normal timeline seems to be to mail invitations 8 to 10 weeks ahead and call guests who haven't RSVP's at 2 weeks.


4/2/2007 10:05:00 PM
Amanda said:

I have pretty consistently heard that wedding invitations should be sent out 6 to 8 weeks before the wedding.


7/14/2009 7:06:21 PM
In the Know said:

This time line is WAY too early. If 'Save the Dates' are sent out, there is no need to send wedding invitations any sooner than 6-8 weeks. It used to be 3 weeks.




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