Hello There! Today I want to share insight on another popular question I get about wedding planning in general – ‘When exactly should I send out my invitations?’
Six to Eight Weeks ahead of your wedding date is the traditional amount of time to send out wedding invitations. There are a few variations on this rule though so when planning for your invitations, consider these tips!
Is it a Destination Wedding? – Are you getting married away from your hometown, someplace where almost all of your guests will be flying/driving in for the event? In this case it may make sense to give them more time – up to three months ahead of time if it is a foreign country and they may need to do things like renew passports and book airline tickets, arrange for accommodations.
Did they already ‘Save the Date’? – Save the date cards are not only a great way to show off those engagement photos we capture together, they ensure that the important people on your wedding list write down your wedding date on the calendar so that they block out the surrounding days to be sure they make room in their schedule to attend. This gives you a little wiggle room if you run into last minute issues with the invitations coming back from the printer and getting the perfect postage ready for your envelopes and your invites go out a few days late. Save the Date’s are typically sent out about four months in advance – 8-12 months for a destination wedding!
When Did You Order Your Invitations? You should order your invitations from the printer 6 months before your wedding date. Consider this: your printer will need time to print your custom invites and if you aren’t ordering them locally they will need to be packaged and mailed . Once you receive them you will need time to get to your calligrapher or if you are lettering yourself – time to to hand address the envelopes and possibly even the RSVPs. You’ll want to get to the Post Office to have the entire thing weighed so you know if extra postage is required, then you may even want to special order beautiful stamps from USPS.com to go on the envelope. All of these things add in extra time, so to be safe, you’ll want to start this process no later than 4 months before the date of your wedding.
What Date Do I set for RSVPs?
Check with your caterer, but you generally need to set your RSVP date 2-3 weeks before the wedding date so that you can give them a final head count and they can plan to prepare food and drinks for that number of people.
Don’t forget to bring an invitation set to your wedding for your professional photographer (me!) to capture. One of my favorite wedding gifts is my framed invitation with the envelope and all the other parts safely stowed in an envelope on the back. Contact me once you have your wedding date and let’s start planning your photos!
With Grit & Grace~
Sarah Keenan, Photographer
Westland Farms Studio, Knoxville | Asheville | Nashville | Chattanooga
Blue Poppy Weddings, Outer Banks & Coastal Carolinas
