When should I mail out my wedding invitations?

Question

And what date should I put for an RSVP by date?

I'm getting married on April 18th, 2009....I was originally going to send them in January with a date in Feb...but MIL says thats to late and FH says its too soon. I was curious what everyone else does.

Answer 1

I find the easiest way to get these dates is to work backwards from your wedding day towards today.

Have a look at the paperwork for your venues/caterers etc.  There should be something on there that tells you when they need to know your final guest numbers.  This is to give them time to organise adequate staff and purchase enough food.  Usually this will be two weeks prior to the wedding but it's best to double check as some may require more notice.  That gives you the date you need to finalise your guests by.

To get your RSVP date you should probably pick a day two weeks before the date that you need to confirm final numbers.  This gives you a week after your RSVP date to wait for slow mail and also time to contact guests who did not RSVP before closing off numbers.

Your invites would be mailed 4-6 weeks ahead of the RSVP date for local guests, mailed 6-8 weeks ahead for interstate guests and 8-12 weeks ahead for international guests.  

(if you are worried about forgetting to mail some invites mail them all on the same day at the largest mailing time required, likewise if you have already sent save the dates to people who would require transport and accomodation then you can leave the mail out until the smallest interval)

This provides enough time for travel, work and accomodation to be sorted if specific advance notice has not been supplied to your guests.

It is also individualised for your wedding day and caters specifically to your needs.

Answer 2

Now a days everyone seems to be into the save the date notices. I think they work very well you can send them out as much as a year in advance that way people know the exact day well ahead of time and can make plans to clear their schedule.

Regarding the actual invitations I would not send them out that early for people get them and think Ohhh I have time and then the time passes and they forgot to send reply back. I think you will be good going with the 6-8 week time frame with the RSVP date being enough time to meet the deadline of your caterer.

Best of luck to you!! Congrats!!

Answer 3

6 weeks in advance.....gives people enough time to plan....you might want to send out a little party favor reminder...something cute that reminds them of the date.  This is what my sister did and it worked great we got more people to RSVP as to whether or not they could come or not.  

Congrats :D

Answer 4

You MIL is TOTALLY wrong, its definitely not too late. I'm getting married September 20, and  mailed them July 20. All the books and magazines say mail them 2-3 months ahead of the wedding, some mags and books even say 6-8 weeks.  

Answer 5

Six weeks is about average.

If you have a lot of people on your guest list who live out of town, then eight weeks.

If it's a smallish wedding and everyone is local, about four weeks out.

The RSVP date depends largely on your caterer. When does he/she need to know by? Take that date and back it up a week.

Hope this helps!

Answer 6

OK first you need to find out when your ceremony and reception sites need the final numbers.

Say its due by March 18th, 2009.

Have your RSVP date for March 1st, 2009.  

This way, between March 2nd and March 17th, you can get those who have not RSVP'd for whatever reason on the phone and get an answer from them.

Send out your invitations January 18th, 2009 (after the holidays are over).

If its due earlier than that, make changes as needed.

Answer 7

I'm mailing mine out a month and a half in advance!

Answer 8

If you have people who need to travel then you need to give one notice.

save the date cards are a great way to deal with this.

I would send them out 6-8 weeks before and give an earlier than needed RSVP date as a lot of people wait until the very end to reply.

Answer 9

Wayyyyy too early!

If you are concerned about potential out of town guests making travel plans, send a save the date earlier. Since your MIL feels that is too late, maybe sending a save the date would make her feel better anyway (asuming you want to make her feel better :-)  

Send the actual invitations six to eight weeks in advance and the RSVP date 3-4 weeks prior to the wedding date.    

Answer 10

Most couples mail them four to eight weeks before the ceremony so that out-of-town guests have time to make work and travel arrangements. If your wedding falls on a holiday weekend, save-the-date cards are typically sent a year to six months in advance.

Answer 11

if you are inviting people who live outta town, you need to send them in plenty of time for them to plan a trip etc, also if you are inviting those people who are ALWAYS busy, you should send them in plenty of time for them to clear their schedules.

if i were you i'd send them with your christmas cards or shortly thereafter, which is plenty of time to plan ahead.

Answer 12

thats waayy to soon, send them out around 6 weeks before the wedding, then have an rsvp date 4 weeks before.

Answer 13

2 months before you have the wedding because you'll have enough time to get the wedding together, with the cake and dresses and everything. then everything won't be on your back. always do this aleast as early as you can. less wok. hope evrything will go we'll.

Answer 14

Invitataions should go out 6-8 weeks prior to the wedding!

Answer 15

You are supposed to send them out 6 to 8 weeks before the wedding, so that would be between February 21st and March 7th.

and you should give guests up until 2 weeks before your wedding to rsvp, so that would be April 4th