When to mail out your Save the Dates and Wedding Invitations to make sure all your guests can attend!
One of the first questions I hear from brides booking their custom wedding stationer is, when am I supposed to send out my wedding invitations?! It can be a stressful process of planning your wedding and making sure all those little paper touches are mailed at the appropriate time: Save the Dates, Rehearsal Dinner invites, and your main Wedding Invitations. The good thing is, if you book custom wedding invitations, most of the time your stationer takes care of the assembly and mailing for you! (This is one of my free perks I love to throw in for By Caroline Ann brides). But if you're creating your own wedding invitations, or just aren't sure of the protocol, here's a comprehensive timeline of when to send your wedding invitations.
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1. Save the Dates for destination weddings
8-10 months prior to the wedding
Destination weddings can be a tricky planning process. You want to make sure that your guests can reserve your wedding date in their calendar with plenty of time to start thinking about flights, lodging, and all other travel details. 8-10 months prior makes it easy for your guests to make sure they can be present at your wedding! I've even seen brides send out save the dates up to a year in advance for destination weddings, so you can flex this timeline to your liking.
2. Save the Dates for local weddings
6-8Â months prior to the wedding
Local weddings are a much easier ballgame, as most of your guests should live around your wedding location or at least in the same country. 6-8 months prior to your wedding gives your guests more than enough time to put your wedding date in their calendar and get excited for the big day.
3. Wedding Invitations for destination weddings
3-4 months prior to the wedding
Formal wedding invitations for destination weddings should be sent 3-4 months prior to your wedding date. This is plenty of time for guests to confirm all their travel arrangements, especially since they should already have reserved your wedding date in their calendar when they received your Save the Dates.
3. Wedding Invitations for local weddings
6-8 weeks prior to the wedding
With local weddings, formal wedding invitations can be sent 6-8 weeks prior to your wedding. This gives all your guests two months to enjoy your beautiful custom wedding invitation (hello, beautiful invitations for the fridge!) and plenty of time to order your gift, plan their traveling, and take any time off of work.
Planning the mailing of all your wedding's paper elements can be stressful, but it doesn't have to be! Just follow the guidelines listed above to make sure your invitations mail out at the perfect time. If you'd like to learn more about wedding invitations, check out By Caroline Ann custom watercolor invitations here. And if you'd like more tips and tricks for how to make invitations, be sure to check out my post on How to Word Your Wedding Invitations.