When to send out invites?

[girlggc]

My wedding date is May 31st. I have all my invites addressed and envelopes sealed. I want to mail them on Monday, but my mom says that is too soon and we should wait for Saturday. I think the earlier the better, especially since we did not do save the dates. Who do you think is right in this situation?

[Katiegirl]

I think the general rule is 6-8 weeks before the wedding. My wedding is one week earlier than yours, and I'm mailing mine out on Monday.

I know how you feel though...I'm dying to get them out there!!! :)

[Micah's bride]

I mailed mine out 8 weeks before the wedding. I was going to wait until 6 weeks before, but I just couldn't keep on to them for 2 more weeks. We didn't do save the dates, either, so I was like you and figured the earlier the better. It's so hard to wait once you have them done!

[WebLady]

I think about 3 months out is about the time I'd say to send them.

[Whitewater]

We're doing 8 full weeks, to give people time to RSVP *and* to track down those who I just know won't RSVP in a timely fashion. RSVPing is important to me since my reception is potluck and I need to know how many dishes we're going to have!

And I know that most of my friends, dearly as I love them, will not RSVP at all if I don't get after them. It's just the way they are.

So we're sending out invitations way early so that I have time to call the majority of my guests and kick their butts, politely, about whether or not they're planning on showing up!

I figure, I'll send the invites out 8 weeks in advance, give people 6 weeks to respond (and put on the invite, please respond by X date), then spend the next two weeks calling around.

If I knew that I didn't have to do all that checking up, I would only send out my invites 6 weeks early, to give people time to get off work, find an outfit, figure out something for the potluck, etc.


Whitewater (and normal events only get 2-3 weeks notice in my world, so 6-8 weeks is a nice big cushion for me and mine!)

[Mrs.Goff]

We mailed ours about 9 weeks before and FH insisted that our RSVP by date be Feb 28. I thought that was WAY to early for the RSVPs. But he said that we'd still be missing some come 2 weeks before the wedding.

Looks like he was right! 13 days left and we're still missing 4. haha

I understand wanting to mail them I could not wait. Just a word of caution. The longer they have them before the wedding/RSVP date the more chance there is for the to miss place the invite and RSVP. I happened to me with more then one person.

Good luck and make sure to announce when you do mail them.

[VTStephanie]

Our wedding is May 20th and I mailed them out this past Friday and we set our R.S.V.P responses due April 19th. We are hoping 4 weeks will be plenty of time for them to R.S.V.P. Hard to tell though after reading many stories on here...

[Qtpie]

We are getting Married May 17 and we just sent out our invitations Saturday. I am so excited to hear back all the responses.

[HisDelightfulFaerie]

I'm trying to have mine out by the 6th of April with an RSVP date of May 31.

[MrsDM]

I'm planning the 8 week route. I plan on mailing mine the last Friday/Saturday of June with the responses due August 1st which gives guests 5 weeks to respond.

[sandy03]

My wedding is a week before yours and I'm sending mine next Monday because that will be right at 8 weeks.

[Whitewater]

I just realized, I'm going to have to take mailing time into consideration too, for some of them!

The bulk of my invites are going to people here in town or within the state, so they'll get theirs 24-72 hours after I mail them. But it could take 7-10 days for the out-of-towners to get their invites, so I need to prepare for that too. I've got people in Arizona, California, Florida -- all over the place.

I figured out that we can mail them out anytime between the 24th-30th of April, for a wedding on the 24th of June. I'm giving myself that extra time because I'm putting together my own invites (printing them, working up extra slips of paper for directions and reception info, having to put them all together and decorate them, yadda yadda), and life being what it is, it's best to have a cushion, just in case I can't get them all done in time. Never missed a deadline yet, but you never know! An ounce of prevention, and so on.

Gosh, I hope this all works out.


Whitewater

[tk93]

I'm trying to have mine out by the 6th of April with an RSVP date of May 31.

HisDelightfulFaerie, we have the same wedding date! June 13!! :)

I originally intended on holding on to the invites until around April 6 with a RSVP date of May 11, but what with the postage increase going into effect right around the time our RSVPs would be due and all, I decided to move everything up a bit. I finished all of my invites this past weekend and plan on having them in the mail by March 31 with a RSVP date of May 1.

[HisDelightfulFaerie]

HisDelightfulFaerie, we have the same wedding date! June 13!! :)

I originally intended on holding on to the invites until around April 6 with a RSVP date of May 11, but what with the postage increase going into effect right around the time our RSVPs would be due and all, I decided to move everything up a bit. I finished all of my invites this past weekend and plan on having them in the mail by March 31 with a RSVP date of May 1.

Ew I didn't even think about that.......

[Katiegirl]

Ew I didn't even think about that.......

Just get the Forever Stamp! You'll be just fine. I did that with my RSVP envelopes, even though I *should* have all of mine back by then.

[Kay]

I'm so glad I found this thread. I needed some direction and it looks like I had a good timeline planned... we are currently planning to send 181 invites with a guest list of over 480 so I REALLY need to know how many people are actually attending... having said that... I think we'll send them a little earlier than 8 weeks... more like 3 months ahead..

Wedding Date 09~19~09

Mailing invites the week after July 4th (I plan to finish them over the holiday)

RSVP on 100 of them say August 15, 2009 and the other 100 say August 1, 2009. The August 1, 2009 date was my mistake so I'm just going to send those to people far away that we are unsure about actually attending. I'm getting SOO excited!! We are 2 days away from the FOUR MONTH MARK!! YAY!! :)

[Chubear]

I actually gave mine out in waves.
I saw some family at xmas i couldn't garantee i'd see again before the wedding, so anyone there got theirs ( so no one felt left out:o) which was 6 months in advance but they did need hand delivery.

Then at about 3 months i think i started to give some out and it took over a month to get the rest out - some i gave up on hand delivering and had to post them ( but without the pretty box).
i have yet to take a picture so i cant show you what i mean!

it is now 3 weeks til dead line and have few actual rsvps, have quite a few that have booked and/or paid for accommodation so i KNOW they are coming even if they cant find a letter box to stick my rsvp in.
even close family didnt give them back until i said i was collecting them for keepsakes.

good luck to all!