ladies and gentlemen,
one of the most common questions we get from brides is when to send out save-the-dates and invitations. i know we've covered different ideas for what your save-the-dates should look like {remember those adorable mini postcards?} as well as how to word your invitations {yikes!} but we have not yet enlightened you all as to the proper timeline for sending them out.
save the dates
now, the intention of these is to let guests know well in advance when your wedding date is so that they can plan to attend. this is particularly important for those of you planning destination wedding since guests will want to buy plane tickets and make other travel arrangements well in advance. it is also necessary to send these out if you are getting married around a holiday - say, labor day or the fourth of july - when many people generally have standing plans {like a timeshare at the beach} that they will need to break in order to attend your wedding.
for these reasons, it is best to send out your save-the-dates at least 6 months in advance of your wedding but preferably closer to 8 or even 12 months if it is a destination wedding for the majority of your guests. you should also address the save-the-date the same way you will the wedding invitation; that is, if you are inviting guests to bring a plus-1, you should denote that on the "to" line of your save-the-date postcard or envelope.
{via minted}
formal invitations
these are the "dog and pony show" of the wedding paper goods world, in my opinion. in other words, you have in most cases already given out essential information {who, what, when, where} in a save-the-date. it's not as though most of your guests do not know about your wedding by this point, so there is no reason to feel overly rushed to get them out - the purpose of the invitation is, i believe, three-fold. first, it sets the tone for your wedding mood with the design of your invitation. second, it lets guests know whether it is casual or more formal so they will know what they should wear and what they should expect. third and most importantly, your invitations will include information for guests to rsvp so that you will have an accurate count of how many you should expect to attend.
therefore, we recommend sending out your invitations about a month in advance of your wedding date with rsvp's due back to you {or us, if you hire us for full service - wink!} no later than two weeks prior to the wedding. this allows you adequate time to change any rental requests {perhaps you need to add or subtract seating options} and gives you plenty of time to let the caterer know how much food you will need.
{engraved on wood invitation via etsy}
i hope that was a bit helpful!
enjoy the rest of your tuesday, y'all :)
xo,
jennifer
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