Most wedding planning timelines are wrong! Custom, personal, memorable wedding invitations should be ordered at least 6 months in advance.
If you are interested in custom, personal, memorable wedding invitations, you should be contacting your stationer at least six months prior to your wedding date. If you plan to send Save-the-Dates you should contact your stationer between nine to twelve months before your wedding.
The best time to mail your wedding invitation suites is three months before your wedding day. This allows you to receive your “A” list’s RSVPs and still mail your “B” list invitations at a reasonable time without having them suspect that they are on the “B” list!
In order to mail your custom, personal, memorable wedding invitations three months in advance of your wedding day, you should contact your stationer by the six month mark at the latest. Designing a custom wedding invitation suite takes time and allows time for revisions as well as the time needed at the printer’s facility. After receiving the order from the printer even more time is needed for addressing and assembly of your beautiful suites.
Sadly, just this month, I have received inquiries from 3 different brides with wedding dates less than 4 months away. One is even under the 3 month mark! Her invitations should have already been mailed!
The invitation ordering timeline should begin at nine months if you wish to send Save-the-Dates to your family and friends. Save-the-Dates help build the excitement for the wedding day. Don’t forget that everyone who received a Save-the-Date must receive a formal invitation. The Save-the-Date ordering timeline starts even earlier if you are planning a destination wedding.
