When to Mail your Save the Dates and Wedding Invites
- berriesandbloomsst
- Oct 13, 2021
- 3 min read
Updated: Dec 5, 2024
Your wedding venue is booked and the details are falling into place…great! Now you're probably asking yourself, when should my Save the Dates and Wedding Invitations be mailed?
Although there is no right or wrong answer, there are most certainly some benchmark guidelines that we have in place to make sure you and your guests are set-up for success.
Here is our best advice for wedding stationery mailing etiquette!
Save the Dates
Save the Dates are sent out before the Wedding Invitations and simply let guests know the date and the city/location of your wedding. At this point, guests aren’t expecting any in-depth details, but they’re aware they need to hold this date for your big day.
In general, we suggest mailing your Save the Dates out 6-9 months before your wedding date.
Wedding Invitations
Your Wedding Invitation Suites play a huge role in your wedding planning journey – this is where your months (or years!) of work and coordination come to fruition. Prior to your wedding day, your wedding invites are the only piece of information your guests have to know what to expect, where each event is happening, what time to show up and all of the nitty gritty details. This is why it’s so important to mail these out at the right time, as there’s negative implications of mailing too early, or too late (which we’ll get to later).
In general, we suggest mailing your Wedding Invitations out 2-4 months before your wedding date.
When to Break the Rules
There are instances when we suggest breaking the general guidelines stated above. If one or more of the five bullet points below pertain to your wedding, consider adjusting your timeline accordingly.
If your wedding is on a holiday week/weekend, send your stationery out ~1-2 months earlier.
If you’re planning a destination wedding, send your stationery out ~2 months earlier.
If the majority of your guests will be traveling from out of state for your wedding, send your stationery out ~1 month earlier.
If your guest list is over 250 people, send your stationery out ~1 month earlier – this will allow extra time for reaching out to guests who didn’t respond, making your seating chart, etc.
If you decide you’re skipping Save the Dates altogether and are only sending out wedding invites, send your invites out ~4-5 months out from your wedding date instead of the standard 2-4 months.
But how early is too early, and how late is too late?
Many brides get so excited and anxious to send their wedding invites out that they’re tempted to push them out early thinking they’re “ahead of the game,” but this mentality can unfortunately cause a headache in the long run. Sending your invites out too early can result in it getting buried and forgotten on the fridge or in a stack of mail. Guests may also see how far-out your wedding date is and intend on RSVP'ing to it "soon," then it's mistakenly forgotten.
On the contrary, you risk people’s schedule already being booked if you send your invites out too late…and you certainly don’t want to go through the entire wedding planning process to only have a large portion of your guest list unable to attend!
Establishing the Perfect Plan
To guarantee you’ve allowed enough time for your wedding stationery to mail out on the perfect schedule, we suggest booking your custom stationer a year out from your wedding date. This will allow you and your stationer to walk through your unique wedding details and guest list to create the perfect mailing schedule. Happy mailing, friends <3
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