International Guests / Save the Dates

I grew up in Portugal and so lots of my family is still there, as well as lots of family friends. We didn't do STDs for anyone, so they didn't get them. And we sent out invites about 8 weeks out. I had two uncles come but they are the ones that do visit here.

Hi lovelyaem, welcome to WW! Make sure to upload a picture for your avatar (instead of the default icons) so that we can get to know you and tell you apart from all the other posters.

You don't have to send Save The Dates to anyone, but if you did want the overseas family to come and wanted to give them ample heads up - the save the dates would be perfect for that!

Like @Mrs. LMac said - STDs should be sent 4-6 months before the wedding date, and invitations sent 6-8 weeks before the wedding date!

Most of FH's family is abroad, and we are sending them STDs. They all know the date, but we're sending STDs a little on the early side in either late September/early October. We want to give them a lot of time to work out the logistics.

I feel like the STD's would be most beneficial for the people overseas seeing how they will need the most time to make travel arrangements if they do want to come.

We sent STD to Italy for FH's family. The postage was $1.15 so it was worth it. We wanted to make sure they all had plenty of time to determine if they could make it to our wedding!

I think it would be MORE helpful to oversees people to receive a STD.

FHs grandmother, aunt and 2 uncles are in poland. We think they are coming if they can all get their travel visas and everything.

Remember postage will be different so take theirs to the post office unstamped and weigh it there for the right country! Just a reminder.

If you're going to do STDs at all you're better off sending them to those who have to make actual arrangements to come to your wedding. If you wait to send out that information 8 weeks before, you're pretty much ensuring those overseas guests won't be able to come because travel will be too expensive at that point. I would DEFINITELY send them STDs and even include hotel information so they have the option to come! You might be surprised by who would like to join you on your special day

I have family in Bermuda, Canada, and the UK who are invited to our wedding in the USA. Regardless of whether or not we thought they were coming we sent STDs 7-8 months in advance to everyone, particularly our overseas guests so they atleast had the opportunity to plan a trip if they wanted to make it (you never know who might surprise you by coming!). They were very happy for the thoughtfulness and to receive a "memento" of sorts. There were a few local friends who we did not send them to since we talk to them on a regular basis and they did not need as much advanced notice. Because of the amount of guests traveling, we sent our invitations 10-11 weeks in advance opposed to the average 8 weeks.

Thank you all for the advice! I actually thought I updated my avatar through my desktop this morning. I'm not sure why it's not showing up! I'll double check shortly.

To clarify, I was thinking of sending save the dates to people overseas if we are fairly certain that they will attend. For the family members (e.g., elders who cannot travel), I was thinking that I shouldn't send save the dates so that they don't feel pressured to try to make plans. However, I will send them the invitation to have as a courtesy. But yes! I am thinking some might surprise us! I'll give it some more thought.

Thank you all for welcoming to the community!

Another thing to keep in mind, send the invites after the holidays. (pretty much immediately) but you don't want your invite to get all caught up and ignored in the holiday mail!

Also - with our international guests (who are young and traveling throughout Europe/Japan and don't have permanent addresses) we sent ours via Paperless Post

We're getting married in AZ and only my parents live there so it's a destination wedding even for me and FH! Everyone we would want to have there is going to get a Save-the-Date whether we think they can attend or not. It's just the nice thing to do. For those people that you know cannot make it, contact them personally (email or call) and tell them that there is no pressure for them to attend. One of my friends is in Singapore and I doubt she's going to be able to make it but I am still inviting her. We'll be sending the Save-the-Dates out in the next few weeks since our wedding is taking place during a holiday weekend.

I'm not sending STDs to anyone. We do have a lot of guests coming from overseas but I've already spoken to each of them individually and will be sending the actual invitation. If you are sending STDs to begin with, then I would certainly send one to those overseas-it'll give them time to prepare and make arrangements.

We're getting married on the same date, and we just sent out STDs last month. Over half of our guests will have to travel and we want to make sure everyone has enough time to make arrangements. We will send invitations 3 months in advance.