Is 6-months too early for formal invites to be sent?

6 months is way too early even if you need final counts 30 days in advance. If you need final numbers on 1/22, send out invites the first week of December with an RSVP date of 1/8. That’ll give you two weeks to track down anyone who hasn’t RSVPd before you owe your final numbers.

That's way too much time. I would send out invites 2.5 months in advance and give yourself a month and a half before the wedding for RSVPs to be due. That way you have 2 weeks to hunt people down.

Wayyy too early. I had a DW and I still only send out my invites at 10 weeks. Agree with PP about the timing.

I think that's really early. You could do before Xmas time like maybe beginning of December or late November if you want to avoid the Xmas mail

Yes, way too early

Agreed with everyone above. My guests all have to travel at least a few hours, and I sent them just under 3 months out.

I think three months is the furthest you should send them out. Which would be November. You could do the week before Thanksgiving to send them out so you can get them in before the holidays. Or even two weeks before. I'd aim for November

Way too early. Nobody is going to be able to commit to a wedding 3 months in advance and people will definitely lose the invite/RSVP. Send them out 10 weeks prior, RSVP back 6 weeks prior, which gives you 2 weeks to track down people that didn't respond.

6 months is entirely too early. If someone sent me a wedding invitation 6 months in advance I would most likely think it was a save the date, lose it, and/or I would forget to RSVP. Like you said, 8 weeks is traditionally when invitations are sent. The earliest I would send them would be 10 weeks. Maaaaybe 12 if you are really feeling stressed by your 30 day timeline.

We are getting married 2/1/20. After speaking with our invite designer she suggested sending them out right before thanksgiving (probably the week before) and ask for a Jan 1 rsvp date. I’m sure many will be forgotten but I’m taking the professionals word for it haha. Hope that helps!!

To elaborate more—
our concern is primarily centered around the Christmas holiday. Our post office is absolutely awful and is constantly losing mail. And the holidays seem to make it worse. The vendor thing I’m not too concerned about.

I myself thought 6 months out was too soon so I might opt for 2.5-3months timeline. It a till might be too early but I feel better about it.

Thanks all!!

View Quoted Comment I think I’ll follow your lead and opt for a similar timeline! Thanks

View Quoted Comment Glad to help!! Hope it works out!!

I agree with PPs. Six months is on the early side!

We are sending ours out August 16th for a November 16th wedding and having our RSVP cards due back October 1st

Definitely against the grain but while 6 months is definitely early I don't think it's *too* early. I got the invite to my FSIL's six months ahead of time and I thought it was great timing to have time to figure out my plans. It wasnt until I started planning my own wedding that I learned this was super early

That is so so so early. Send your stds 9 months before, make sure you have hotel blocks and stuff set up before you send them out so guests can actually book things right away (this has helped us out so much).

Send your invites the first week of December or last week of November with RSVPs due January 10th, that gives you a full week to follow up, but also makes sure that people have an opportunity to mail their rsvp back before the holiday or after January 1st.

We have so many traveling in from from out of town, and I’ve had the hotel send me lists of who books in our block which has given me an idea of who is actually coming before invites even go out. Then I know if I don’t get an rsvp from them, they will still probably come andto be more aggressive about the follow up.

Date twin!!! This thread was so helpful for me, so thank you! I’m thinking we’ll send ours the first week of December. That’s what our florist suggested, as it’s a friendly reminder for people to not blow all their money on Christmas presents if planning to come to the wedding. Who knows if this is true. 🤷🏻‍♀️

Way too early. Save the Dates are for this very purpose. Send out Save the Dates and then follow a normal schedule for the invites.

We are getting married 2/29. We just sent out of save the dates lol. We also have to have a head count 30 days in advance. We plan on sending invites around November 20th with RSVPs due 6 weeks prior. That way we have time to hunt down RSVPs.