RSVP return date

I'd say no less than 6 weeks before the wedding date. Virtually all caterers need a final head count about 2 weeks before the date.

1-2 weeks before your headcount is due to the caterer/venue so you have time to follow up on any responses you haven't gotten. Mail your invitations about 6-8 weeks from the wedding date so people have about 4 weeks to consider and mail back.

Go backwards from your wedding date. Our wedding for example:

4/28/12 - wedding

4/21/12 - headcount due to caterer

4/7/12 - RSVP date

3/1/12 - mail date - so by the time people received them, they had about 4 weeks

Okay so do I send invites out 8 weeks before the wedding? Or 8 weeks before I want the response?

@krisalicious thanks!

Mail invites 6-8 weeks before the wedding. The RSVP date should be no further than 3-4 weeks out from the wedding. People should have around 4 weeks to consider and send it back.

Honestly, it sounds like it would make sense to push everything as far back as possible to give yourself and your guests lots of time, but in reality if you mail your invites too early, people set them aside and forget to RSVP. Likewise, if your RSVP date is too early, a lot of people will just not respond by the date, or the responses won't be accurate and people will be calling you to change their answers as their work/travel/childrens' schedules change. It sounds like it would make things easier to send it earlier but really you end up doing more work.

You bet!

I think Hayley has a timeline on her profile too.

I say RSVP should be 4 weeks before the wedding date. It gives you a week or so to make those calls before your numbers are due to the catering people.

I'm planning on doing 2 rounds of invites any advice for when to send round 1 and then 2? Planning to send 2 after seeing how many aren't attending (all my fam lives across the country so their womnt be many attending I'm assuming).

We are sending out invites 12 weeks before the wedding (our wedding is out of town.. even for us!) and we are asking for RSVP's 4 weeks before the wedding..

Our wedding was on Sept 29 and my RSVP date was Sept 10th. We were able to get everyone's response about 4 days after the due date, our final numbers also weren't due until like 4 days before the wedding but the hall did the catering

I asked for our invites a month before (our wedding is January 20th, and we asked for them back by December 15th). But, that was also because we wanted to beat the Christmas rush!