RSVP time frames!???

We sent ours out July 3rd and they were due August 12th - exactly one month before our wedding. Honestly, I know etiquette says to send invites no more than 6-8 weeks before the wedding, but I really wish we had given ourselves more time. The day after our RSVP date we still had 50 (out of 190 invited guests) outstanding RSVPs which was incredibly frustrating, and we just yesterday got the final 3 responses back after calling and hounding everyone. Now I'm scrambling to figure out seating charts and placecards etc. I would give yourself a bit of a buffer, but other brides here may have different advice.

For your date, if you're staying in the US, send them sometime in early-mid April 2016. If everyone needs to get on a plane to get there (my definition of a destination wedding), you're probably okay to send them in late Feb or early March. If you're sending save the dates, you can send those between now and the end of the year.

Assuming you're not having a destination wedding, RSVP date should be no earlier than May 1. About a month is good, depending on when your caterer needs final numbers. You should give yourself a few weeks to track down any stragglers.

For comparison, most of my guests live within a 2-hour radius. We're sending invites Labor Day weekend with an RSVP date of October 10. My venue needs the count one week in advance (October 31).

ETA: Just to build off of Kelly, don't send too too early, because people may not know what they're doing so far in advance (not the case with her dates, but just FYI).

About half are local and the others are driving from Florida, TN, and Pittsburg. We are located in southern PA near Maryland border.

I would send early/mid April and let your out of towners know the date in advance. Save the dates are helpful if you want to take on that expense (they can be cheap with promo codes) but if not, word of mouth is Ok too.

Okay-- going to stand by what I gave you above, then. I actually would give people until about May 15 or so to RSVP, especially since you have a Friday date, which presents some logistical issues for the guests. Are you sending save the dates? When does your caterer need numbers?

My rule of thumb, look at your contracts and determine when your final headcounts are due, add 1-2 weeks to follow up on people who don't send in their RSVP card. So my final headcount for my florist (I need to know how many centerpieces) is due on Sept. 10 so I set my RSVP to August 31st so I'd have a few day to get our numbers.

Im most likely going to send save the dates since alot of my family are forgetful. My caterer and venue are all in one, not entirely sure when they need head count by. I go to put the deposit down saturday.