Sending invitations early

I sent mine at the end of April for an end of August wedding. Yes, it was early, but it depends a lot on the people you are inviting. A lot of our guests are from other states, and they appreciated the early notification ( we did not do save-the-dates). The vast majority of our guests were responsible and replied promptly. We had to track down a few people, though, because our RSVP date was also early due to venue restrictions.

There's really no right or wrong here. The earlier you send them, and the earlier your RSVP date is, the less chance you have of getting all RSVPs back by the deadline.

I'm not a good one to ask since my wedding is three weeks after yours and I sent mind today BUT, I didn't do all the stuff that you did to prepare your friends/family. I sent STDs about two months ago but haven't done much else for them so the invites will be the time for them to get info on the accommodations, hotel blocks, etc. (I also have a lot of out of town guests).

I would agree with you that eight weeks would be adequate even with out of town guests given what you've already prepped them on ... however, I also don't think anyone would balk at getting the invites at 12 weeks. Maybe compromise and do 10? Or just stick to your guns. It really isn't going to affect the outcome so it shouldn't be on your list of things to stress about too many other things on that list for me!

Good luck either way!

Thanks ladies. My main concern is my fiance's parent's friends. I don't want them to think it's rude that they received an invitation a month before they were supposed to. I would love to get them out of my hands and start receiving RSVP's, but I don't know how it's viewed in the "older" eyes if you know what I mean? I know etiquette is so important in weddings, so that's why i'm asking!

I don't think that early invites are really an etiquette issue.

Hi date twin! I noticed a lot of people on here have sent theirs super early. We are sending ours out mid-July or so with an RSVP date of September 1. We don't have to give our final head count until September 17 so we have plenty of time to get in touch with people who haven't RSVP'd before then.

We did the same timing with the save the dates and since we sent them out, most of our hotel rooms are booked. We have a good number coming from out of town but the STD's really got people booking the hotel rooms and making travel plans. We don't feel the need to send ours out super early.

The down side to sending out your invitations early are the possibility of inaccurate RSVPS. I sent out my invitations for destination wedding super early. My Wedding was April 22 and I believe my rsvp date was February. Unfortunately, I had a lot of people who sent in their invitations as "yes" but than ended up changing their RSVP as it closer to the date - which messed up my headcount and plans.

I learned the hard way that you never want to send RSVPs to early because a lot can change with a person's finance's, work schedule, health, etc. if you leave to much of a gap between the due date and wedding date.

That being said, I understand that it's not always horrible to send it that early for everyone and sometimes you may actually need to send it very early.

If you really want to its only 3 months out which is still soon but not crazy early, I would wait two more weeks

Have you gotten your RSVPs back? Because theoretically, once you get those really set in stone, it almost doesn't matter when you send out your actual invitations. Those people said they're coming, so you can send your invitations sooner rather than later.

Maybe it's just my opinion.

I'm sending my STD/RSVPs out this week and I'm planning on sending out the invitations out in late October/early November. This is also partially because my date is New Years, which is a holiday, so I want to make sure people have plenty of time to get things sorted out.

I sent mine out in April for my August wedding and I still wish I would have sent them out earlier. People really do take their time to RSVP and some really do need time to figure out their schedules because most people go on vacation or need time off (especially if they are out of town).

That's what's happening to me. A few people cannot make it because they didn't have enough time to figure out how to get over here from overseas. They said if they had a couple extra months, that would have been better but oh well!!

Also it helps when it`s earlier sometimes because for those that already RSVP`d, it`s less stress for me to figure out my end head count and stuff and I can be more prepared ahead of time rather than worrying on the last few weeks before confirming heads for the venue.

I sent mine 16 weeks out (destination for everyone) and I've had a 50% response so far

I am sending mine out this week and I have 6 months. I am getting married in Disney World(we are from Ny) and when we wanted to start booking for our H.M we realized a lot of hotels are already booked.Do what works for you and your wedding

I think 12 weeks is too early. There are going to be a lot of people who will put off RSVP'ing, just because that's how people are. That gives more of an opportunity for them to lose the invitation and the RSVP. I didn't send mine out until 8 weeks early with an RSVP date about a month after I sent them out and I still had a few people lose their RSVP in a month and their entire invitation in the 2 months. The majority of my guests were OOT and still had plenty of time to make arrangements for hotel rooms (most people still even put that off until like 2 weeks before the wedding.) Since you sent out STDs, people should already know when your date is and be making arrangements. If you absolutely can't wait and have to send them out at 10, that's at least better, but I wouldn't send them out at 12.

I don't think I would be bothered by a 12-week response date, especially if I had to travel. But I also probably wouldn't send my RSVP in early unless I already booked my flights and everything. Like other posters said, the longer you give people, the more likely they are to lose their RSVP or change their mind.

@Lyssa, I'm confused--why are you sending out RSVPs with STDs? I've never heard of that.

I sent mine out three months before the wedding day. I still had late RSVPs until after the deadline. Some of the ones that replied yes have already lost their invites.

I say, do what you feel comfortable.

I wouldn't be super concerned about getting them out anymore than 8 weeks in advance, to be honest. If your hotel room block is full, and you had save the dates sent out earlier, then I think the out of towners are very much aware, and those invitations don't need to go out at 12 weeks before.

That's just my 2 cents. I wouldn't really know, unless you were my close family/close friend, if I could even commit/do an RSVP card that far in advance especially if I'm more local. If I were your close family/close friend, and I knew I had to travel, my reservations would already be booked, so an early invitation would most likely just sit until later on the fridge.

I also had less RSVP's from guests who booked within our room block. We had people who did that but didn't ever turn in an RSVP card mainly because obviously if they are traveling/have the room reservation, they were coming to the wedding.

I'm sending my invitations out on Monday. About 25% of guests are out of town but I'm also so paranoid about people planning trips

We've sent our at, and we're 10 weeks before the wedding(weird).

I think you're good. We didn't send a save the date.

Thanks for the feedback everyone. I think we're going to send at 10 weeks. I appreciate your input Happy planning!

Hi Brides,

It really depends on your crowed and how faraway the weeding is and how much preparation your guest need to do.

We are in Australia getting married in las vegas next year in April, my FH is from ireland so or guest are coming from the US, ireland and Australia and few more places.

I send my save the dates last month 10 months ahead and planing to send my invites around Aug latest Sep with all the info about a destination wedding, my save the dates had date and city and venue and OMG the amunt of questions i have already got from my guest is quite the list so i know now i cant send the invites any later than Sep and i would have to create a website or facebook page for our wedding to upload any further information.

so just think about your crowed they would of give you a pretty good indication wheteher they need the info from the wedding soonner than later

Goodluck!!