Sending out invites 6 months prior

I have somewhat of the same anxiety, but we just have to remember things are done a certain way for a reason! I thought 2 months in advance was wayyyy to close to the date but reading about it more and more, I understand the reasoning. We sent out save the dates, so I would vote with poster above and just go with some save the dates this far in advance and some invitations closer to the date.

You will have much better luck in getting responses to the actual invitations if you send STD's first rather than mail invitations way too early.

If you give the correct information on the STD and include your website, guests will have all the information they need to make travel reservations long before they receive the invitation.

Just remember that everyone who gets an STD must receive an invitation. You don't have to send STD's to everyone. You could choose to only send them to OOT's and VIP's. That way you leave yourself some breathing room on the guest list if you have to make cuts for any reason.

Find affordable save the dates, 6 months is a while. I see your point totally and i agree about the in advance thing but sending 2 paper choices is better. A save the date as reminder 1 then invite reminder 2.

Save the dates are sent for this reason exactly. To let people know in advance that they might need to take off work, make travel arrangements, child care arrangements, etc. If you send out invitations in January, you will still be chasing people down for RSVP's in May because some people don't have the luxury of knowing/making their schedule 6 months in advance.

Can I ask why you’re not interested in sending save the dates? We sent them via email (very cost effective) six months before our wedding date (literally the day after we booked the venue). You could always do that if you’re concerned about price. Or, if you know who will need the extra time, I assume you’re close with these guests. I would just let them know by word of mouth.

I wouldn’t send out invites six months in advance. I think it’s too early. This happened to H and I recently. At six months out, we had no idea if we could make it or not due to tentative plans and my new job. We almost threw out the RSVP card on accident a bunch of times and we felt kinda bad for not being able to RSVP on the spot. The groom is H’s friend and asked him a couple times before we were able to RSVP 100% yes and H felt uncomfortable saying we were unsure.

Save the dates serve a purpose. This purpose. We sent save the dates 10 months in advance for our guests traveling from out of state. And the ones who really needed to book early had the option to by finding the room blocks on our website. I don't think its a good idea to send actual invites so early. Some people can't commit that soon, and a lot will get lost or forgotten about.