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Sarah
Just Said Yes October 2019

When should wedding invitations be sent out?

Sarah, on May 29, 2019 at 11:53 AM Posted in Etiquette and Advice 0 20
I'm trying to figure out when is best to send out our wedding invites. I know tradition is 6-8 weeks, but a little over half of our guest list is OOT guests. Is it too soon to send out our invites within the next month?

Our wedding is the end of October so I don't want to send them out too soon, but I do want to give our out of towners plenty of time to make travel arrangements.

When is best to send them out?

20 Comments

Latest activity by Jana, on July 24, 2020 at 2:18 PM
  • H
    Master July 2019
    Hannah ·
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    Did you send save the dates? You can stretch it to 10 weeks out. I wouldn't send them out too far in advance.
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  • Jessica
    VIP June 2020
    Jessica ·
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    I think your good. We are getting married June 2020. We are sending out STDs in August and invitations in January/February 2020. We also have a lot of OOT guests.

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  • Caytlyn
    Legend November 2019
    Caytlyn ·
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    Did you send save the dates? If so, they should already be making travel arrangements. I think 8-10 weeks out is fine for invitations if you have lots of OOT guests.
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  • Sarah
    Just Said Yes October 2019
    Sarah ·
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    Yes, we sent out our save the dates back in March. I don't want to send them out too soon since we have already taken care of the STD's.
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  • Furture Mrs. G
    Expert September 2019
    Furture Mrs. G ·
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    I would send them out in August... Maybe the first week.

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  • LB
    Champion November 2016
    LB ·
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    Next month would be too early. Especially since you already sent STDs. When you send invites early you run the risk of guests just putting them to the side and "forgetting" because they see they have tons of time.

    We had a DW and sent out our invites the last week of August for a wedding the first week of November.

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  • H
    Master July 2019
    Hannah ·
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    If you sent out save the dates, then your OOT guests should be aware of the travel requirements and begin planning. Most people don't book flights before 2 months because they are more expensive.
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  • Kelly
    Champion October 2018
    Kelly ·
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    If you sent save the dates then you’re fine and you can send invites out 8-10 weeks in advance. I got married October 6th of last year and sent ours at the end of July. Every single person on our guest list had to travel to our wedding. Most people won’t book flights more than a couple months in advance.
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  • Mrs. H
    Master September 2019
    Mrs. H ·
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    Our wedding is at the end of Sept., and the majority of our guests are OOT as well, but we aren't sending our invitations out until mid-July… I would wait until at least then for a late Oct. wedding.

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  • MrsD
    Legend July 2019
    MrsD ·
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    We sent save the dates out 10 months in advance, and invites out a little less than 3 months in advance. I didn't want to wait until 2 months out, that's too stressful for me, especially since we needed our final RSVP count 1 month out. If you didn't send save the dates, I'd say 3 months out is fine!

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  • Morgan
    Beginner September 2019
    Morgan ·
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    We sent ours out about 4 months out from the wedding because we didn't want to spend extra money on save the dates. We have a lot of out of town family and friends and wanted to make sure they had plenty of time to arrange things so that they could come!

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  • Kristin
    Super November 2019
    Kristin ·
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    About 50 of our 200 guests are OOT. We plan on sending our invites out 3 months ahead of time because we ran into some terrible delays with the post office. I sent 2 to the same address (FH's sister and niece who is in college). Niece got her's within days, FSIL's took about 3 weeks... they were literally dropped into the box stacked on top of each other. We also used the post office a mile from my parents house because it was way more convenient then ours. It took 7 weeks to get theirs... the the point that I gave them a spare because we thought for sure it was gone. It took 2 1/2 months to get 2 that were returned. I am hoping that by sending ours out a little early we can cut down on the number of people who didn't have enough time to send them back before the RSVP date.

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  • Erika
    Beginner October 2019
    Erika ·
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    We're getting married the middle of October and I'm sending out our invites next month(June) We need to have our final head count 2 weeks before the wedding so I decided I wanted to have everyone RSVP a month before the wedding just incase there are stragglers after the date I set. If you're worried because so many people are from out of town I dont think it will hurt to send them out a little early.
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  • J
    Master 0000
    Judith ·
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    Mid August, no sooner. For anyone who may need to make plans sooner, and is definitely invited, you may tell them now in a phone call or a personal email, that is, not a group blast, but copying your info onto an email with just their email address. A lot of people have all group blasts go to a spam filter. This is the more traditional way, by word, phone, or letter ( email or snail) that was always used before the recent invention of Save the Dates, and is still used. No cost for an email , or just telling someone. They get the timely info. Do not send invitations too early. They don't get Rsvp's sooner, as some people hope. They are more likely to be put aside, never answered, or lost. You will end up with fewer rsvp's sent in, because it comes so far from the event, before many know about conflicting things, or available vacation time to travel.
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  • Courtney
    Master December 2019
    Courtney ·
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    We're getting married in December and are aiming to send out invitations in July. On top of being in the middle of holiday season, over half of our guest list is traveling and I have family members that are in the military.

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  • Jo
    WeddingWire Administrator May 2015
    Jo ·
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    Hi there!

    Our article on When to Send Wedding Invitations says that for most weddings, sending invitations about six to eight weeks before the event is right, and you can set your RSVP deadline for about two to three weeks before your wedding. For destination weddings, two to three months before the event is right to send out wedding invitations, with an RSVP deadline for about six weeks before the wedding day. If over half of your guest list is OOT guests I'd err towards the timeline for a destination wedding and go for about 3 months before your date.

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  • J
    Master 0000
    Judith ·
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    If you sent save the dates, then mail them around August 20 so they arrive at about 8 weeks. They can make arrangements based on STD, or text you any ???
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  • J
    Master 0000
    Judith ·
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    That is way too early. Do not expect RSVP until a little under 4 weeks.
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  • J
    Master 0000
    Judith ·
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    That is way too early. Do not expect RSVP until a little under 4 weeks.
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  • J
    Master October 2022
    Jana ·
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    You send out save the dates to everyone on your guest list 6-10 months ahead so guests can make travel arrangements and schedule time off. Invites are sent at 6-8 weeks regardless. This goes for your out of the area guests too. The only time you send them out earlier if they are traveling overseas.
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