When to Send

Save the dates go out 6-8 months before the wedding.

Invitations go out 6-8 weeks before the wedding.

The RSVP deadline should be a week or two before your final headcount is due so that you have time to follow up with stragglers.

Agree with all of the above, also want to add that if you're having a destination wedding then the timeline shifts a little sooner. You can send the save the dates up 10-12 months before the wedding and send the invites a month or so sooner. People will know by 2-3 months out if they plan on attending a wedding that requires a flight/hotel accommodations, so I'd send invites about 3 months out.

Wedding Twins! When are you doing your invites and rsvp's?

We sent save the dates 10 months out, invites 3 months out, and our RSVP deadline was 40 days out.

Would you do the same you think if you have a lot of out of town guests? Both sides of my family now live in FL and I'm getting married in NJ. I guess there's no harm in it being early for the locals if it helps the out-of-towners...

How many of your guests are local and how many are traveling? If everyone or nearly everyone is local, I'd do save the dates 6-8 months in advance and send invitations 8 weeks before. If you have a lot of people who will be traveling (especially from out of state), I'd send save the dates 9-10 months in advance, and invitations 10-12 weeks before. For your RSVP deadline, it will depend on when your final headcounts are due. Add in an extra week or so before your vendor deadlines in order to chase down guests who don't RSVP. My fiance and I are setting our RSVP date about a month before our wedding.

Save the dates are perfect for having lots of out of town guests. That way they know exactly what day and where so they can plan their schedules accordingly and start booking flights/hotels. I wouldn't send invites earlier that 3 months, people will end up forgetting because it's so far away and you'll probably have to chase even more people down for RSVP's.