Wedding Wednesdays Q&A: Wedding Invitations

Welcome to another awesome Wedding Wednesdays Q&A!  The place to be for the wedding planning help you’ve been looking for.  This week we’re discussing wedding invitations.

Q: I’m half way through my wedding planning (about 6 months out from the wedding) and I was wondering, when do I need to start thinking about my wedding invitations?  Am I already behind?

Don’t worry, you’re not behind!  Now is the perfect time to start thinking about your wedding invitations because depending on what you want, you may need the 6 months to get it done.  For those of you considering a custom design, you’ll want to start early to give yourself and your designer time to work through the creation and revision process.  But, for most couples, you’ll be picking out an invitation at a store or online and can just tweak it and order it.  While I love custom designed invites, there are some really great pre-made designs out there that make the whole process much easier and faster.  For those of you who fall into this latter category, the best time to start looking is now, at about the 6 month mark.  Give yourself time to figure out what you like and find a design that fits you.

Now your next question I’m sure is, when does it need to go out?  You want to work backwards from the wedding date to figure this out.  Ideally, you want to make your RSVP date at least, a month before the wedding.  So, if you are getting married on 10/1, then you’ll want the RSVP date to be 9/1 at the latest.  If you have the ability to give yourself more time, make it a month and a half (so, 8/15 instead), as it will give you more cushion to make the calls you will inevitably have to make after the RSVP date.

From there you want to give your guests about a month to get back to you.  More than that and they’ll forget, less than that and they’ll feel rushed.  So, if your RSVP date is 9/1, then you’ll want it in people’s mailboxes by 8/1 (and of course if your RSVP date is 8/15, you’d send it out by 7/15).  If you give yourself a couple of weeks to get everything addressed and put together, you’d want the invites in your hands by 7/15.  And it usually takes about a couple of weeks to print them, so you’ll want to order them by 7/1 at the latest.  Keep in mind that if you’re thinking about special printing or details like letterpress or embossing or calligraphy, you’ll need to allow extra time to get all of that taken care of before you send them out.  And if you’re having a destination wedding, it doesn’t hurt to send the invites out even earlier to give yourself and your guests time to plan.

(Photo credit: What A Day Photography)

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