“When should I mail wedding invitations?” is probably the most common question we get. Today we’re going to talk about your wedding invitation timeline. Actually, we’re going to talk about your wedding STATIONERY timeline, which involves alllll of the paper goods!
You know invitations are important. Like, duh. We all know that. But the invitation doesn’t just serve the purpose of letting your guest know when and where to show up. The invitation sets the tone for your wedding. It can let the guest know how formal your wedding will be and how they should dress. It’s also a fun way to let them get a little peek at your wedding decor, florals, color palette, etc.
Before we can get to the invitations though, we must talk Save the Dates and engagement announcements, and bridal shower invitations, so without further ado, let’s get to that timeline!
Related: The First 10 Things You MUST Do After Getting Engaged
12+ months out
-You’re engaged! YAY!! You could opt to send an engagement announcement to your friends and family. I personally don’t think it’s necessary but if your parents insist, then by all means!
-This is also when I would start looking for stationers (HI THAT’S ME!). They can work with you on your Save the Dates so your entire stationery has a cohesive look.
-Your stationer will probably provide you with a free spreadsheet template to start inputting all of your guests’ addresses, so take advantage of it! You don’t want to be scrambling last minute looking for addresses when the invitations need to go out like, tomorrow. Make it easier on yourselves. You have enough planning and freaking out to do! Plus, once you have all of your friends’ and family members’ addresses, it’ll be that much easier when you want to send them all your first holiday card as a family.
9-11 months before the wedding
-If you are having your engagement party, you can send engagement party invitations. You can go the more traditional route with paper invites or if you want to be a bit more eco-friendly, send digital ones!
6-9 months before the wedding
-Send out your Save the Dates
6 months before the wedding
-Send out Bridal shower invitations. Again you can choose how formal you get with this one. Paper or digital, it’s up to you!
5 months before the wedding
-After you attended your bridal shower and had THE BEST TIME, don’t forget to send thank you cards. These can be very simple. Just a short little note on how much you appreciate their presence and gift (if they gave you one).
When should I mail wedding invitations?
Pin this so you can come back to it later
4 months before the wedding
-Start designing your wedding invitations with your stationer
2-3 months before the wedding
-Start design on your “day-of”pieces. This includes menus, welcome signs, escort or table cards, table numbers, etc. This is something you also want to have your stationer work on as it will allow all of your paper goods and signs to have a cohesive look.
8-12 weeks before the wedding (or 12-14 weeks for destinations weddings)
-Send out the invites!! So exciting!! You can either assemble, address, and stamp them yourselves or you can have your stationer do this for you.
4-6 weeks before the wedding
-Send rehearsal dinner invites. Again, for these, you can choose to send paper invites or digital ones. A cool trick I have for you is to include the rehearsal dinner invitation card WITH the wedding invitations. You obviously will not be sending the rehearsal dinner invitations to EVERYONE so you just want to set aside the wedding invitations that will have the rehearsal dinner invites so you don’t accidentally invite the wrong person! But this is a good way to save some money on another envelope and postage. Also, if your rehearsal dinner invitation was done by the same person who did the wedding invitations, they will all look SO pretty next to each other!
2-3 weeks before the wedding
-This isn’t a time when you are sending anything out, this is when you should be getting all of your RSVP cards back! OH MY GOSH, this is soooo fun. Now you can start confirming your guests and you’ll have numbers for your caterer, venue, etc.
6 weeks after the wedding
-Time to send your Thank You cards! Can you believe it’s over?? Are you sad and happy and relieved and nostalgic all at the same time? I feel ya. This is when you can write all your lovely feelings to your guests and thank them for not just their gifts but their presence as well. You can send a simple card that just says “thank you” or if you have your photos back from your photographer, you can include that in!
Bonus! Since you gathered all of your friends’ and family’s addresses, it’ll make it that much easier to send a holiday card. Your loved ones will be so happy to see the newlyweds on their first holiday as a married couple!
Well, there you have it. Let me know if you found this helpful. I have a FREE timeline you can print out so you can check these off as you go. Just sign up for my newsletter below.
