How many wedding invitations do I need?
How many invitations should you order? It might seem simple, order as many as the amount of guests I have, right? Well, that is a common mistake many couples make. You actually want to order less invitations because many of your guests live together, so really you’re actually counting how many households are invited. Buuuut you do want to have enough in case you have some last minute guests you want to invite, and then you also need some for yourself to keep and for the photographer to take pictures of, etc. It can be tricky!
Related: What is included in the price of custom wedding stationery
In this blog post, I give you the breakdown of how many you need and even a little formula you can use!
I have a simple formula:
1 invitation per household
2-3 for keepsakes (1 for you and 2 for your parents)
2-3 for your photographer
5-10 extras in case you invite more guests, some get damaged or get lost in the mail
This all comes out to about 60% of your total guest list.
Let’s say you’ve invited 200 guests (this also includes your wedding party):
Order 50% for the households: 100 invitations
+
16 for all those extras
=
116: This is 58% of your guest list.
Save this so you can refer back to it!
When it comes to counting households, keep in mind that:
Guests who are over the age of 18 receive their own invitation. For example, a college kid living with their parents, or a grandparent living with their children and grandchildren.
Roommates should get their own invitations
Couples living together who are unmarried get one invitation, not separate ones
Why should you order 2 for your photographer? Well, a lot of times when photographers are styling the flatlay photos, they’ll need 2 sets because they want to display different aspects of your invitations. For example, if you have an envelope liner but that envelope also has beautifully calligraphy addressing, you want to show off both sides! You may even want to have 3 sets.
If this all sounds overwhelming and too mathy, I get it. I hate math too. But don’t worry! When you work with me, I do all of this for you. The only thing I need from you is how many invitations for your households you need, I then add on what you’ll need for all those extras!
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