When to Send Save the Dates & Wedding Invitations: Your Complete Guide

You’ve spent months, probably even years) planning the perfect wedding. You’ve secured the venue of your dreams, said ‘yes’ to the dress and agreed on your first dance song. But it’s no use if you don’t have any guests to celebrate your wedding day with. That’s why knowing when to send wedding invitations, and ensuring your guests have ample time to RSVP, is essential.

Knowing when to send out save the dates and wedding invitations isn’t an exact science. There are different t. In any case, though, you’ll want to ensure you give your family and friends enough notice and the best chance for them to be able to join you on your big day.

Your wedding invitations also provide your guests with vital information, such as details about accommodation, dress codes and venue address and timings. Many invitations these days will also provide links to your wedding website, which will allow you to keep your guests updated and in the loop in the run up to the big day.

Trends have also changed since the pandemic, with more people sending out their save the dates and wedding invites further in advance, as securing venues can often take longer and guests require longer notice and RSVP options.

• When Should You Send Out Save the Dates? 
• How Far in Advance Should Wedding Invitations Be Sent? 
• When to Send Wedding Invitations for Destination Weddings? 
• Should You Send Save the Dates to Evening Guests? 
• How Do You Manage RSVP Deadlines for Wedding Invitations? 
• Do Wedding Invitations Need to be Sent by Post? 
• Your Wedding Stationery Timeline

Important Questions About Your Wedding Invitation Timeline Answered

As well as knowing when to send out your wedding invitations, it’s also worth noting there are some guidelines and etiquette to follow around wording your invites and who should receive one.

We’ve pulled together a handy FAQ covering everything from how far in advance to send save the dates, to what to include in your wedding invites so your guests know everything they need to know about your upcoming nuptials.

1. When Should You Send Out Save the Dates?

Traditionally, save the dates were sent out six to 12 months before your wedding day. The top end of this being preferable as it gives your guests the most time to prepare and change their plans if necessary.

Once your venue and wedding date are confirmed, there's no reason to delay sending out save the dates. In this post-pandemic era, however, trends have changed so that save the dates are being sent even earlier.

In fact, we’re seeing these being sent out from 18 months to two years before the big day.

It can feel sneaky, but if you're at the age where there are lots of weddings each summer, you’ll want to get yours in the diary first. This means if another wedding comes up on that day, your friends are committed to yours first...

2. How Far in Advance Should Wedding Invitations Be Sent? 

When it comes to sending wedding invitations vs save the dates, there are two different approaches to timelines you can take.

If you have decided not to send save the dates and are planning on going straight to wedding invitations, these should be sent out further in advance. Just as we’ve seen save the dates go out earlier since the pandemic, couples are also sending their wedding invites with more time ahead.

Sending invites four to six months in advance, depending on the formality and destination of the event is best practice.

However, if you have already sent out save the dates to your wedding guests and they’re already armed with timings of the day and venue information, you can afford to send out full invites closer to the wedding date.

The sweet spot is around three months before your wedding so you give your guests plenty of time to RSVP.

3. When to Send Wedding Invitations for Destination Weddings?

If you’re planning a wedding abroad or have guests coming from far flung destinations and needing travel arrangements, its recommend to send out your wedding invitations even earlier. A minimum of four to six months should allow guests enough time to request time off work, secure accommodations and make necessary travel arrangements.

Nick Harris, Chief Dream Maker at Just About Weddings explains: "For destination weddings, which we frequently organise, we recommend sending invitations as early as possible. In fact, as soon as you have a confirmed date, it's advisable to send them out.

"This allows guests ample time to plan their trip and discuss with their families whether they'll be attending just the wedding or making it into a family holiday."

Setting up a wedding website also offers benefits when it comes to destination weddings. These celebrations can span multiple days with various activities like tours, excursions, dinners, and brunches, which you’ll need to communicate to your guests.

"A wedding website allows for easy updates on all event details and gives guests the opportunity to RSVP for each activity. This level of engagement and information sharing is challenging to achieve with a traditional paper invitation alone."

5. Should You Send Save The Dates to Evening Guests? 

It’s generally advised not to send save the dates to evening guests. Save the dates should only be sent to guests who are invited to your whole wedding day. It could appear misleading to send save the dates to evening-only guests as their expectations may be they’ll need to keep the whole day free.

Nick Harris says, “Save the dates serve a specific purpose: to notify guests of the entire wedding day's events and secure their presence. For everyone to have a great time without any confusion, it's best to only send save the dates invitations to guests invited to the complete wedding celebration.

"For those attending only the evening reception, a separate, more concise notification closer to the date outlining the specific details of the reception is more appropriate.”

There are a couple of elegant ways to invite your evening guests to your wedding. One formal option is to send a separate evening reception invitation with all the details—date, time, location, and how to RSVP.

This makes it clear they're invited to the evening do. Or you could take a more laid-back approach with a phone call, email, or digital invite specifically mentioning the reception and extending the invite.

Timing-wise, aim to send these out around six to eight weeks before the big day to give everyone enough time to plan. Having an RSVP option, even if it's informal, helps with sorting out the final arrangements. And if there's any dress code or other info they need to know, including that ensures everyone's on the same page and your wedding day goes smoothly for all your guests.

6. How Do You Manage RSVP Deadlines for Wedding Invitations? 

We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again: a wedding website will be your best friend through this process. Sending out wedding invites with a link to your own unique wedding website will enable you to share the most up to date information with your weddings guests as the date fast approaches.

Many wedding websites also offer the ability to manage your RSVPs and guest responses. Here at Hitched we also offer a fab Wedding Guest Manager. This handy tool allows you to manage your guests and all their details, enabling you to receive RSVPs from around the world.

Simply add in your guest list - add them manually or import from your contacts, arrange your guests into groups and organise them by category to start shaping out a seating plan, and receive and collect RSVPs from wedding guests online directly through your wedding website.

When it comes to setting a deadline for your RSVP, it’s best to set give a date around four weeks before your wedding day, so you can get final numbers to your venue, caterers and any other vendors in plenty of time.

7. Do Wedding Invitations Need to be Sent By Post?

More couples are choosing the eco-friendly route of digital wedding invitations, but the majority will still send paper invites by post. Traditional etiquette dictates that all your invitations should be mailed, so even if it's going to your next door neighbour or your parents, you post it. No invites should be delivered by hand.
There's some tips you should know before you send off your invitations:

How Much Do Your Invitations Weigh?

Put together one full invitation, along with all the enclosures, and take it to your post office to get weighed and sized, so that you know how much postage will be required for each invitation.

Can You Avoid the Sorting Machine? 

Not every post office will offer this, but it is worth asking when you go to send them off if the post office can hand-cancel the invitations. Hand-cancelling means adding a postal mark by hand over the stamp so that it cannot be reused.

Most of the time this is done by machines at the sorting office, but they can damage stuffed envelopes and leave dirty marks on them. If it can't be done, then let them go through the machine - no one remembers the envelope anyway.

Protect Your Wax Seals

Candle wax seals are accepted by the Royal Mail, however, there is a high chance they can get broken en-route to your guests. If you're sealing your invites with wax seals, we'd recommend they go inside another envelope to protect them.

Can You Reduce Your Postage Costs? 

With a large number of letters to go out, you might want to think of ways of reducing your costs. One way is to use second class stamps, but you will need to factor the extra time these take to arrive when you send your invites.

You can also choose smaller, simpler designs that don't need to be sent as large letters. Consider what extras need to be in the invitations too - can your RSVPs be done online rather than in the form of response cards? Can you have FAQs on your wedding website rather than an information card?

Your Wedding Stationery Timeline

Follow this free wedding stationery timeline if you're stuck on when to send your wedding invitations and save the dates. 

Your wedding stationery timeline should look something like this:

• 10-12 months before - start your free wedding website
• 8-10 months before - finalise guest list and addresses and send out save the dates
• 4-6 months before - order your wedding invitations (don't forget your RSVPs!)
• 2-3 months before - send out your wedding invitations and get your on-the-day stationery (such as menu cards and your wedding guest book)
• 6-7 weeks before - order your order of service, place cards and rehearsal dinner invites (if you plan on having a rehearsal dinner)
• 1-2 months after - order and send your thank you cards

If you need to know how to word your wedding invitations, we've got wedding invitation wording templates you can copy.