8 Weeks And Counting, Mailing Your Wedding Invitations

There is no need to bury the lead! Yes, wedding invitations should be mailed eight weeks before your wedding!

You probably saw our recent Special Moments Event Planning blog post When To Send Your Save The Date! It covered lots of things to know before sending out your Save The Date cards.

So, today we’re going to tackle the next big question – When do we send out our wedding invitations? And the tiny tidbits you should know before dropping them in the mail.

8 Weeks

“When do we mail our wedding invitations?” is probably one of the most common questions our team gets.

And most wedding-related sources all agree that mailing them 6-8 weeks before your wedding works well.

You walk a fine line with when to mail wedding invitations. Too close to the wedding, people can’t make plans, find clothes and buy gifts.

The flip side is too far in advance, and people set the invitation aside, get busy and forget to RSVP. Eight weeks seems to hit that sweet spot where they have enough time to plan but don’t usually forget to respond.

But, there are exceptions to every rule.

Destination Unknown

One of the times when you might want to mail the invitations before that six to eight-week window is when you are hosting a destination wedding.

Yes, even when you’ve sent a Save The Date, people still need that extra little push to ensure they make hotel reservations and travel plans. Some sources say as far in advance as three months is a good buffer.

You might also want to send your wedding invitation extra early to guests living overseas. Mail has become notoriously unreliable, and mailing out of the country can complicate the process.

{Keep reading for our Pro Tips on mailing overseas invitations!}

Things You Should Know

 

1. While it might seem unnecessary to put a return address on your wedding invitation – DON’T skip this step. If, for some reason, it can’t be delivered, it will be returned to you, and you can reach out to your guest.

 

2. Recently, people have been sharing some lousy advice. Couples are told to put a start time on their invitation thirty minutes (or more) before the start time. BAD ADVICE – we know you want everyone to be on time, but for those who are prompt, you don’t want them sitting in the Florida sun for an additional thirty minutes.

 

3. On the blank side of your RSVP card, place a number in the upper left-hand corner corresponding to each invitation on your spreadsheet. Tiny works best, and so does a very light grey pencil. If (actually when) someone sends back their RSVP without filling in their name, you can flip it over, see the number and match it up on your spreadsheet.

4. Take your completed invitation ensemble to the post office and have it weighed. Trust us; you do not want to mail your invitations with beautiful stamps only to have them returned to you for insufficient postage.

Additionally, when you are ready to mail your invitations sort out any invitations going out of the country and have them weigh and price those accordingly.

PRO TIP– Pull aside enough envelopes for any overseas invitation when placing postage on the return address envelope. You can’t mail an RSVP from a foreign country with US postage. You can search for appropriate postage from that country or leave it without a stamp if you have to.

 

This should be a great start to knowing when to mail your wedding invitations. Be sure to check back for our upcoming blog post on things to know when selecting wording and information for your wedding invitations!