Here are some of the most frequently asked questions around wedding invitation & stationery timings!
Save the dates
These are the first pieces of stationery that are sent out to your guests for your wedding and I suggest that you send them to your guests approximately 8-12 months before your wedding.
If you're having a destination wedding where your guests may need to book travel and accommodation, then aim to send them 12 months before your wedding or as soon as you can to allow your guests to make the relevant travel bookings.
Wedding Invitations
Send your invitations to your guests 3-4 months before your wedding. Planning a wedding is planning an event and the more time you have as the couple to plan all the moving parts for your wedding, the better.
Try and order your invitations with your stationer approximately 2-3 months before you want to send them to your guests to ensure your chosen stationer is available and because it can take between 2-6 weeks to physically create your invitations.
Do you want to calculate when you need to order and send all of your wedding stationery based off your wedding month?
Then check out the free calculator below! 👇🏻👇🏻👇🏻
Thank you cards
Try and send your thank you cards out to your guests within 2 months of your wedding.
Thank you cards are easily forgotten, left to the last minute or even organised after the wedding has happened. My suggestion is to definitely order them before your wedding because as soon as your wedding comes and goes you won’t be interested in planning one more thing for your wedding.
I do suggest that you make sure to send out some type of thank you card to your guests to avoid being rude and going against the common wedding etiquette of saying thank you for their time in attending and for their gift.
My tip is to order your thank you cards with your wedding invitations, so your stationer plans to have them made for you after your wedding and books in the time for production and preparation of materials accordingly.
By having your stationer make these for you, you can avoid the entire process of sending out the thank you cards and enjoy the honeymoon!
If the idea of handwriting personalised messages inside of each card seems extremely time consuming, please know that a printed generic message can go on the inside with your names signing off at the end. You can also add a photo from your wedding photos too.
The RSVP date should be 4 - 6 weeks before your wedding date.
Your venue or caterer may only need 2 weeks before your wedding to know final numbers, however please don’t make this your RSVP date as you will need time to do the following.
Read more about why the RSVP card is so important here
When do you organise your reception stationery?
Your reception stationery consists of place cards, menus, ceremony order of service booklets, bonbonniere tags, seating charts, signs & guests book.
These items should be ordered at the same time as you order your invitations to ensure all card stocks and materials will coordinate. If you didn't do this, that's ok, the best time to order them would be 2-3 months before your wedding or as soon as you can.
Tip: When placing your order for your reception stationery, the items that are quantity specific (i.e. dependant on guest numbers) won't be known at the time. They won’t be known until all of your RSVP replies have been returned which is then too late to order your reception stationery with your stationer. My suggestion is to order 10% less than you think you will need, and a good stationer will be able to adjust your quantities when your final numbers are known approx 3-4 weeks before your wedding.
You will then need to give your stationer all of the final details such as guest names, menu details & service details 3-4 weeks before your wedding. This is to allow for the time to generate the wording artwork for your stationery items, the approval process with you and then the time to physically make them. Please know that your stationer will already have you booked into their production schedule and your materials will be prepared.
You will also need your stationery to be physically sent to you the week before your wedding so you can prepare the final details with your venue or wedding planner.
I hope this helps with your wedding stationery planning and as always if you have any questions, please don't hesitate to reach out to me via email hello@whitecherryinvitations.com.au
Until next time....
Bel x
