Wedding Invitation and Stationery Timeline

Your wedding is an event and with any event, there are a few tasks that you will need to think of and ultimately organise. 

When it comes to your wedding stationery, I have outlined the ideal timeline for when you need to order, mail your save the dates, invitations & thank you cards and prepare for the other stationery you might require on the day of your wedding.

Lets great straight into it. 

Presuming you will be engaged for 12 months, below is a suggested timeline for all of the different wedding stationery items you might have and when you will need to organise and send them. 

12 months before

Order and send out your engagement invitations
Congratulations you're engaged!! Enjoy this very special time!

The first thing to do, is to celebrate your engagement! 

11 months before

Prepare your wedding guest list
List down everyone you want to invite and finalise when your list meets your family, budget and quantity requirements. 

Read here - How to create your wedding guest list

10 months before

Finalise your wedding guest list
Request all of your guest's names and addresses

Order your save the date cards with your stationer
View save the dates here

Order wedding invitation samples
View wedding invitation samples here

9 months before

Send your save the date cards
Only send save the dates to your final wedding guest list

6 months before

Order wedding invitations
Confirm the design with your wedding stationer, confirm all details and proof necessary digital artwork.

View the invitation wording artwork template here that you will need to complete

4 months before

Mail wedding invitations
I always suggest sending out your wedding invitations around 3 - 4 months before your wedding date as I suggest you should have an RSVP return date at 5 - 6 weeks before your wedding date. Read more here as to why this is so important.

This will then give your guests 6 - 10 weeks to receive and respond to your wedding invitation.

Also make sure you have the postage stamps ready for those invitations you plan to mail. Another option is to hand-deliver invitations to guest you will see within the next week or two.

3 months before

Confirm 'Day Of' Stationery
What other stationery you will need/want for the wedding day such as;

• Place cards
• Menus
• Table Numbers
• Guest book
• Ceremony programs
• Guest favour tags
• Thank You cards

2 months before

Start compiling the details for the 'Day Of' stationery
Such as;

• Place cards - be ready to finalise this list once your RSVP’s have all been received
• Menus - meet with your venue/caterer and decide on your chosen menu
• Table Numbers - confirm how many tables you will have
• Ceremony programs - decide on the layout with your celebrant/priest
• Guest favour tags - confirm the quantity you require

6 weeks before

RSVP return date

• Cross off all reply cards that have been returned on your guest list to keep track.
• Follow up all reply cards that have not been returned.

5 weeks before

Start organising your seating chart
Decide where your guests will be sitting

4 weeks before

Send all of the information to your stationer for the following items

• Place card guest names
• Menu for food and beverages
• Table Numbers
• Guest book wording
• Ceremony program order of service
• Guest favour tag details

3 weeks before

Send your final seating chart list to your stationer

2 weeks before

Prepare your guest favours
Add the tags (if applicable)

Prepare all reception stationery and double-check everything is in order

• Place cards are in table order
• Menus are in table order
• Guest book is packed and ready
• Guest favours are packed in table order
• Ceremony programs are packed and ready to go to the church/ceremony location

1 week before

Give your wedding venue or wedding planner the following items in preparation for your wedding day

• Place cards in table order
• Menus
• Table Numbers 
• Guest book
• Ceremony programs
• Guest favours with tags applied

After the Wedding

Up to 2 months

Thank you cards

• Order your thank you cards if you haven't already.
• Once you have your wedding photos, choose your favourite for the thank you cards
• Confirm your thank you card wording

Up to 3 months

Send your thank you cards

If you have any questions with the timeline above or want further information on a certain point, please don't hesitate to either email me at hello@whitecherryinvitations.com.au or comment below as I am always here to help.

Until next time,
Bel x

 

 

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