Wedding season is here and if you are recently engaged, as exciting as it is, the wedding planning process can be overwhelming to navigate. Once you have chosen your wedding date and venue, eventually it will be time to send your save-the-dates and invites out. While invitations are one of the most important parts of the wedding planning process, unfortunately it’s also one of the more stressful to manage. Not to worry- we’ve got you! With just a little extra planning and the below pointers, your wedding invitation etiquette will be on-point so you can focus on the fun parts!
1. Timing:
Many couples physically send out invitations too late and don’t give guests substantial time to plan. Once you have your wedding date secured, your save-the-dates should go out six to ten months ahead of the wedding date.
You should mail or send your actual invitations out eight weeks before the date of the big day.
Having a destination wedding? Save-the-dates should be mailed eight to twelve months before the wedding date to help guests prepare for additional travel, visas or passports (if needed) as well as hotel bookings. The actual wedding invitations for a destination event should go out three to four months prior to the wedding date.
2. Putting a gift registry on the invitation:
Avoid putting a wedding gift registry directly on the wedding invitation because it implies your guests have to buy you a gift to attend. Instead, you can include a link to your wedding website (not the direct link to your registry) on an informative card insert, or put your wedding website at the bottom of your wedding invitation. The link to your registry can be made available to find on your wedding website.
3. Not including an exact RSVP date and other specific details:
Forgetting to put a date to RSVP by is one mistake that will sure to leave you scrambling before your big day. It’s correct wedding etiquette to give your guests three to four weeks from the time they receive the invitation to let you know if they’re able to attend. That being said, the date you have your guests RSVP by should be at least two to three weeks before your wedding date, pending the amount of time your vendors will need exact numbers by.
Don’t forget: It’s also crucial to tell your guests exactly where to RSVP and how. For a less formal yet modern approach, you can direct them to your wedding website to reply. Alternatively, you can include a pre-addressed (and pre-stamped) smaller envelope that they can use to send back their RSVP card.