When Should I Send Out My Wedding Invitations

When to send out wedding invitations? There are more than one ways to answer this question. One would be that it depends on the type of wedding you are planning and if you have out of town guests. If you are having a classic wedding with friends and family and perhaps even distant relatives and acquaintances, it is probably a good idea to mail your invitations in a timely fashion, which is 6 to 8 weeks. If you have out of town guests and response cards it is probably best to send them out 8 weeks before the wedding.

This will also allow you to receive response cards in good time to make a final head count. If you have a smaller wedding with friends and close family, when to send out the wedding invitations might prove less important than the message inside it. And on the other hand, if your wedding is a spur of the moment thing you might just drive by your best friends' houses and invite them to tag along. Wedding etiquette says there are no acceptable alternatives to mailing when sending out invitations and even delivering by hand should be used only as a last resort. But of course this all depends on whether you will let etiquette prevail or whether you will choose personal touch over etiquette.

Another way to answer the question would be this. Whatever your wedding will be like, whichever type of invitation card you choose don't forget about the message you send out to the people you invite. Don't choose templates, don't choose wording over meaning, don't do wedding invitations just because you know they have to be done. Put meaning into your wedding and in all its details! Make sure the wedding reflects you or your couple in every detail. Make sure you don't look back on your wedding some day and say did I do that? Did we really write those invitations? Because they are just so impersonal.

How many times will you be in the position to plan you wedding? Unfortunately it is not unlikely that you will do it more than once. How many times will you plan your wedding with this partner? Possibly, but less likely, more than once. Will this time of your life ever repeat itself? No. So make sure you make the best of it. Don't let anyone tell you what to do, don't let anyone choose for you and above all don't do things just to follow rules.



Sure, some things simply have to be done, guests have to be taken care of and everyone should ideally have a good time not just the newly weds. So ideally you should find a way to combine the two into a pleasant mix. That will not be easy to do, there will be no standards on how to do that, but if you succeed, won't that be a day you will never remember. And if you do succeed, make sure you share it with others.