Invitations and holiday cards advice

knottieasha

We have a destination wedding planned 4/5/19. We have already sent out Save The Dates and now I'm debating on when to send out my formal invites. Most agree a 4-month lead time is good for a destination wedding....however, that'll put me in January and I'm afraid that our invites will get mixed in a sea of holiday cards.
Sooo, should I send them out early (like now, before the holidays) or wait until the more customary time (January)???

ShesSoCold

knottiec8696ef8029fd36c said:

We have a destination wedding planned 4/5/19. We have already sent out Save The Dates and now I'm debating on when to send out my formal invites. Most agree a 4-month lead time is good for a destination wedding....however, that'll put me in January and I'm afraid that our invites will get mixed in a sea of holiday cards.
Sooo, should I send them out early (like now, before the holidays) or wait until the more customary time (January)???

Definitely wait until after the holidays. Most people here will say that 4 months is way too early, even for a DW and the recommended timeframe is 6-8 weeks. Sometimes sending invitations too early causes people to forget to RSVP and a bigger headache in the end. 

I'd send them out the last week of January, personally.

missJeanLouise

I agree with SSC. Sending them earlier won’t help anything and may cause them to get set aside or forgotten about. I think sending them after the holidays when people have less on their minds/ schedule would be better. Really, 6-8 weeks is enough time, especially since you send out Save the Dates. When are RSVPs due?

MyNameIsNot

Invitations go out 6-8 weeks ahead of the wedding. 10 weeks if you're mailing a lot of international invitations or didn't send a STD. Whoever said 4 months is messing with you.

Send them out in February. Holiday cards won't have any impact. 

MobKaz

knottiec8696ef8029fd36c said:

We have a destination wedding planned 4/5/19. We have already sent out Save The Dates and now I'm debating on when to send out my formal invites. Most agree a 4-month lead time is good for a destination wedding....however, that'll put me in January and I'm afraid that our invites will get mixed in a sea of holiday cards.
Sooo, should I send them out early (like now, before the holidays) or wait until the more customary time (January)???

Who are these "most" of which you speak?  4 months out is definitely NOT the "customary" time.  I would absolutely wait until well after the first of the year!

knottieasha

MobKaz said:

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knottiec8696ef8029fd36c said:

We have a destination wedding planned 4/5/19. We have already sent out Save The Dates and now I'm debating on when to send out my formal invites. Most agree a 4-month lead time is good for a destination wedding....however, that'll put me in January and I'm afraid that our invites will get mixed in a sea of holiday cards.
Sooo, should I send them out early (like now, before the holidays) or wait until the more customary time (January)???

Who are these "most" of which you speak?  4 months out is definitely NOT the "customary" time.  I would absolutely wait until well after the first of the year!

LOL...the few sites and forums I googled said 4 months for a destination wedding. I do think after the fist if the year is better. Almost all of those invited have gotten a Save The Date magnet...which they better be looking at each time they open their fridge!     Thanks!

ILoveBeachMusic

I would wait until the end of January or the beginning of February. The customary time is 6-8 weeks but I can see maybe 10 weeks for a destination wedding but still think that is early. You've sent save the dates - no need to send out early invites.

knottieasha

missJeanLouise said:

I agree with SSC. Sending them earlier won’t help anything and may cause them to get set aside or forgotten about. I think sending them after the holidays when people have less on their minds/ schedule would be better. Really, 6-8 weeks is enough time, especially since you send out Save the Dates. When are RSVPs due?

The resort needs a final count 30 days before the event, so the beginning of April. Im thinking of requiring them to be in by mid-March.

ahoywedding

Our wedding was also early April. We sent out STDs in October to get them in pre-holiday cards, and then sent invites early February (I think) which totally avoided post-holiday time. 

When is your wedding? Your original post says April 5, but your most recent reply said early April will be 30 days before your wedding. You'll want you RSVP date to give you time to follow up with anyone who hadn't responded and still notify your venue by their deadline. 

banana468

knottiec8696ef8029fd36c said:

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missJeanLouise said:

I agree with SSC. Sending them earlier won’t help anything and may cause them to get set aside or forgotten about. I think sending them after the holidays when people have less on their minds/ schedule would be better. Really, 6-8 weeks is enough time, especially since you send out Save the Dates. When are RSVPs due?

The resort needs a final count 30 days before the event, so the beginning of April. Im thinking of requiring them to be in by mid-March.

Please push back on your resort.   They absolutely do not need hard numbers 30 days out and it's not fair to make your guests respond early to deal with their inefficiencies.   

Sending at 8 weeks should be fine.   Your response date should not be more than 30 days before the event. 

maine7mob

I agree with banana. Your resort may tell you they need a 30-day in advance head count, but I am willing to bet that if you stay in communication with them, you can give them your final number a week in advance. Our venue told us that they wanted a rough head count two weeks in advance, but we were adding a few people as late as 4 days before the event and it was absolutely fine.

Since you've already sent out your save-the-dates, everyone knows when your wedding is, so there is no reason to send your invites any earlier than 8 weeks out.

MairePoppy

You've sent STDs so people can make travel arrangements. I see no reason to mail your invitations out earlier than 8 weeks before the wedding. The RSVP date should be no more than a month before the wedding, which would mean you could give the resort soft numbers at that time.