Sending invitations early

yellowdaisies84

Hi all-

Is it okay to send wedding invitations out earlier than recommended on the Knot checklist? I'm going to have my invites completed by the end of March for a late September wedding and I'm trying to figure out how long to wait to mail them out.

My venue wants to have final numbers and menu selections in 4 weeks prior to the wedding.

Calypso1977

that's way too early.

they should go out no more than 8 weeks in advance.

misshart00

The standard is 6 to 8 weeks. I think you can push it out to 10 weeks if you need to, but please don't send them out 6 months in advance.

[Deleted User]

Way too early. The reason that 6-8 weeks is recommended is so that people will be able to know what their plans are at that time. I would have no idea by March whether it would be feasible for me to make a wedding in September. If you're worried about OOT guests knowing the date, send save the dates.

yellowdaisies84

I was unclear in my post. I wasn't planning to send them out in March- I know it sounded that way so I apologize. 

I meant they will be ready in March and I will have them by then so I was trying to figure out when to send them out- I was wondering about late June or if that would be too early.

misshart00

Thanks for clarifying. I think you should still send them mid to late July.

AddieCake

It's better to wait. People forget about them if they have them for too long. 

LDubHawksFan

If I remember right, TK list says 3 months out, which is really too early anyway.  Stick to more like 8-10 wks.

Kate61487

8 weeks is really the ideal time.  I'd recommend 10 given your venue's requirements, but 4weeks prior to the wedding for final count / meal selections seems ridiculous - double check that with your venue.  I feel like most it's more like 2weeks; often with the absolute final number only needed two or three days before.  You'd need to put the RSVP date like 6 weeks out for that (1 week for RSVP mailing, 1 week for tracking down missing RSVPs) and if I received an invitation with a 6 week+ RSVP I'd assume they were b-listing and trying to get a second round of invitations out.

Fancypantsamy

I got married September 29th, and sent my invitations out the last week of July with an August 25th deadline (I had to give my venue my numbers by September 1st and I wanted a few days to get late coming RSVP cards and make phone calls.) 

With 200 invited guests and 112 invitations sent out, I had 8 invitations to track down during the last week and it really wasn't that hard. I know you're excited, but I wouldn't jump the gun on this one. 

mlg78

My wedding date is also 9/21 and I'm sending mine out the day after my wedding shower...so 7/15.

Kristin789

>>4weeks prior to the wedding for final count / meal selections seems ridiculous - double check that with your venue. I feel like most it's more like 2weeks; often with the absolute final number only needed two or three days before.

Exactly.
Venues need a "soft number" about two weeks before the event, and a "hard number" 3-5 days before the event.
Don't let yourself get manipulated by your venue because they suspect you don't have much experience with contract negotiations and general policies regarding big events like a wedding or charity gala ball, etc.

NinaSchwab

Good question, yellowdasies!  My wedding is a destination wedding, and I have reserved a block of rooms for my guests. All rooms need to be booked by the end of March, and the wedding is in June. I have to send them out at the latest by the beginning of March so guests can book their rooms on time, so that means my invites will be going out a little over three months out. Super early, I know. I'm hoping everything works out okay in spite of the rushed invites.

Shan36RN

Great advice ladies, I haven't even ordered mine yet. My wedding is 9/2/13 and I was thinking July myself. I just received an invite for a wedding in July and I was saying this is to soon, hope I don't misplace it.

yellowdaisies84

Thanks for your help, ladies. I have one invitation to send to France and one for the United States (from Canada). Should I send those early?

Based on your help I am now thinking of sending them mid-July- maybe July 15th (i'm going to put a date on the calendar to remind me.) I have an RSVP date of August 7th on my invitations with the plan that if any are coming in late that gives me until the 14th to get those late ones if I give it one week, and then to the 21st of August to get a hold of everyone who I need to and that will bring me to one month before the wedding which is when my co-ordinator wants my numbers and menu selections. The wedding is September 21st. 

My only concern, really, is sending the invites too early and having people forget about them. I assume that wouldn't happen, we're having a small family wedding, but I don't want to risk it. We sent out save-the-dates already. 

Thanks so for keeping the caveat of needing 1 month out for numbers in mind when you gave me advice that was really helpful. I appreciate that!

jmayinc

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_etiquette_sending-invitations-early?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20BoardsForum:9Discussion:d5749768-3210-46d5-bfd5-4070e973e26aPost:ab742051-94a6-474e-816d-6982024a0317">Re: Sending invitations early</a>:
[QUOTE] />>4weeks prior to the wedding for final count / meal selections seems ridiculous - double check that with your venue. I feel like most it's more like 2weeks; often with the absolute final number only needed two or three days before. Exactly. Venues need a "soft number" about two weeks before the event, and a "hard number" 3-5 days before the event. Don't let yourself get manipulated by your venue because they suspect you don't have much experience with contract negotiations and general policies regarding big events like a wedding or charity gala ball, etc.
Posted by Kristin789[/QUOTE]

All of this!

auroraborealisabc

As our wedding is a 'destination' wedding, we sent STDs, like, ten months out.  But, our vendor for our invitations (and all other stationary) strongly recommended sending invitations out 2.5-3 months out, and that anything less than 2 months would be too late for a destination wedding.  And these guys are some of the best in the business, and the only stationary company recommended by the Wonderful World of Disney... so I trusted them.  3 months out shouldn't be a problem at all.

Andama08

I have an A list and B list. I plan to send the A list out 8-10 weeks in advance of my July 19h wedding, and once RSVP's start coming in I'll start the B list around 6-8 weeks.