Your Wedding Guide To: Stationery Timeline
We know you have questions about what stationery needs to go out to your guests and when, and we have answers! So here is a crash course in stationary timeline and etiquette!
8-12 Months Out: Save the Dates
The first piece of stationery that you will send will be your save the dates! This will be the first piece of information about your wedding that will be going out to your guests. We recommend not sending out your save the dates until your venue has been booked, because your date is not guaranteed until you have signed a contract with your venue.
One of our biggest tips for Save the Dates is to include a link or QR code to your wedding website. You don’t need to have your registry, full timeline, and all wedding party info added. However, design and create your wedding website with some photos, your venue location, nearby airports and travel information so that guests can begin planning for travel arrangements. Even better if you have hotel or Airbnb info to list. This way, guests can make arrangements prior to waiting for the full invitation suite, especially if it is a destination wedding or a destination to some of your family and friends!
As soon as you book your venue and have your wedding website ready to go, your save the dates can go out as long as you’re within that 8-12 month window! If you have a shortened timeline for your wedding, you can send out save the dates as late as 6 months before the wedding, but any later than that, we recommend just skipping them!
8-12 Weeks Out: Invitations
The next stationery item that you will send will be the big one: the invitation! For a detailed breakdown of what items should be included with your invitation, check out our blog Stationery: Do I Actually Need All of This? It is critical to give your guests enough time to plan for your wedding day/weekend, so 8 weeks out is really the absolute latest that you should be getting them out. We love to tell our couples that sending invites out about 3 months from the big day is best, especially if you have a destination wedding, the further out the better! If you are planning your wedding very quickly, we recommend sending them 8 weeks out at the latest!
2 Month Out: RSVP Deadline
Your final headcounts will be due to your venue and caterer 2 weeks before the wedding, so you want to set your RSVP deadline for a minimum of 1 month out from your big day. The more time the better, so we think 2 months is best if you can and especially if you have guests traveling from far places, it gives them some time to plan if they haven’t already from your Save the Dates! Thanks to that wedding website being included, many will already have their flights and hotels booked!!
It will make your life much easier to have your RSVPs in hand about 1 to 2 months before the wedding day. Not only will you have to hunt down some responses but finalizing seating arrangements, seating chart or escort cards, menu cards, final timeline, welcome bags…it’s a lot of last minute details that you don’t want to squeeze into a few weeks.
3 Months After: Thank You Cards
While no one expects you to send out a thank you card a week after your wedding, you will want to make sure to get thank you cards out sooner rather than later! Proper etiquette gives a 3 month grace period from the date of the wedding to get thank you cards sent to your guests. This gives you plenty of time to enjoy your honeymoon, make a list of all gifts received, and order thank you cards using the sneak peek photos from your photographer!
While this timeline is certainly not written in stone, it is certainly helpful to adhere to in order to keep things running smoothly for you, your vendors, and your guests!
