When should I send Invitations?

I am glad that worked for you.

I am hoping that after the holiday buzz...people will be ready =)

i wish I saw this sooner I actually am getting married in May as well but I just sent my invitations out - I didn't do save the dates though. I figured I wanted to give people a heads up in advance be able to plan their trip with ta, vacation time etc. i hope it wasn't too soon.

What a great thread with lots of good ideas. I have been wondering about what time-table to use myself. We are getting married next July. My STD's should be out by next week. It will have our website address which will have all of the booking information that they will need.

I have no idea when to send out formal invites...I was thinking of having an RSVP date two months in advance of the wedding so I was thinking the first week of May. I just do not know when I should send out actual invites. I was thinking of sending out actual invites in March...does that sound right?

Also....I know that many people that I will have sent STD's to will not be attending our wedding. I really would love to do really nice invites for those attending....but what about those that I know for sure can't come? I read above where one bride is sending a different type of invite to these folks. I kind of like that idea. Any thoughts?

I am also getting married in July 2010. I had planned to send out STDs this past July, a year in advance but .... time somehow escaped us!!! Now, we have decided to do the e-STD with some info and direction to our website. We will send out more formal invites after Christmas sometime. Not too sure when exactly .... gotta figure out the STD first!

Well, my fiance and I only decided that we were going to do a destination wedding 6 months prior to our wedding. At that point, I sent out save-the-date emails linking guests to our wedding website and we have 20 people booked so far!

How soon before the wedding should I send out invitations? Our wedding is at the end of April.

How long do you give to respond?

We're not sure we can have an at home reception yet - do we just send out completely different invitations to that when we know? How soon before the event should these go out?

I am getting married July 2nd. I am sending out my formal invites January 1st and asking for RSVP by March 1st

Hmm our wedding is 1.23.2010 and we sent our invites in the beginning of october asking for RSVP's by mid november. MOst of the time I think you know who is booking and who is not. And sometimes there are last minute bookers who rsvp no but still come!

And Yes DEFINITELY send out seperate invites for AHR. OUrs is 2.27.2010 and we are sending them out the first of January.

i would send out your invites as soon as you get them done.and send out separate invites for your ahr if you have 1

I agree with everyone - send them out as soon as you have them done.

RSVP deadline can depend on when the resort needs to have a final count. You may also want to factor in when you personally need to know for things such as OOT bags, programs (if you're having any), favors, etc.

AHR can wait since you don't know if or when you're going to have one. That also depends on where you're having it (backyard is different from formal venue) and when they need to know by. I wouldn't stress about that - concentrate on the wedding first!

Just think about what type of AHR you can afford and want to have if you do have one. Once you have decided that, then you can narrow it down to venues, meet with them to see when they need to have the #'s, and work backwards from there in terms of when to send them out and rsvp deadline.