When To Send Formal Invites?!

[jackielemman]

Ladies--

Hot topic in our household right now! We sent out our save the dates about a year ago and are debating on when to send out formal invites. How many months is appropriate to send out the formal invites before the destination wedding?

Thanks for your help!

 

[csho]

We didn't do STD so we sent out our formal invitations out 12 months prior. However, since you already sent out your save the dates I'd say 2-4 months prior? Did you have your booking information on the invitations? Have people already had to make their travel arrangements? I think with destination weddings, there is no formal etiquette, most people say the earlier the better so people will make the travel/vacation arrangements and have time to save money if need be.

[Linds1204]

@@jackielemman

We sent our formal invitations out October 15th for a March 8th wedding. Our deadline for RSVP's was 12/1 since you are supposed to have your final rooming list into the resort and group paid in full 60 days prior to travel. We figured this would give us a 30 day window for stragglers, but  by our rsvp deadline we had only gotten 30% of RSVP's! I recommend reading your contract from your resort/travel agent to see when your final group payment is due, then base your sending and rsvp date around that with some "fluff" time for stragglers. 

[AllieH]

We sent ours out in July for a November wedding. We used them as a reminder to make final payment (due in August), book airfare (if they haven't already), and to gather our entree selections. I think it's ok to send them earlier, especially if you have a purpose for doing so!

 

Destination weddings are so different from traditional weddings as far as the timing goes.

[jackielemman]

@@jackielemman

We sent our formal invitations out October 15th for a March 8th wedding. Our deadline for RSVP's was 12/1 since you are supposed to have your final rooming list into the resort and group paid in full 60 days prior to travel. We figured this would give us a 30 day window for stragglers, but  by our rsvp deadline we had only gotten 30% of RSVP's! I recommend reading your contract from your resort/travel agent to see when your final group payment is due, then base your sending and rsvp date around that with some "fluff" time for stragglers. 

Our guests have to be booked by July. I think by sending out the formal invite by the end of April, we should be good to go. Many people have already started booking but we know there are others out there that haven't gotten on the bandwagon! The timing is so weird compared to traditional weddings....

We sent ours out in July for a November wedding. We used them as a reminder to make final payment (due in August), book airfare (if they haven't already), and to gather our entree selections. I think it's ok to send them earlier, especially if you have a purpose for doing so!

 

Destination weddings are so different from traditional weddings as far as the timing goes.

4 months seems like the right amount of time. They are purely used as a reminder to get booked! Thanks for the help!

[FutureMrsSam]

Good advice, thanks

[NJBride2014]

I sent my invites out 8 months before the wedding but 6 months before the rooms had to be paid off.  I think I timed it pretty well, a lot of people are booking now.  I guess with tax season underway a lot of people are thinking of a vacation especially since our NJ winter was pretty bad this year. 

[danielleandryan2015]

Hi ladies! I am wondering about this as well. We are getting married in Jamaica in May 2015. I sent STD out in January of this year so that was like 16mos ahead of the wedding. I wanted to give everyone plenty of time to plan. My mom is a travel agent and she is handling all the booking/deposits of the rooms so she keeps me posted on who has contacted her and what not.

I am still not sure when to send formal invitations. The final payment will be due Feb 1st, 2015. I am not sure when to send them. I do have all the payment/deposit deadlines on our wedding website which I included on the STD so everyone is aware of that. I was thinking of  just sending invites out in Dec or Jan since we will pretty much already know who is coming by then and that's still 5 months before the wedding. We are also going to have an AHR and not sure when to send those invites, I am sending those separate than the destination invitations.

[ctlind7]

We are in December '14 and I plan on sending out the formal invites in mid-Sept. We sent our STD's out Jan 2014 for Dec 2014 wedding. 

[Moments That Matter]

that makes sense - since the STDs have already been sent a year ago - the formal invitation is more of a reminder hope you find a mutual time to agree on and all the best - cheers!

 

 

team MTM