With the holidays in full swing and calendars filling up, we’re thinking about wedding-related events that coincide with holidays throughout the year. When are you supposed to send invitations to ensure your event makes it to the top of the calendar?
First, we looked at the correspondence less formal than the actual wedding invitation. For a save-the-date, the Emily Post Institute advises sending them as soon as you know the wedding date (up to a year to 10 months), but at least 3-6 months before, depending on the length of time you have to plan your wedding. Though it’s important to note that if your wedding is a destination wedding, it’s best to give guests as much of notice as possible to make plans and arrangements.
For an engagement party, the tradition has been that a couple’s parents host a party for a couple to announce their engagement to friends and family. But now that we have the power of social media, couples usually announce their engagement themselves. An engagement party is not a required wedding event, but if one is thrown, it seems the consensus between the experts is to send invitations at least a month before the event (between 4 and 6 weeks).
A staple in the wedding lineup of events is the bridal shower. Per The Emily Post Institute, a bridal shower is typically held two months to two weeks before the wedding – though we would suggest the former no matter what the planning timeframe might be. For these invitations, due to the nature of the event, they should be mailed out between six and eight weeks before the shower.
The rehearsal dinner invite is typically the last to be sent. This event typically happens the night or two days before the nuptials, and the formal invitations with all of the wedding day details should have already been received. Experts seem to agree that a month is well enough of an advance to send to those who need to attend.
The main event regarding invitations is the formal wedding invitation. And with this, everyone is in agreement. A formal wedding invitation should be mailed out six to eight weeks before the date of the wedding. Whatever your planning timeline might be, its customary to ensure at least three weeks’ time for guests to send in an RSVP if one is required. Additionally, depending on how intricate your invitations are, it is suggested to order your invites at least six months before your big day to ensure you get them in and have the time to address them all.
For other events like a bridal luncheon or any cocktail party type of celebration, invitations should go two weeks and a month before respectively.
For those more visual, here’s a handy grid we’ve assembled to help you know when each event invitation should hit the mail.
To note: It’s important to remember that anyone who gets invited to a pre-wedding party or event is presumed to be invited to the wedding itself and they should receive a formal wedding invitation. Additionally, this is based off of a timeline of at least a year engagement. When the planning calendar is limited it’s good to send out any invitations as soon as you have dates for events, but we’d suggest at least a month in advance of each individual party for a shortened timeline.
