When to Send Save-the-Dates and Wedding Invitations (Plus Wording to Copy)

Send them too early and guests forget. Send them too late and people have already made plans. Here is the timing most wedding pros follow, a calculator for your own dates, and wording you can copy.

The quick answer

• Save-the-dates: 6 to 8 months before the wedding. For a destination wedding or a holiday weekend, 8 to 12 months.
• Order invitations: about 12 to 14 weeks before, so they are ready to mail at least 10 weeks out.
• Mail invitations: 6 to 8 weeks before. Give destination and overseas guests 8 to 10 weeks.
• RSVP deadline: about 4 weeks before the wedding.

Find your dates

Add your wedding date and the calculator works out every mailing date for you. You can add them all to your calendar in one tap.

Save-the-dates

A save-the-date is a heads-up, not an invitation. Its only job is to protect the date in your guests’ calendars.

• Only send one to people you will definitely invite. Anyone who gets a save-the-date expects an invitation.
• Keep it short: your names, the date, the city and “Invitation to follow.”
• Add your wedding website if it is ready, so guests can look at travel and hotels.

Save the date
Maya Collins & Daniel Reyes
June 12, 2027
Asheville, North Carolina
Invitation to follow

Wedding invitations

Order your invitations about three months before the wedding. That leaves time for proofs, printing, addressing and a trip to the post office.

Planner’s note: take one fully stuffed invitation to the post office and have it weighed before you buy stamps. Thick card, extra inserts and square envelopes can all change the postage.

When the couple is hosting

Together with their families
Maya Collins
and
Daniel Reyes
invite you to celebrate their marriage
Saturday, the twelfth of June
two thousand twenty-seven
at four o’clock in the afternoon
The Grove House
Asheville, North Carolina
Dinner and dancing to follow

When parents are hosting

Mr. and Mrs. Robert Collins
request the pleasure of your company
at the marriage of their daughter
Maya Anne
to
Daniel Reyes
Saturday, the twelfth of June
two thousand twenty-seven
at four o’clock in the afternoon
The Grove House
Asheville, North Carolina

A relaxed, modern version

Maya & Daniel are getting married!
Join us for dinner, dancing
and a very happy day
Saturday, June 12, 2027 at 4 p.m.
The Grove House, Asheville

A few wording rules

• Formal invitations spell out the date and time: “the twelfth of June,” “four o’clock.”
• Traditionally, “the honour of your presence” is used for a ceremony in a house of worship, and “the pleasure of your company” for other venues.
• Skip “p.m.” on formal invitations. “In the afternoon” or “in the evening” does the job.
• Put your wedding website on a separate details card, not on the invitation itself.

The RSVP card

Set your RSVP deadline about four weeks before the wedding. Caterers and venues usually need a final headcount around then, so this gives you time to chase late replies before numbers are due.

Kindly reply by the fifteenth of May

M_______________________________

___ Joyfully accepts
___ Regretfully declines

Number attending ______

If your celebration is adults only, a kind line on the details card or website helps:

We love your little ones, but our celebration will be adults only.

Proof it before you print

• Every name spelled correctly, including the venue.
• The weekday matches the date. The calculator above shows the weekday for you.
• The start time is the time you want guests seated.
• The address and website URL work.
• The RSVP date matches the one on your website.

Next step

Your guest list decides how many invitations you need. If it is not final yet, start with our guest list method. And keep every other deadline in order with our free 12-month checklist.

Sources: The Knot, “When to send wedding invitations”; Paperless Post, “When should guests RSVP for a wedding.”