Sending your Save The Dates and Invitations to your guests can be a terribly daunting task. As if creating your guest wasn’t hard enough, then you have to deal with the overwhelming task of when to send your Save The Dates, who to send them to, how soon to send invitations, proper etiquette, and much more.
Save The Dates:
First, what should be included? Well, the date, of course! Other crucial information includes the couple’s names & location of the wedding. Another helpful piece of information to include is your wedding website! Your wedding website will include information on hotel blocks and other wedding weekend activities that your guests will want to prepare for.
Next, who should you send them to? Anyone who you would like to come to the wedding! This is a sort of informal invitation. No RSVP is necessary or should be expected but you may start getting verbal confirmations from your friends and family. They are excited about your big day too, you know!
And Finally, when should you send them? You will want to start spreading the news about six to eight months before the big day. Even sooner if it is a destination wedding! Your guests will need to begin making arrangements such as requesting time off of work and booking hotel reservations.
Invitations:
First, your invitations are one of the most important pieces of the whole day! They provide your guests with all of the information that will get them to the wedding and have all of the details necessary. It is important, of course, that they receive their invitations! Wedding invitations should be sent approximately six to eight weeks prior to the wedding. And how you address that invitation says a lot! Here are some more common examples:
- Single Person: Mr. John Smith or Mrs. Jennifer Smith
- Married Couple (no kids): Mr. & Mrs. John Smith
- Family with kids: kids name should be listed on the inner envelope but not on the outer
For more examples, check out this article on The Knot!
Also, since an RSVP is requested, you will want to make sure that the deadline for your guests to respond is clear. Some say that your deadline should be 2-3 weeks prior to the wedding but we suggest that you request them to be returned at least 30 days before the wedding. You will need to submit your final guest counts to your vendors usually 30 days prior to the wedding and your RSVPs will determine that final count.
A challenge that you may face is how to politely say “NO KIDS ALLOWED!”. When addressing your invitations, it should only have the adult names listed and no “guest” option listed. Your guests should understand that only the names listed are the ones invited but just in case they don’t, this is something that can be noted on the wedding website. A nice way to say it would be to simply state “Take the night off to celebrate our big day, this wedding is for adults only”.
Other quick tips for wedding invitations:
- DO include postage with your RSVPs
- DON’T include your registry information on your invitations (put it on your wedding website instead!)
- DO have your invitation suites weighed to ensure proper postage
- DON’T invite people you don’t expect to come out of obligation, they may surprise you!
