When to Send Wedding Invitations: Local and Destination

Two dates decide your mailing date. One is the wedding. The other is the reply-by date printed on your RSVP card. Mail six to eight weeks before the wedding, and give guests at least four weeks to reply. Whichever of those dates comes first is your mailing day.

Invitations are on time when guests can still say yes.

When to send wedding invitations for a local wedding

Six to eight weeks is the standard window. The Emily Post Institute's 1 to 3 months planning checklist says to assemble and mail your wedding invitations six to eight weeks before the wedding date. Both ends of that window matter. In its invitation timing advice, the Institute warns that a late invitation finds the guest already booked, and an early one might be misplaced or forgotten.

Take a wedding on Saturday, June 12, 2027, with a caterer who needs the final count on May 29. The dates work out like this.

Start from your reply-by date, then check the six to eight weeks

Your reply-by date can pull the mailing date earlier. Guests need time to check their plans and answer. Emily Post's article on modern invitations advises giving guests at least four weeks to reply. Domestic mail adds a few days on top. USPS lists First-Class Mail delivery at 1 to 5 days.

The reply-by date itself comes from your caterer, and our guide to wedding RSVP cards shows how to set it. Once you have it, count back four weeks. Then compare that date with eight weeks before the wedding. Mail on the earlier one.

An early caterer deadline changes the answer. Say your caterer needs the count three weeks before the June 12 wedding, on May 22. Your reply-by date moves to May 8. Four weeks before that is April 10, which is nine weeks out. So your invitations go out a week earlier than the usual window.

A print-to-post timeline for the weeks before you mail

Printing and assembling take longer than most couples expect. Start about four weeks before your mailing date. For the June 12 wedding, that means starting in the week of March 20.

Week 9 needs the post office. Etiquette advice in the Emily Post Institute's guide to addressing and sending invitations says to take one assembled invitation to be weighed before you buy stamps. Inserts often call for extra postage. It also warns that wedding stamps can be out of stock. Leave time to find them at another branch or order them online.

Typing and checking the wording is where mistakes hide. Our wedding invitation templates you type in your browser let you fill in names, the hosting line, date and time and venue in a personalizer on your computer. Then you click Download PDF. Print one sheet at Actual size (100%) and read it aloud with both families' names in front of you. Then print the rest.

Destination wedding invitations: about three months before

For a destination wedding, mail the invitations about three months before. That's our rule of thumb, for three reasons. Guests need time to confirm flights and rooms. Mail to guests abroad is slower and less predictable. And if a hotel holds a block of rooms for you until a set date, your reply-by date has to come before it.

Postage to guests abroad costs more. USPS First-Class Mail International starts at $1.75 for a standard letter up to 1 ounce, and the page says delivery varies by destination. Mail those envelopes on the same day as the rest. Send each guest abroad a short email that the invitation is on its way.

A destination wedding also changes what goes in the envelope. Emily Post's guide to wedding invitations reminds you to include inserts such as maps, directions or hotel information for out-of-town guests. A details card is the place for them. List the hotel, how to get there from the airport, any passport needs and your website. Hotel, restaurant and sightseeing tips can follow in a separate mailing to the guests who accept, as the Institute's wedding email dos and don'ts suggest.

A destination wedding shifts the calendar against a local one in five places.

The save the date does the early work. By the time destination invitations go out, guests should have known the date for nine to twelve months. Our article on when to send save the dates for a wedding covers that timing.

Late additions and a second round of invitations

The Emily Post Institute's advice is to invite everyone at the same time. In its article on modern invitations, it notes that about 10 to 20 percent of invited guests typically send regrets. Some couples plan for that with a second list. The Institute warns that this is a risky idea, because guests must never know they weren't your first choice.

If you still plan a second round, move the first mailing earlier. The same article says to mail the first set at least three months before the wedding. Those guests also get at least four weeks to reply. The second set needs at least four weeks to reply as well. Send new invitations as regrets come in.

For the June 12 wedding, that puts the first round in the mail by March 12. Second-round invitations can keep the May 15 reply-by date as long as they go out by April 17. Anything later needs a later reply-by date, and that date must still fall before the caterer's May 29 count.

A single late addition is simpler. Call the guest first, then mail the invitation at once. A phone call stops a late envelope from feeling like an afterthought.

How to send digital wedding invitations

Paper is still the norm. According to the Emily Post Institute's wedding email dos and don'ts, it is preferable to send each guest a printed invitation. Email is for a highly unusual circumstance. Email suits a last-minute or informal wedding. It also suits guests you already email all the time.

When you do send by email, follow the same calendar. Send six to eight weeks ahead, with at least four weeks to the reply-by date. Write to each guest by name in a separate message. Group emails are fine later, for logistics, but not for the invitation itself.

Put the reply-by date and how to reply in the email text. Guests should not have to open an attachment to find it. Our invitation is made for print. The JPG the personalizer saves is a 1500 × 2100 px print file. Check it on your own phone before you attach it to an email.

When mailed invitations are the wrong choice

Printed invitations don't suit every timeline. With under four weeks to go, a mailed card can't leave guests four weeks to reply. Phone your guests or email them, and follow up with a printed card only as a keepsake.

Our templates are also wrong for some couples. You need a computer with Google Chrome, a printer or a print shop, and about a week to print, cut and assemble. If you want finished cards delivered to your door, order printed invitations from a stationer and add their production and shipping time to your timeline. With the time and a printer, our wedding invitation templates for home or print-shop printing come in four designs. The RSVP and details cards are in the invitation suite.