A couple of questions about invites

We put arrive at 1.00pm to be seated for the ceremony which begins at 1.30pm - gives people a little freedom but being early is courteous as well as less stressful

As for RSVP dates, being August I'd suggest sending a save the date out as soon as possible so people don't start booking up to be away on holiday that time. We sent our rsvp's in October 2010 rsvp March 2011 for a September 2011 wedding, and have just sent out our second "information letter" to keep people up to date with our planning.

Although tradition dictates around 3 months for rsvp's, personally I think that's far too late particularly if you're dealing with it all yourself. Traditionally the bride's parents dealt with that sort of admin, usually the B&G deal with it now and you don't want to be spending ages faffing around chasing people when you're doing all the last minute stuff that needs to be done. Our venue requests final numbers 3 weeks before our date when the final payment is due.

You'll get a dozen different answers regarding dates, so really "what works best for you, based on any requirements your venue has" has to be the only real answer.

I would always arrive 15 mins before the time on the invitation, as I would assume that was the ceremony start time.

I get married on the 28th August this year and sent invitations out in the first two weeks of April, with a 20th May RSVP date. We received pretty much all of them back by that time (with verbal accepts/declines from the outstanding ones).

We haven't yet sent any evening invitations but I will not include the buffet time on them.

We put the actual ceremony time on the main invitation bit, then added a note in the additional information which said that they would need to be seated in the church 15 minutes before the ceremony start time.

We had to give final numbers to the venue 4 weeks before the wedding, so the RSVP date was 6 weeks before to give us 2 weeks to chase any outstanding.

I wouldn't include the time for the buffet.

We had pocketfolds and they all had "Tying the Knot" on the front, it was the invitation wording inside that was different.

this is what we did!

Our ceremony is at 3.30pm but I put 3.00pm on the invites - I have to be there ten mins before to meet the registrar and i dont want anyone seeing me in my dress before i walk into the room. that way people will be there by 3-3.10pm and I can slip in incognito!

Thanks all, some useful tips.

I think I will do as some of you are doing/have done - I will state the actual ceremony time on the invite, and suggest guests arrive 15 minutes earlier on the info card. Doh! So obvious now it is pointed out!

Maybe an end of May deadline then to ensure we have got lots of time? If they are ready I could always send the day invites out in Feb if you are supposed to give them 3 months.

When is it usual to send out the evening invites? I am assuming they won't need as much time as not catering specifically for them.

We put 30 mins earlier on our invites just to allow for late comers and any one that is on time they will only have 20 mins to kill of chatting and mingling before they will have to go in and sit down anyway. Our service is 1.30pm and we put 1.00pm. Our church seems to be quite strict on not being late so we are aiming to get there at 1.20pm and have a couple of photos out side first of me and my dad.

When I was bridesmaid for my cousin last year we arrived 10 mins before her and every one was still out side, so we were basically mingling with the guests before hand which I defo don't want my bridesmaids to do! I don't want any one to see them till they enter the church and also when the bride arrived at 1.30pm people were still arriving and hanging around outside the church although I thinking this was down to bad Ushering from the Ushers! so if you decide to put the correct time just make sure your Ushers get every one inside before you arrive and also most churches don't mind the bride being 10 mins or so late.

We are also having Pocket fold and we did put "evening invitation" on the evening ones as I wanted people to know as soon as they looked at the invite didn't want them to open it and then be disappointed when they read the details. But I am probably thinking about things to much.

We are getting Married 20th August and sent out invites out about 2 months ago and our RSVP date is the 10th July. I wish I had done it earlier as we are still waiting 3 rsvps back which are holding up everything! If they don't come my OH wants to invite 3 people from the evening list so he hasn't even sent them there invite yet....

Anyone who turns up late will be told to wait outside until the ceremony has finished. No excuse.

Thanks! Hopefully people will have the manners to arrive earlier than the time stated anyway but you never know! I think I will say something like '1.30 for a 2pm ceremony' or state the time and put a suggestion in with the info. Maybe could just have 'invitation' on the front, under our names, then I can always use the main invites for either/or day/evening, and just have different RSVP cards.

We put 'Arrivals from 2pm for a 2:30 ceremony'. We wanted to make sure people didn't arrive before 2 as the bar will not be open so people may just be standing around bored.

Our service commences at 3pm, so i've said it starts at 2:45pm, as I want to be at church for 2:50 having some pics taken in the gardens.

We are 12 August wedding and sent our invites in April with an end of June RSVP deadline. I have received RSVPs from all of my guests now, however 3 have been "I'll need to let you know as late as possible due to work commitments". OHs guests are a different story, and will again, only be chased at the last minite due to the nature of their work meaning they are likely to be called away at short notice.

I haven't got an info card / that kind of detail in my invites so i've put a kind of hour by hour plan on our wedding website which shows the buffet time for guests - but it would depend on what time your serving it. If you can guarentee all your evening guests will be there by the time it's served, then it won't be a problem, but if you are serving it relatively close to their arrival time, i'd want to tell them, so they understand that if they are coming a tad later they will need to eat before they come.