When to send out invitations

Hi, I am thinking the same as you. We are getting married next September and have just started making our invitations as I know they will take me a few months to do them all. We're not doing save the dates as in my opinion i think they are a bit of a waste of money...i would rather just send the invites out early. I don't see it being a problem...we have some of ohs family travelling from 4 hours away and a few of mine coming (hopefully) from abroad so i don't think sending out early is a problem. You may have a few people say 'oh this is a bit early' but who cares...doesn't matter if they know early i say just go for it if that's what you want to do

By January/February time next year people will have their calendars so can write it on...I wouldn't do the evening invites but just the day ones...people who are close enough to you and your h2b to be invited to your wedding will not forget

You either send out STD a year before or invitations about 3 months before. It's too early for people to book flights now as the timetables aren't available for next August yet, so it's quite likely that people will forget/lose their invitation inbetween now and then.

Me again, I did have a little thought with mine that I may put a little note at the top of my information card saying something like "I know these invitations may seem a little early for some of you, but I wanted to let everyone know in plenty of time...and it's another things crossed off my evergrowing to do list here's some bits you need to know". Quite light-hearted and kind of making a joke of the fact they're early.

You can joke about it, but it doesn't resolve the issue that train and flight timetables aren't released yet. So your guests have an invitation but are unable to book anything.

I'd rather have them early so I could start saving if I need to book flights etc. If you are making them early anyway, it seems daft to send out Save the dates as well. I can't see anyone objecting just because it is too early to book a flight as it means they can keep an eye out for when they are.

Chamchick...it's your wedding. You send them out exactly when you want to...you don't have to do it by the book. I'm certainly not and it's not going to be the end of the world

I am getting married in France next September and sent the invitations out last week. Most people knew the date etc anyway, but were asking about accommodation / dates etc so thought it best to send out the invitations with all the info so they had time to plan ahead. My dad also has to put in his holiday requests for 2014 by mid October.

And for info, flights for next year have been released by BA (about 3-4 weeks ago) and EasyJet released their 2014 flights yesterday....

I'd rather have an invite and know about it than have it too late to book time off and when flights/travel are more expensive.... I would either send the invites now, or speak to your family / friends and let them know the date. You don't have to send a formal save the date for people to save the date! A quick call / text / FB message does the job!

We are sending ours out in early November for next September. Our wedding is abroad and whilst not all airlines have released their flights, British Airways have and they fly to the closest airport to our venue so people are likely to use them.

I'm of the agreement that STD's can be a bit of a waste of money if people need to make arrangements and people seem to be putting as much info on those as formal invites.

Send them when you think people would be receptive to them, I know so many people who are excited to get ours.

We also need to send the venue final numbers before December so it makes sense.

Personally, don't think sending yours out is too early. If people need to book annual leave etc they can have first dibs when their calendars open!

I’m getting married in February, we sent our invitations out last month, 4 and a half months before.

Our venue needs to know final numbers 1 month in advance and also we have allowed 3 weeks to chase RSVPs as its around Christmas time. Our RSVPs have been coming in slowly but surely.

I don’t think it matters how far in advance you send them out as its good to have lots of notice to get cheap accommodation rates.

If you're sending them Jan/Feb for an August wedding then that's fine - particularly if you have guests from abroad needing to book flights. From January onwards, flights will be available for most of the year (in the same way that people book their summer holidays in the new year) so I don't really know what the issue is regarding the invites being to early?

We are in the same position - August wedding, have guests coming from Bermuda, Australia...they already know the date, they'll get the invite in Feb and can take that as definite confirmation and can book their flights.

Agree that Save the Date are a waste of money (unless you have a really long engagement) so don't feel like you're sending them out too early, even if guests can't book travel arrangements, they can book the date in their calendars. People are so busy nowadays I think it's important to send things as early as poss, however if you're really very early, you might have to send a reminder nearer the time!

I'm getting married 22 February, and I've sent all my day invitations out - we did it over the course of the last month. Like many people we had a 'reserve' list, and both me and h2b have had one set of aunties and uncles decline the invite, so it means we've been able to replace them with friends.

Its your wedding. I say do it when you want to. The second we told everyone we were engaged we were getting asked loads of stuff and still am. I plan to send them next month for a July wedding just to stop the questions! I didn't do save the dates, just emailed everyone, they all knew the date anyway. I don't think there is any rule when to do these things and you should do what fits with you and your plans.

Thanks for all the replies, we have a lot of friends who work in the tourist industry and with it being in August a lot are already asking when it is, also a lot of friends with kids book their summer holidays for August hence the reason to just get them sent out. I was just feeling that sending them only 3 months (as that seems the correct way) in advance was cutting it fine. I appreciate your opinions. Thanks

Why not just send a Save the Date card? Seems to solve all the issues and means that there's room for timings etc to still change if needs be. You could put together an electronic one and send it to people, that's what we did.

Sange - sorry but I just feel inclined to say that sometimes the way you word your comments can be quite rude.

Chamchick - I agree you should send the invitations out whenever you want to. Who says there is a right or wrong way to do things? Our wedding is also next August and we have our invitations printed already, I just need to put them together and we will be sending them out by December/January time. We also have people coming from abroad. However, between now and then we have just sent everyone an informal email to let them know the date and place so they can start making plans and to take that worry off us a bit x

Chamchick, I don't think that's too eary at all.

I personally think it's best to let people know ASAP so they can save for whatever travel arrangements they need as well as accommodation or whatever else they may need if they are travelling from afar.

I sent save the dates out at about a year to go and will send invites out at just under 5months to go. We did STDs as we have family overseas and from vistaprint we designed our own and they cost less than £10 so not expensive at all.