When to send wedding invitations depends on distance: post them 8 to 12 weeks before a wedding at home, and 4 to 6 months before a destination wedding that guests fly to. Send save the dates 9 to 12 months ahead once any guest travels or the date falls in peak season, and about six months ahead otherwise. Then check those figures by counting back from your venue's final numbers date, which fixes your reply-by date and, from it, your post date.
Published etiquette runs from six weeks to three months, because each authority writes for a different country and guest list. Six to eight weeks works when every guest can drive. Once anyone needs flights, leave or a visa, or the date is a peak-season Saturday, 12 weeks is the floor.
Your stationer makes the suite and you post it. Each date below tells you when the next step falls due.
"Send" can mean three different days, and a schedule built on the wrong one slips by weeks:
Order date: The day you brief the stationer, up to a year out for a hand-finished suite.
Post date: The day the stamped envelopes go over the counter.
Land date: The day the invitation reaches your slowest guest.
The 8 to 12 weeks above is a post date. The land date follows a few days to two weeks later, depending on the slowest guest's country.
Start with the one date you can't move, and count back in this order:
Ask the venue for three dates in writing: Final numbers, menu choices and the seating plan, and whether final numbers must include dietary needs.
Subtract time for the paper on the day: Place and escort cards need final names and lettering time.
Subtract a week to chase late replies: For 100 or more guests, add a few days and split the calls between you, family and any planner.
Set the reply-by date: Print it as a calendar date, such as "Friday 23 April 2027".
Give guests a reply window: Four to six weeks at home, eight or more for guests pricing flights, who can reply on the wedding website.
Subtract postage time for the slowest guest's country: That gives you the post date. Weigh one fully assembled suite, seal included, at the counter before you buy stamps for the rest.
Subtract assembly, addressing, printing, proofs and design: That gives you the order date. Get each stage in weeks from your stationer, in writing.
Take a hypothetical Saturday 12 June 2027 wedding at a country house: 60 guests, four of them overseas, an engraved suite, final numbers due three weeks out and calligraphed place cards:
Final numbers, menus and seating plan due: Friday 21 May 2027.
Final names to the calligrapher: Friday 7 May, allowing two weeks.
Reply-by date: Friday 23 April, leaving one week to chase and one of cushion.
Land date for the slowest guest: Friday 19 March.
Post date: Monday 8 March, earlier for the four overseas guests, with addressed envelopes back by Friday 26 February.
Proofs signed off for engraving: Monday 8 February, allowing up to 10 working days.
Address list to the calligrapher: Friday 29 January, on a four-week turnaround.
Order date: Monday 16 November 2026, allowing 12 weeks of custom design.
Treat 16 November as the latest order date, not the target. One bespoke studio below suggests ordering 9 to 12 months out, so book your design slot in writing now, or use the late-start steps further down.
Guests travelling to a wedding abroad need leave approved, flights booked and sometimes a visa, so every date moves earlier than for a wedding at home. Send save the dates 9 to 12 months out, post invitations 4 to 6 months out and set the reply-by date 10 to 12 weeks before the day. That longer reply window gives the venue and hotel firm numbers while there is still time to release or add rooms.
If the hotel holds rooms for your guests until a release date, print it on the details card as the booking deadline, and put the same date on your wedding website. Our guide to sending destination wedding invitations covers the wording for travel details.
Take a hypothetical Saturday 9 October 2027 villa wedding in Italy: 90 guests in three countries and final numbers due four weeks out:
Final numbers due: Friday 10 September 2027.
Reply-by date: Friday 16 July, 12 weeks out.
Land date for the slowest guest: Friday 7 May, about five months out.
Post date: Wednesday 21 April, by a tracked international service.
Address list to the calligrapher: Friday 15 January, allowing 12 weeks.
Save the dates posted: Friday 4 December 2026, about ten months out.
Order date for the save the dates and suite: Monday 2 November 2026.
Our guides to Lake Como and the Amalfi Coast cover venues and seasons in Italy.
For Italy, as of 20 October 2026, the EU says to apply for a Schengen visa at least 15 days and no earlier than six months before travel. Processing normally takes 15 days and can stretch to 45, so visa guests need your dates in writing before the six-month mark.
Italy's foreign ministry exempts passport holders from the UAE, the US, Australia and Singapore for stays of up to 90 days within 180, and GOV.UK says British citizens travel visa-free for up to 90 days in any 180. The exemption follows the passport, not the country a guest lives in, so a guest living in one of those countries on another passport may need a visa. The EU's ETIAS travel authorisation had no confirmed start date on 20 October 2026, and visa-exempt guests will need it once it starts.
Guests confirm entry rules with the consulate, Smartraveller or GOV.UK.
Send them 9 to 12 months out for a peak-season Saturday, a date near a holiday or once anyone travels, as in our guide to destination save the dates, and about six months out for a local wedding off-peak. Settle these first:
Wait for the countersigned venue contract.
Send one only to guests you are certain to invite, since it promises an invitation.
Tell overseas guests first, and let close family hear from you in person.
Ask for postal addresses in the same note: "We're having the invitations hand-addressed. Could you send us your postal address by Friday 8 January?"
Check religious months and public holidays in every guest's country, so the card lands before guests book leave.
Have the wedding website live first, since the card points to it.
These are the times studios publish themselves, and they vary widely, so get your own studio's in writing. Each finish adds its own production time on top of design, and addressing comes last, after the guest list is final. Set your order date from the slowest step you choose, then add the postage time for your furthest guest.
Ink and Paper Design allows 8 to 12 weeks for bespoke design and suggests ordering 9 to 12 months out. On the Wedded Marketplace, The Bombay Lettering Company lists 8 to 12 weeks of design and Akansha Design Studio 6 to 10. Expect several rounds of proofs on the wording, layout and any monogram before printing starts, and allow time for both families to approve each one.
Smythson engraves from copper plates and says its online wedding suites typically take around two weeks once the design is final. Pemberly Fox generally needs 7 to 10 working days from proof sign-off. Plates are cut to your wording, so settle it before sign-off. Smythson advises ordering at least a month before you plan to send, and Pemberly Fox suggests starting three months before the wedding.
Letterpress presses the design into thick cotton paper on a vintage press, one ink colour per pass, so each extra colour is another run through the press. That deep impression needs heavy cotton stock, which also adds weight to the envelope. Studios can publish far shorter times than the 8 to 12 weeks of bespoke design above: Terrace Press quotes 2 to 3 weeks of design and 3 weeks of production, and suggests asking for quotes 4 to 6 months before the wedding, while the Australia section below has a Sydney studio's times.
Betty Lu Paperie notes that calligraphers' turnaround on envelopes can run up to 12 weeks, and the work can't start until the address list is final. Send the calligrapher one clean spreadsheet with each guest's title and full postal address, checked against how they spell their own name. Book the calligrapher with the suite, get the turnaround and a price per envelope in writing, and ask whether a later wave joins the first batch or is a separate run.
Debrett's accepts second-wave invitations at least two months before the wedding. Keep the waves consistent:
Print one reply-by date for every wave of day guests.
Post evening invitations about three months out, with no save the date. At 12 weeks, that is the same post as the day invitations, and two months is the floor.
For a weekend or a second celebration, send one suite: the invitation, a details card with the website address, a reply card, and a card for each extra event, enclosed only for its guests and never on the public website.
Put both dates on the save the date for guests invited to both.
Phone or visit older relatives before their invitations go.
Reply-by dates fall six to eight weeks before a wedding at home and 10 to 12 weeks before a destination wedding. "The favour of a reply is requested by Friday 23 April 2027" suits a formal suite, and "RSVP by Friday 23 April 2027" a shorter card. Debrett's places any separate reply address under "RSVP", usually bottom left.
The names at the top belong to the hosts. When parents host: "Mr and Mrs Robert Hart request the pleasure of the company of ... at the marriage of their daughter Clara with Mr Thomas Lyle". When both families and you share the cost: "Together with their families, Clara Hart and Thomas Lyle request the pleasure of your company at their marriage".
Chase from the day after the reply-by date, by phone or a personal message, never a group one: "We're confirming numbers with the venue next Friday. Could you let us know by Wednesday whether you'll be with us?" Make your last call two working days before final numbers, and give the venue only confirmed names. Our wedding RSVP guide has more wording.
At six to eight months out with nothing sent, you are late for overseas guests: send their save the dates this week and brief the stationer too. If the studio has no design slot, choose from its existing designs, simplify the finish, or keep bespoke work to the main card.
With under about four months to go, skip the save the date. At around 15 weeks with nothing printed, work in this order:
Write this week to guests who need visas, with the date, venue and hotel.
Send a digital invitation within a fortnight, designed by your stationer, with the reply-by date. The paper that follows stays the formal invitation.
Set the reply-by date six to eight weeks out, checked against final numbers.
Order the printed suite the same week from existing designs. A bespoke boxed suite needs up to 12 weeks of design and 12 of calligraphy, so it can only follow as the keepsake.
Postal times and etiquette differ by country. Plan to the slowest guest on your list, and post a few days before the carrier's figure.
Australia Post quotes 3 to 5 business days within a state and 4 to 7 interstate, with letters from AUD1.85 as of 20 October 2026. International Express takes 3 to 5 business days to the UK, the US and Singapore and 5 to 8 to Italy. Post overseas suites by Express from a city counter.
In 2019, March was the most popular month to marry and spring the busiest season, at 12.6% and 32.4% of couples, so send save the dates 9 to 12 months out for spring or March. For an off-peak autumn May 2027 wedding with guests in London and Singapore, send their save the dates by Friday 30 October 2026, order the suite by Friday 20 November 2026 and post invitations by Monday 15 February 2027. The Distillery allows three weeks for custom letterpress design and two from sign-off. Mazii Collection quotes bespoke invitations on brief.
The International Astronomical Center calculates that Ramadan 1448 begins on Monday 8 February 2027, though the official start rests on the sighting. A weekend ending Sunday 7 February sends guests home on the eve of the fast. Dubai's summer, late April to early October, regularly passes 38°C, so cooler-month dates book first: send save the dates 9 to 12 months out.
Guests who need a Schengen visa waited up to 6 to 8 weeks for an appointment in May 2026, so with up to 45 days of processing, allow about 14 weeks. For a bilingual suite, decide whether Arabic and English share one card, and add a week for both families to sign off the proof. Send boxed invitations by hand within the UAE. Atlas and Aisle, a Dubai studio on the Wedded Marketplace, builds the wedding website.
Debrett's says British invitations usually go at least 12 weeks before, with replies due two months out, and calls the traditional six weeks increasingly not enough. It allows save the dates up to six months ahead.
August was the most popular month to marry in England and Wales in 2023, at 14.3% of marriages, so send save the dates 9 to 12 months out for a summer date. Royal Mail aims to deliver 1st Class the next working day, and stamps cost £1.80 for 1st Class and 91p for 2nd Class from 7 April 2026. Never use International Economy, which can take up to 12 weeks to Australia. Smythson holds bespoke stationery consultations at its Sloane Street flagship in London.
Emily Post tells American readers to mail invitations six to eight weeks before the wedding, and save the dates three to six months ahead or earlier. Once guests fly in, mail at 12 weeks. WeddingWire reported in 2020 that 36% of couples married in the fall, so send save the dates 9 to 12 months out for a September or October date.
USPS quotes 1 to 5 days for First-Class Mail. Square, rigid or uneven envelopes pay a nonmachinable surcharge of US$0.49 on top of the US$0.82 one-ounce stamp, and a wax seal can make the thickness uneven. Priority Mail International takes 6 to 10 business days to many major markets, so allow two full weeks to Italy. Alpine Creative Group, in Midtown Manhattan, designs bespoke invitations from traditional engraving to modern letterpress.
Once your dates are set, your Wedded Advisor plans and books the celebration end to end: the venue weekend, guests arriving from several countries and a second celebration. At Wedded Privileges properties (Virtuoso, Four Seasons and Rosewood Elite), stays come with breakfast, credits and upgrades where available.
Find a stationer on the Wedded Marketplace. To begin, join Wedded Concierge and tell us the date, the venue and where your guests live.
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Joseph Joshua is the SEO & Content Manager at Wedded Wonderland, bringing an editorial and search strategy perspective to the publication’s coverage of luxury weddings, destination celebrations and bridal lifestyle. His approach to content centres on helping readers move from inspiration to informed decisions, with attention to the design, craftsmanship and personal details that give a celebration its character.
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