When to Send Wedding Invitations: A Timeline

Send too early and the invitation is forgotten; send too late and attendance drops. The timeline below is the common plan that gets the most people through the door.

Why six to eight weeks?#

It’s where two opposing pressures meet. On one side, being forgotten: an invitation sent more than three months out gets filed away mentally instead of going in a calendar. On the other, a full calendar: sent less than four weeks out, “I already had plans that weekend” goes up noticeably.

The timeline#

Time left	What to do
4–6 months	Let guests travelling from other cities or abroad know the date
2–3 months	Prepare the invitation; finalize the wording and the details
6–8 weeks	The main send — or schedule it for this date
2 weeks	Check the RSVP replies, work out the final number, tell the venue
1 week	Seating plan
The wedding day	Put the QR cards on the tables
After the wedding	Publish the gallery and send the notification

Special cases#

Guests travelling from abroad

Tell them at least three months ahead. They need the time for flights and time off work.

Summer weddings

Send 8–10 weeks ahead; holiday plans get made early.

A wedding planned at short notice

This is where a digital invitation is at its strongest: no printing, no delivery time — you can send it the same day.

Engagements and henna nights

3–4 weeks is enough; the guest list is smaller and closer to home.

Common mistakes#

Ignoring public holidays and long weekends. An invitation sent the day before a holiday disappears into a pile of messages.
Sending in the middle of the night. Schedule it for 11am–1pm or 7pm–9pm instead.
Not knowing the venue’s deadline. Build your RSVP timeline around the date your venue needs final numbers.

What happens if I send the invitation too early?

It gets forgotten and the replies come in late. Rather than sending more than three months ahead, tell distant guests the date separately and send the main invitation six to eight weeks out.

The wedding is a week away and I still haven’t sent it.

With a digital invitation that’s fine — send it now. You’ll have less time to collect replies, but you’ll lose fewer guests than you expect.

Can I prepare it now and send it later?

Yes — scheduled sending exists for exactly this.