when do you order invitations??

i started looking at some invitation books, but not too seriously.

if my wedding is in july, when should i actually order them? i assume my invites will go out around the end or middle of may, right???

need some timeline help here please!

Re: when do you order invitations??

I ordered mine about 4 weeks ago for our weding in February. When I saw the proof of the invitation (which I suggest EVERYONE gets), I had to make some adjustments so I am glad I left enough time. If you have a date and you are sure of your time, then I would jus do it to get that aspect out of the way.

Re: when do you order invitations??

I ordered mine really early. I fell in love in them and was worried they would be discontinued or something. So I ordered them in April for our Nov. wedding.

Re: when do you order invitations??

They might take a while to come in after youve ordered them.

If you work backwards:
if you have to give the final # to the hall 1 week before, then have the response date 3-4 weeks before, because people never respond by the response date.

Mail them out 6-8 weeks before the response date

Allow yourself about 2 weeks to assemble them, address them, whatever. (or if you have a caligrapher, that may take 2 weeks too, depending on how many you have)


They MAY take up to a month, or 6 weeks, to come in after youve ordered them.

So if you allow yourself plenty of time, just in case, you might want to order them 6 months ahead

Re: when do you order invitations??

That's what I am planning to do too.

Re: when do you order invitations??

We ordered ours in March/April we had them by the end of April. My only problem was that we ordered them so early that they sat in my apartment & I was afraid they would get messed up but they didn't. It was a good thing I ordered them because I had a problem with my invitation--alot of the bows were messed up so I had to go back & forth with the company to get it right also my reception card come in on the wrong card stock. Also because you are having a summer wedding you might want to send them out a little earlier--like beginning of may unless u are sending save the dates.

Re: when do you order invitations??

If your wedding is in July, I would say order them in January the latest. You'll want to mail them out in late April/Early May. You can certainly start looking now and if you love something, set it aside. But I wouldn't order just yet in case timing issues come up and you need to make a change.

Re: when do you order invitations??

I would say 5 or 6 months before depending on how long your particular invitations take to come in and how you are going to address them. We had hand calligraphy and due to family issues with the calligrapher, she had them for a month.

If you do it in January, I would think that you would have more than enough time.

Re: when do you order invitations??

I picked mine out last week and will have them ordered by early october. I will send them to the calligrapher in February and send them out middle of March for my Memorial day weekend wedding! Its not too early to get an idea of what you want!

Re: when do you order invitations??

Just an FYI ladies. My sister assembled and sealed the invitations together for her son's Bar Mitzvah about 2 months before she sent them out. As a result, the print from the direction card bled on the response card envelope because of the heat this summer and she was very upset. I wouldnt assemble your invitations until you are ready to mail them out. Just a suggestion.

Re: when do you order invitations??

I ordered mine online. I just ordered tyhem three weeks ago and my wedding is in december. I would have ordered them earlier but i was hung up on the wordinmg. If you are certain on the # you will need and the times why not order them when you find them. There is no sense in waiting because all you will do it drive yourself mcrazy as you keep looking at more

Re: when do you order invitations??

I already have mine sitting here, I ordered them last week and they came this week!! I don't plan on sending them out until late January, and the calligraphy won't be done until Thanksgiving weekend, but at least it's one less thing for me to worry about!!

Re: when do you order invitations??

I would find the ones you want and ask how long it takes to get them. You have plenty of time.