Invitations

My wedding is August 26. Is it too early to send out invitations? I wanted to get an idea of who will be coming relatively early.

Invitations

Usually you would send out the invites about 2 months before the wedding. My wedding is July 6th and I'm planning on sending them out at the end of April.

Invitations

I would say yes.... I'm getting married in June and I'm sending mine out in April and I have have heard I'm sending mine out a little early. But who's to say when you have to send them?

Invitations

6 to 8 weeks is the recommended time. If you send them out now most people won't know what they are doing in 5 months, and are likely to lose the invites. We sent out save the date letters, about 8 months in advance, and had several people tell us they would definately be there, and even booked hotels, now they are declining, and we had upped our room size and minimum because of the number of them that had said they'd be there. So sending them early isn't likely to give you a firm count - people will probably just hold off on responding. We sent ours mid Feb. for our April 28th wedding and have an April 10th response date. Out of 240 guests, about 95 have still not responded.

Invitations

Thanks all for your advice! I guess I should send them a save the date notice first, and then send the invitations in mid May. I heard for summer weddings they should be given at least 3 months notice. I guess because this is the time they start planning vacations. Karen, I never even realized that people might not respond! This is a possible nightmare since I have to guarantee a certain amount of people. How do you plan to handle this?

Invitations

Amy, It`s standard for receptional halls to put a guaranteed minimum on a room. While no guideline is 100% accurate, 'they' say to expecet 25% to decline, although I`ve known people who`ve had almost no one decline! I guess the trick is to make sure you haven`t booked a room that`s too big for your needs, otherwise you`ll end up paying for unused plates. Don`t be afraid to make a 'b' list, or even a 'c' list. If you start getting more declines than you expected, then you can always add from one of your other lists to fill the spots that open, hopefully keeping you over your minimum guarantee.

Invitations

We sent ours out March 8 for the May 5 wedding. The response date is April 10 and more than half of the invitees have not yet responded. I am really hoping they get those little cards in because I dread having to spend time calling all these people! I think 8 weeks in advance, especially during the summer, is plenty of time.

Invitations - Amy (long)

I think most will respond by the deadline - it`s still over a week away. For those that don`t, they`ll get a call from either the groom or his mother, or me or my mother, depending on the relationship of the guest. As for the decline percentage - 20% - 25% is the standard expectation for declines. They say to expect more if it`s a holiday weekend. Our original room held 180 (really packed in) and we had a guest list of 190. Lots of people that Fi`s Mom said would not come actually made a point of telling us personally that they would be there and even asked for info on hotels when we announced our engagement. Then we decided that we really wanted some of our dear friends there, and Fi`s Mom remembered some cousins she`d left off the list, and Fi`s Dad had 6 people he wanted to add and so we looked into a bigger room and expanded the guest list to 240. Now several of the group from Albany are declining (the ones that asked about hotels), a death earlier this year, and some serious illnesses have cut another 8 off the list (3 may still be able to attend - keeping fingers crossed) and other things have come up - a son`s confirmation the same day, a house closing the same time keeping my cousin in Chicago from attending, and so on. Friends and family may really want to be there, but sometimes life just interferes. We may have as much as a 30% to 35% decline rate. I`m just hoping the new larger room doesn`t look too empty. If you don`t hit your minimum you end up paying full price for vendor meals and childrens meals, and you can generally negotiate to swap the per/plate for additional cocktail hour food or something else additional. If we are short by 8 or 10 we`ll try to negotiate something extra in the way of food that is an equal amount. The halls are just concerned about getting a pre-set minimum payment and it really doesn`t matter if that amount goes to individual dinners or a combination of dinners and add-ons, so you can negotiate - it`s not just lost money unless they are confirmations that are no-shows the day of. We`re just keeping our fingers crossed - Fi`s very hurt by the group from Albany declining, considering that every summer for the past several years we`ve been there for graduations, sweet 16`s, 18th birthdays and funerals so I hope the remaining 4 couples up there don`t disappoint him.

Invitations - Karen H.

Thanks for pointing that out...so many things I didn't even realize!!!