Wedding Invitation Etiquette

Many details go into planning a wedding, but in the end, until you have the final headcount, it’s hard to finalize any of your plans. Before you get too involved in planning all the finer details of your wedding, you need to finalize the guest list, send out invitations, and wait for the RSVPs.

When to expect an RSVP to your wedding

You want to give your guests plenty of time to RSVP in time to give a final headcount to wedding coordinators and the caterer.

When to Send Out Your Wedding Invitations

Because you’re finalizing your catering, venue, and seating chart, you want to make sure that your wedding invitations go out plenty of time in advance. Most wedding experts will say that the wedding invitation should go out at least eight weeks ahead of time and that RSVPs should be required no less than four weeks before the wedding. Of course, there are factors that may require you to get the invitations out even earlier.

Allow for the Busy Wedding Season

If you are planning a spring or summer wedding, you may be competing with a few other weddings, as well as summer vacations. Many people follow the invitation etiquette that says “the first person to invite gets priority” – unless, of course, it’s immediate family, a best friend, or you are asked to be in the wedding party – so make sure your wedding invitation is the first invitation to arrive for the season. (This also applies to winter weddings around the holidays.) That will give you first dibs on having everyone you love to come to your wedding.

Giving guests plenty of time to plan and respond to your wedding in the busy season will also allow everyone to plan vacations or other events around your wedding.

Local or Destination Wedding

If you are keeping it local and your guests won’t have to travel far to get to the wedding, then you can wait to send the invites until eight weeks before. This will allow for plenty of time for the postal service to deliver each invite and give the guest time to check their calendar, make arrangements, check the RSVP card, and find a mailbox. Make it easy for your guests by addressing and stamping the RSVP envelopes.

If there are relatives and friends that are coming from afar, you may want to give them more notice, especially if there is air travel involved. We all know that airfare goes up the closer to the date you have to fly, so give your guests a plenty of time to look for deals and make travel arrangements.

Colorado Party Rentals

Your caterer will want to have the final headcount at least 10 days ahead of the wedding.

For destination weddings, give everyone more time to research, plan, and make arrangements for getting to your destination wedding. People may need to look for house sitters, babysitters, or pet sitters, or ask for time off from work. The more time you can give them to plan, the more likely they are to say yes to coming to your destination wedding. If it feels too rushed, you may get more people saying “no” to the invitation – not because they don’t want to come, but because they can’t adjust their arrangements in time.

Wedding rentals and tents in Denver, Colorado

At Colorado Party Rentals we love weddings! Once you have a final headcount, we will help you choose wedding tents, table linens, specialty chairs, dance floors, china, glassware, ceremony arches, and aisle runners, and we offer everything you need to make your day absolutely perfect. We offer personalized consultations by appointment, allowing our couples to set up tables just how they envision on their big day and take the guesswork out of seeing all the elements come together.

Contact us to schedule your consultation with one of our wedding specialists, and let’s get started planning the most memorable event of your life!

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