Are you newly engaged? Thinking about your guest list, invitations and wondering what to do first and when? You’re not alone and we’ve recruited Brittany of Swiftly Scripted, one of our talented wedding vendors and stationery expert, to help you navigate the world of wedding stationery.

Getting started with your Wedding Stationery Timeline

First off, Congratulations! This is such an exciting time and the start of an incredible journey if you take the time to enjoy it. You have your venue and your date picked and maybe you’re wondering what’s next? There are many important details to think about, like a photographer or a planner but your stationery and the timing of it is equally as important in these early stages of planning.

If you are considering custom invitation and stationery design, I highly suggest you inquire early with your stationer. A completely custom experience is absolutely worth the investment, but it does require a fair amount of time for design, research, edits, and proofs before everything is sent to the printer.

So what does wedding stationery include and what should you think about first? I’ve put together a list of the most common pieces of stationery used for weddings and when you should be crossing them off your to-do list ahead of the big day.

Save the Dates: 1 Year +

Save the dates help to allow your guests to plan ahead and ensure they are available to attend and are the first thing you should plan to send out. This is especially important if you are having a wedding in the prime season between July and October. With Covid still affecting many weddings, causing postponements as well as newly engaged couples looking to plan, dates are even more limited for people. Sending save the dates as soon as possible after you secure your date will help ensure your loved ones are able to attend your wedding!

Save the Dates for Destination Weddings: 12 months

It’s important to allow your loved ones to have ample time to book off the time from work and save enough money to join you on the journey.

Wedding Invitations (Custom): 8-12 months

Your invitation can be as simple or as elaborate as you want it to be, depending on what you choose. With custom design, you are starting from scratch with your stationer so more time is needed for design, reviews, and edits to make sure your invitations are just right. 8-12 months may seem like a long time but it will mean much less stress on you and your stationer.

Wedding Invitations (Semi-Custom): 3-6 Months

Semi-custom is ideal for couples who don’t want to compromise on materials and design but don’t have it in their timeline and/or budget for a completely custom design. To help cut down the time needed for design and review, I have a collection of pre-designed invitation suites that couples can customize to make them their very own and get their invites ready that much sooner.

Mail out those Invites: 3-4 months

Get those invites in the mail! Depending on where your invite is being mailed to, this may take a week or two so the earlier the better. Your guests will appreciate having a little bit more time to respond.

Day of Stationery: 2 months

Menus for food, drinks, and place cards are all examples of day-of stationery. As some of those pieces may need to be customized with guest names this task is typically done once RSVPs have been mailed back to you.