When to Send Wedding Invitations: A UK Timeline

25 October 2026 · 7 min read

When should you send wedding invitations? Plan your UK invitation timeline, save-the-dates and RSVP deadline with a simple worked example.

For a UK wedding, sending invitations four to six months before the day is a useful starting point. Send save-the-dates earlier once your date and venue are confirmed, then set your RSVP deadline around the dates your suppliers actually need final numbers.

If you have seen advice saying six to eight weeks, you have not misunderstood it. Published guidance varies: UK venue Heather Glen recommends four to six months, while Paperless Post suggests six to eight weeks. There is no single timetable that fits every guest list.

The helpful question is: when do your guests need the details, and when do you need their answers? Here is how to turn that into a plan.

Your wedding invitation timeline at a glance

Use these timings as a starting point, then adjust for travel, your engagement length and supplier deadlines.

Bridebook's stationery guidance uses these save-the-date, invitation and RSVP ranges, and specifically recommends checking the caterer's deadline. Treat them as planning guidance rather than a rule you have failed if your wedding is sooner.

For the wider picture, our wedding planning timeline puts invitations alongside the other decisions you need to make.

Set your RSVP deadline before you print the invitations

It is tempting to choose a neat date and put it on the card. Instead, get the deadlines first. An RSVP date is useful only if it leaves you time to do something with the replies.

1. Ask for the dates that depend on your guest numbers

Check your booking information, then ask the relevant suppliers:

• When are final daytime and evening numbers due?
• When do you need meal choices, dietary requirements and children's meals?
• Is there a separate deadline for the table plan or printed place cards?
• Are there earlier accommodation or transport decisions that guests need to make?

Put each answer in one place. If you are still choosing suppliers, add these to your questions to ask before booking.

2. Leave time between replies and final numbers

Choose a buffer that gives you space to contact anyone who has not replied and check incomplete answers. Two weeks is a useful worked-example buffer, rather than a promise that it will suit every wedding.

A large guest list, several events or slow postal replies may need more room. If your supplier needs information earlier, move the RSVP date earlier too.

3. Make replying straightforward

Tell guests who is invited, which part of the celebration they are attending, the exact reply date and how to respond. Ask for the information you genuinely need at that stage.

Keep one master record of replies, even if some arrive online and others come by phone or post. A message saying "we're coming" still needs to become a clear answer for each invited person and event.

Want a calmer way to keep track of the next steps? Plan the Do brings your planning tasks, guests and events together. Join the waiting list for updates as early access opens.

A worked example: a wedding on 12 June 2027

Imagine your wedding is on Saturday 12 June 2027, and your caterer has confirmed that final numbers are due four weeks before it. You choose a two-week buffer to follow up replies.

These are illustrative dates, not standard supplier terms. If your caterer needs numbers six weeks before the wedding, this example's RSVP date would be too late to leave the same buffer.

You can copy the method into a calendar: supplier deadline first, reply deadline second, invitation date third. Put a name beside the follow-up task so you both know who is doing it.

What changes for different guest lists?

Guests travelling a long way

A wedding close to your home can still be a major trip for someone else. Share the confirmed date and location early enough for them to investigate travel and accommodation. Do not wait for every decorative detail to be decided before giving useful notice.

For a wedding abroad, check the arrangements guests need to make and any booking deadlines before choosing your dates. Our destination wedding checklist covers the wider planning work.

Evening-only guests

Make the invitation clear about the event, arrival time and venue. If you send an early notice, call it a "save the evening" or make the evening invitation explicit. Heather Glen also highlights this distinction to avoid implying an invitation to the whole day.

Give evening guests proper notice too, particularly if they need childcare, travel or accommodation. Track their replies separately when your venue needs a separate evening headcount.

A shorter engagement

If the suggested invitation window has already passed, focus on what you can do now:

• Confirm the essential details and contact guests promptly.
• Agree a realistic response date with your venue or caterer.
• Use a reply method your guests can access easily.
• Check directly with anyone who may miss a digital message or posted invitation.

You do not need to add a separate save-the-date stage just to follow a conventional sequence. One clear invitation may be more useful when time is short.

Before you press send: a quick check

Ask someone who has not been living inside your wedding plans to read the invitation. Can they answer these questions without asking you?

• Who exactly is invited, including any children or plus-one?
• Is this the whole day, the evening, or another named event?
• What is the date, arrival time and full location?
• If the ceremony and reception are in different places, is that obvious?
• When and how should they reply?
• Where can they find any additional travel or accessibility information?

For printed invitations, confirm proofing, production and delivery timings with your stationer before choosing the send date. For digital invitations, test the link and reply process on a phone.

Count the invitations you need separately from the people you are feeding: one envelope may contain an invitation for several named guests.

Common questions about sending wedding invitations

Is six months too early to send wedding invitations?

It sits within the four-to-six-month range recommended by the UK sources above. The key is that your details are settled and the invitation gives guests something useful to act on. If you are only asking them to keep the date free, a save-the-date may be enough for now.

Do save-the-dates count as an RSVP?

No. An early indication that someone hopes to attend is not the same as a confirmed reply covering the named guests, events and details you need. Ask for a clear response to the invitation and record it.

Can we send invitations digitally?

Yes. The planning questions are the same: can each guest receive the invitation, understand it and reply? Offer another way to respond for anyone who needs it. Digital delivery does not remove your supplier deadlines.

What if someone misses the RSVP deadline?

Send a warm, direct follow-up explaining when you need their answer. For example: "We're confirming numbers with our caterer next week. Could you let us know by Friday whether you'll be joining us?" Check your own deadlines before choosing that date, and record the response in your master list.

Your next step

You do not need to decide every invitation detail today. Start by finding your supplier deadlines, choose the date you need replies, and add a follow-up task to your calendar.

Plan the Do helps you figure out where to start, breaks planning into clear next steps, and keeps your tasks, guests and events in one place. You do not have to hold the whole wedding in your head.

Join the Plan the Do waiting list to hear when early access opens.

Written by Plan the Do. Guidance checked on 25 October 2026. Timings are planning suggestions; your own supplier arrangements take priority.