As soon as that ring is on your finger, the clock starts ticking. Suddenly your life turns into a checklist on a month-to-month basis. Where do wedding invitations fit in that checklist?

You send your wedding invitations eight to twelve weeks before your big day. That means you order your invitations the month before, right? Not quite. You want to order them much, much further in advance.

Learn just when to order wedding invitations along with other essential wedding stationery.

Key Takeaways:

• Start your wedding invitation process nine months before your event
• Take time to find a design you love and a vendor that provides that design
• Finalize your design eight weeks before you plan to send them out

When to Order Wedding Invitations

The ideal time to order wedding invitations is nine months before your wedding. You heard that right, NINE months. If your wedding is a destination event, you may even want to start the process a month or two earlier.

Since the average engagement length is 12 months, you should start looking for a stationer within the first three months of your engagement. By leaving plenty of time to research, design, and order your invites, you can relax and enjoy the process with a glass of margarita and a sample wedding cake by your side.

What to Take Care of BEFORE Ordering Wedding Invitations

There are a few items that do come before your wedding invitation. For example, booking your venue is one of the first items on your checklist. Hiring vendors is also a time-sensitive task to take care of.

Once you have your venue secured, you can calculate how many people to invite and can begin writing up your guest list, which is important to complete before ordering the invitations.

Another item that will also help with invitation design is knowing the theme and colors of your wedding. Having a cohesive look gives the event a classy feel. For example, if you're having a spring wedding, consider light and airy pink accents in your wedding invitation design.

9 Month Wedding Invitation Timeline

When that nine-month mark arrives, it's time to start on your wedding invitation research, design, and order. Here's a breakdown of what that wedding invitation checklist includes:

9 Months Before: Choose Your Vendor

Your vendor is who will design or print your invitation. Preferably, you'll choose a business that provides both services. That way, you can guarantee the design matches what you receive in the mail.

You can start your search on Pinterest or social media and look at wedding invitation ideas. By researching the style of invitation, you like, you'll be able to find a vendor that sells that style versus starting with a vendor and searching through their options for an invitation you like.

For example, Shine Wedding Invitations pair well with elegant and traditional weddings looking to make a statement.

8 Months Before: Explore Designs and Finalize the Information

Now that you have a vendor selected, you can start looking at a final design. To help you choose what you like, you can request a sample. A sample allows you to see your favorite design in person.

Invitations are so much more than a card. You can order an entire invitation suite that contains all the details your guests need to enjoy your event. Here are a few other items you'll want to research and design alongside your invite:

• Rehearsal dinner invitation
• Response card
• Reception card
• Hotel and transportation details
• Additional inserts (like wedding website details)
• Envelope

After choosing what you want with your invitation, you can decide how you want to wrap them together. For example, do you want a band with a wax seal, or would you rather use a ribbon? You can also look at additional details that take your invitations up a notch, like a classy inner envelope printing with your guests' names.

7 Months Before: Design Your Invitation

Now you're ready to put all your hard work together. By now, you should have a finalized guest list, plus more wedding details for the invitation.

Work with a designer to make sure you get the perfect invitation. You have enough on your plate juggling a wedding, and your tasks are stacking up at this point in your planning. You don't need invitation design to be another item on your to-do list.

A designer takes a load from your shoulder. You just provide the wedding details and tell them what you like. The designer will take care of the rest. At Shine Wedding Invitations, you have three rounds of edits to make sure you like the design.

6 Months Before: Make Your Order

You're finally ready to order your invitations!

When should you purchase wedding invitations? Most stationers prefer to receive the final design eight weeks before you plan to send your invitations.

The time it takes for your invitations to print and ship depends on what type of invitations you order. Traditional printing can take one or two business days. However, letterpress can take up to twelve days before the invitations ship.

Thankfully you have time to decide. So if you want letterpress, go ahead! That's why you started the process so early.

After the Invitations Arrive

If your invitations are perfect to your liking, you can prepare them for the mail.

How far in advance do you get wedding invitations?

You can send out invitations to international guests or others that need extra time for travel arrangements at least twelve weeks before the event. Everyone else, you can wait till between eight and twelve weeks.

What Other Stationary Do You Need to Order for Your Wedding?

Your wedding invitation is just one piece in a suite of wedding stationery. When you order your stationery together, you make the process much simpler. In addition, you can coordinate the design for a unified, elegant look at your wedding.

Here's a complete checklist of the paper essentials you'll need in addition to the wedding invitation:

• Save-the-Dates
• Wedding programs
• Reception Tags
• Table stationery
• Menus
• Signs
• Thank-you cards

Start Your Order

Shine Wedding Invitations makes designing and ordering your invitations as seamless as possible. You don't need to stress about the fonts and colors. Let us take care of it for you!

Contact us, and let's get your inviation order started today.