Your Ultimate Wedding Stationery Timeline Guide
When should I order my wedding stationery?
I often get asked when is the ideal time to order wedding stationery. So, I’ve put together an ultimate wedding stationery timeline guide - hope it’s helpful!
Please note that we’ve estimated these times based on Mila & May’s turn-around time, so if you’re working with an alternate vendor for any of these stationery items, make sure you check with them too. We print on-site, meaning our turn-around times are generally on the quicker side for wedding stationers.
1. Save the Dates
Save the Dates are particularly recommended for weddings that are…
booked over a year in advance, if you would like guests to reserve the date, but don’t have the rest of the details nailed yet.
interstate, international or have a lot of travelling guests that will need notice to take time off work and book flights and accommodation.
Save the Dates are usually sent about 6-12 months ahead of your wedding date. Any time closer than 6 months, I tend to recommend going straight to invitations (unless, once again, details are unknown… in which case a notice of date and location with “details to follow” in the coming months could still be helpful).
2. Invitation suite
Invitation suites include invitations, details cards, envelopes and RSVP cards. These are generally sent about 3-6 months ahead of the wedding date.
Invitations will generally include date, location, ceremony and reception start times.
Details cards will usually include further information such as transport, accommodation, gifts and dress code details, as well as a link or QR code to a wedding website (where applicable)
RSVP cards can include ways to RSVP, which could look like:
- a QR code linked to the wedding website
- email address or phone numbers
- a physical RSVP card that guests return to your address
RSVP deadline dates should be about 1-2 weeks before you plan to order On the Day Stationery, to give you time to collect last minute RSVPs before placing your order.
3. On the Day Stationery: printed items (menus, place cards, table signs, etc.)
At Mila & May, we recommend ordering at least 4 weeks ahead of when you’d like to receive your items. This means that if you would like to have them in hand 2 weeks ahead of your wedding, order them 6 weeks in advance of your big day. If you have a venue visit a month out and would like to take your menus, place cards, etc. with you when you go, order 4 weeks from this visit date.
We recommend having them in hand at least 2 weeks ahead of your wedding day, to ensure that everything is correct and accounted for with time to spare. In this case, look to order about 6 weeks ahead of your actual day.
4. On the Day Stationery: printable welcome / seating chart signs
At Mila & May, we offer printable versions of large format signage such as welcome signs or seating chart signs, which you can then get printed at a local printing shop. We can generally get these done in about a week, provided there are not too many post-proof edits. You can reduce the editing time by ensuring that the lists provided to us are accurate when you order.
We recommend planning ahead of time the company you’re hoping to print with so that you can factor in their print turn-around time when you order with us. Order your printable file from us about 1-2 weeks ahead of when you need to start the printing process with your company of choice.
5. Post wedding day thank You cards
Thank you cards are a special way to thank your guests for celebrating with you. Plain cards with your names and date can be ordered along with your On the Day Stationery, or in the weeks to follow. However, if you are after our popular photo thank you cards, you will need to order these after your photos have come back; generally, these will be your “sneak peek” photos sent by your photographer shortly after the wedding. These thank you cards can be ordered any time that suits you after receiving the photo you would like to use.
So, there it is - your ultimate wedding stationery timeline guide! We hope it is helpful. We suggest that you put these dates into your calendar to remind yourself to order each part of your stationery suite with plenty of time for an efficient and stress-free process.
Any further questions about turn-around times, feel free to ask and we’d love to help you out!
Much love,
Mila & May xo
