Invitation Etiquette
Mailing Wedding Invitations
Preparing and Mailing Your Wedding Invitations
Invitations should be mailed six weeks prior to the event. People planning a summer or holiday wedding often choose to send Save the Date cards as many as four months before the event. These cards are especially helpful for out-of-town guests.
Now this is something you probably didn't even know you had to worry about, but believe it or not, you can't just stuff your envelopes any old way. Depending on your invitation style, the invitation itself will usually be the largest piece, and at the bottom of the ensemble. Place any extra enclosures such as response cards and reception cards directly on top of the wedding invitation. Usually the response card is placed on top of the enclosures tucked under the flap of its stamped envelope. Slide everything in the inner envelope (if there is one) with your wording facing up and the booklet opening showing, so that it is immediately visible upon opening. Place the inner envelope inside the outer envelope, with the guest's names facing the back so that the guests' names are seen first when the envelope is opened.
Never assume you know how much mailing an invitation will cost. Can you imagine anything more heart-breaking than getting back all your beautifully addressed invitations because you were three cents short on postage? Take a completed invitation with all your enclosures to your local post office and have them weigh it and tell you the price for a first-class mailing.
Look for love-themed stamps for your invitations. The U.S. Post Office is happy to handle requests for hand canceling. This helps to ensure that large, thick, or oddly sized envelopes don’t get caught in processing machines. It can also minimize the amount of automated printing (for example, bar codes) the post office adds to your mailing address.
A fun thing to consider if you have plenty of time is to choose a city with a wedding-related name (Bridal Veil Falls, Oregon or Loveland, Colorado) and contact the postmaster about hand-canceling your invitations there. If you bundle your invitations together in a large package and mail them to the postmaster, she or he will arrange to hand-cancel your invitations.