You’re engaged, congratulations! Now what? The first steps most couples take once they are engaged, after soaking up the “just engaged” glow together and then letting their friends and family know the good news, are thinking about the venue, date, photographer and possibly {hopefully, in our opinion!} wedding designer/planner. There are only so many weekends in a year, then you throw in holidays, bad weather times for your area, and a host of other factors…so it’s important to get these big components nailed down sooner rather than later.
But when should you start thinking about the paper goods & calligraphy?
Ultimately it depends on how far out you want to mail your invitations, which is somewhat determined by when your final counts are due to your venue/caterer/rental company.
A general guide for a wedding stationery timeline would be:
-Send Save the Dates – 12-18 months out
-Start invitation design – 4-6 months out {custom design generally take 3-4 weeks; printing takes 3-6 weeks depending on print type}
If your stationer is a different vendor than your calligrapher, be sure to book your calligrapher at the same time and get on their calendar accordingly – you don’t want to wait until you have your envelopes back in hand to book a calligrapher!
-Mail invitations – 8-10 weeks out
-Start reception paper design – 8-10 weeks out
-Send all printed materials to print – 4-6 weeks out
-RSVPs due – 3-4 weeks out (this is determined with your planner/venue/caterer)
-Send calligrapher final lists for escort cards & place cards – 2 weeks out
Again, these are all general guidelines and you’ll definitely want to coordinate with your stationer & planner to be sure you are on the same page about any deadlines and target dates.
For further information on our script styles and custom stationery work, visit our website here or email alyssa@lhcalligraphy.com.