invitation conundrum...HELP please

[Carye]

okay...when I started planning my wedding, my father was convinced that no one would come to WDW...so he put the caveat on paying for things based on how many people were coming. I really want a wishes wedding so I get the whole reception and the whole nine yards. He says if we only have 18 people coming, then he will only give me what an excape wedding would cost. So that is a major difference $5500 or the $11K he is willing to pitch in on wishes.

I know that the minimum is due by the 90 day mark and that is October 11th...so I absolutely have to know how many people are planning to come by then. When I ordered my invitations, I ordered the respond date to be Oct 1 to give me enough cushion to be solid by the 11th.

So here is the big question...I have my invites now and they could be ready to send out soon...
So...when should I plan on mailing them out?
I also have a handful of invites that will have address changes between now and Oct 1.

Please help me...I need input

 

[BecBennett]

I don't know what the etiquette is, but I'd mail them as soon as they're ready.

 

[Chilly]

I'd mail them out as soon as you can.

 

[lpizzuro123]

I believe for a local wedding the timeframe to mail out is 6 to 8 weeks. For a destination wedding I feel the sooner the better. Our wedding was November 10, 2008 and we wanted our responses back by August 18, 2008. I believe we mailed them right before July 4th. I wanted to get them out early in the summer as I figured people travel alot in the summer and even though Disney did the Save the Dates, I also wanted to make sure that people saved enough vacation time to come down to our wedding.

Just as an FYI - we have 50 people come down from NY and NJ for our wedding - so yes - if you invite them - people will come.

Linda

 

[AlternateEgo]

I would say that 6-8 weeks before you want your response. That should give people plenty of time to give work notice and decide if they can make the trip.

I have a ton of family spread out all over the US, so I sent out save the dates. It has really been great for family to adjust their schedules.

 

[CNPHILLY]

If I understand your post correctly, your wedding is in January. I can't remember, but when do the save the dates get sent? I wouldn't want the invitation to beat the save the date. If the save the date got sent some time ago, I don't think anything is hurt by sending the invitation now. This is especially true given that Southwest is opening up their booking for January in the next day or so (don't know if that helps you but it is a big deal flying out of places like Philly).

On another note, we are in Philly and nearly everyone we invited showed up to our wedding. What your father may not understand is that people are so happy when someone they know has a Disney wedding, and jump at any chance to go to one. Good luck!

 

[lpizzuro123]

Also remember, not everyone answers back when they are supposed to. We had at least 15 people or so that did not send them back in time - some eventually sent them back late and some we had to call.

Linda

 

[Carye]

I really appreciate all the input...since the save the dates went out in March, I have not heard from a lot of people, so I am going to go ahead and send them out as soon as I can get them addressed (neatly that is )

Thank you again for all the support, looking forward to getting them out so I can see how many people are coming

 

[reedycreek]

Send them as soon as you can. We sent ours out in April for a November wedding as the advice of many not affiliated with this board or Disney. We were going to send out a Save the Date in April, but realized there is no point as people need to make plans and they need time to do so.

We also felt that nobody would come, so we invited 65 in anticipation of getting about 40. Well that didn't happen as we have 53 attending the wedding. Nearly everyone is coming who was invited. They saw Disney Wedding and decided they couldn't miss it! So keep that in mind!!!