When to send save the dates and invitations for a 2027 wedding

Every number in a paper timeline counts backward from your wedding date, whenever you got engaged and whenever you booked the venue. That sounds obvious, but a printed table that says “8 months” rarely says “8 months before what,” and couples do read it the wrong way.

Here is one worked through. Say you marry on Saturday, September 18, 2027. Save the dates go out by Monday, January 18, 2027. Invitations go in the mail by Saturday, July 24, 2027, with a reply-by date of Saturday, August 21, 2027. If a lot of your guests are flying in, move the save the dates up to November 18, 2026 and the invitations to June 26, 2027.

The runway at the top of this page does the same sum for your date. Its numbers sit at the early end of what the usual guides recommend, because guests forgive paper that arrives early and plan around it, while late paper can cost you the people who needed time to book.

The common advice for a mostly local wedding is 6 to 8 months before the day. Greenvelope and Dotty About Paper both give that range. For a destination wedding, or one where many guests need flights and hotels, Greenvelope moves it to 8 to 12 months. Paperlust goes further for destinations and suggests 12 to 18 months.

Sources disagree most at the short end. Paperlust says 4 to 6 months can work for a small, mostly local wedding. The UK etiquette authority Debrett’s simply assumes you will probably have sent save the dates before the invitations, without fixing a number.

A save the date asks for nothing back. The reply waits for the formal invitation. Send one to every household you plan to invite, and to no one else.

In the US, invitations usually go out 6 to 8 weeks before the wedding, and 10 to 12 weeks for a destination wedding, according to Greenvelope. Dotty About Paper agrees on 6 to 8 weeks and suggests about three months when you marry abroad.

Don’t go much earlier. Greenvelope’s view is that an invitation sent more than 10 to 12 weeks ahead tends to get filed away and forgotten.

The reply-by date is where the guides split most. Greenvelope puts it 3 to 4 weeks before the wedding, roughly a week before your caterer needs a final number. Dotty About Paper says no later than 2 to 3 weeks before. Debrett’s, writing for formal British weddings, says invitations usually go out at least 12 weeks ahead with replies due about two months before the day.

Four weeks is a safe middle. It gives you a week to chase the guests who forget, and a week to spare before the count is due. Check your own venue contract, since the caterer’s deadline is the one that actually binds you.

The send date is not the order date. Printed paper needs proofs, printing, delivery to you, addressing and postage before it reaches anyone. Greenvelope makes the point that this work starts weeks ahead of the send date.

How many weeks depends on the printing. Paperlust says a digitally printed save the date can be ordered about two weeks ahead, flat foil about three, and letterpress or foil stamping at least six. Dotty About Paper is more cautious for invitations and suggests allowing at least three months before you plan to post them, longer for bespoke designs. Then add your own time for addressing envelopes.

Before you buy stamps, weigh one finished invitation with everything inside it. The US Postal Service charges more for square or vertical envelopes, and for rigid or lumpy ones such as those with wax seals or ribbon. A Post Office counter can hand-cancel invitations for you.

For a wedding in the first part of 2027, your save the dates will be mailed in 2026. That is exactly when a date with no year gets misread. Paperlust calls leaving off the year the most common mistake on save the date postcards, and says to always write the full date, year included. A card on a fridge for eight months needs to say which year it means.

Spelling the date out helps too. Saturday, September 18, 2027 is harder to misread than 9/18, and it reads the same way to guests in the US and abroad.

If your date falls on a holiday weekend, such as Memorial Day, the Fourth of July or Labor Day, give guests more notice. Paperlust suggests adding an extra month to your save the date window. Greenvelope treats a holiday weekend, when flights and hotels sell out early, like a destination wedding. In 2027 that includes Saturday, May 29 (Memorial Day weekend) and Saturday, September 4 (Labor Day weekend). The longer setting on the runway covers both.

If you are already inside the save the date window, Greenvelope and Paperlust suggest the same thing: skip the save the date and send the invitation at the early end of its window instead.

Greenvelope adds a few practical steps. Send right away. Reach the guests who most need to plan, such as anyone booking flights, with a quick personal message first. Shorten the reply window if you need to. In its words, a late invitation still beats no invitation.

There is no single official deadline, and the sources measure from different starting points. Here Comes The Guide cites Emily Post as saying notes should be written within three months of receiving each gift. Joy counts from the wedding instead: all notes within three months of it, aiming for about eight weeks after you return from the honeymoon.

For gifts that arrive before the wedding, such as shower or engagement presents, the advice is faster. Here Comes The Guide says within two to three weeks of receiving the gift. Joy says within two weeks.

One rule satisfies both: write each note soon after the gift arrives, and have every note sent within three months of the wedding. If you miss that, send the note anyway. Here Comes The Guide says not to hesitate over a late one, especially after a long honeymoon.