We often get asked questions about etiquette when it comes to wedding invitations and most of the time, it comes from people receiving one for a close friend or family member. But one of the most common queries we receive from the happy couple themselves is - just how long a wait time should you give your prospective guests to reply to a wedding invitation? We’ve created a handy little blog to help you out, so read on to find out more.

How much time is the right amount of time?

Though it will differ depending on the situation of your wedding, we would recommend leaving between 6-8 weeks for a guest to respond to your invitation. This not only gives you plenty of time to send them out and to get a response but allows a contingency for any potential delays that might occur. Pro tip: if you’re planning a destination wedding or in a location not close to home, we’d recommend leaving up to six weeks for people to respond, as some of your guests may have to organise their diaries to confirm if they can attend.

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If you’ve already sent out save the date cards to some of your prospective guests, then you would hope that they’d done exactly what the card was designed for. But leaving a larger amount of time allows people to consider their decision and make travel and accommodation plans accordingly. Moreover, a six to eight-week time frame means your potential guests can’t put off responding to the invitation but also be sure that most of them won’t have made other plans by the time your invitation arrives.

What if...?

It’s happened to almost every single bride, but there will always be people who don’t respond to the invitation, leaving you in limbo with your guest count. Though the time frame is short enough that people should respond quickly, there are some things you can do to make sure you get a return on every invite.

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Always give guests an option to decline or accept the invitation and consider setting up a site on the internet for people to confirm whether they can attend with the click of a button. Not only will it encourage people to respond on time, but means you don’t have to wait for the postman for every invite return!