How far in advance should you send wedding invitations for a morning or afternoon ceremony?

For a morning or afternoon ceremony, send your invitations 6 to 8 weeks before the wedding. The time of day does not affect how much notice guests need. They still need to arrange travel, time off work and possibly childcare, so the same timeline works well.

If your ceremony is early in the morning, guests may need to travel the night before or book a hotel. In that case, consider sending invitations a bit earlier, around 10 to 12 weeks, especially if many guests are coming from far away. That gives them time to plan overnight stays.

For an afternoon ceremony, guests may need to take the afternoon off work or arrange transport. Again, 6 to 8 weeks is usually fine, but if you have guests with busy schedules, earlier is kinder.

Remember to include the exact ceremony time and the reception time on the invitation. For a morning ceremony, guests need to know when to arrive, and for an afternoon ceremony, they need to know if there is a gap between the ceremony and the reception.

Also include your RSVP date, usually 3 to 4 weeks before the wedding. That applies no matter what time the ceremony is. And if you are using a wedding website, put the link on the invitation so guests can see the full schedule.