As an engaged person myself having an international DW, I wanted to give my guests ample time to plan and save, since for some of my older guests will be the last large trip of their lives and for most guest it will be a considerable chunk of change to spend. I was thinking Save the Dates 1 year out and then invites 8-9 months out. I know that some resorts and airlines give better rates the earlier in advance you book (to some degree). And in general I think my circle of friends and family tend to be very busy and I want to give them ample notice, which I think the STDs would be perfect for. Thanks for the clarification!

Interestingly, for the largest destination event I’ve created invitations for, the bride mailed her invitations only 6 weeks out (it was an international destination with close to 400 guests). For the smallest destination wedding I’ve worked with, the bride insisted on mailing her invitations almost a full year out (it was an international destination, and she had about 60 guests in all). My other destination clients have fallen into the 2 to 4 mo range. Almost all of them sent save-the-dates of some sort. So I do think a little personal preference plays a part in the mailing date, too!

Your question caused me to think of a good point that I neglected to discuss in my post, though, which is that some destination event venues require your guest count 2 months ahead of time, and in that case, you’d want to send the invitations earlier (still only 4 months out, though). I’ve seen this in the case of cruise-based events and some international resorts.

I would like to hear what you think. It sounds like you might have had different experiences with destination events than I’ve had! When do you think a person should send an invitation for a destination event?

Thanks again for your question, and for reading my post, and I do hope you’ll share your point of view!