The most common mistake in stationery planning is starting late. Letterpress needs plates, proofs and hand finishing, so it takes two to three times as long as digital printing. The calendar below is drawn from real projects, not from an ideal world.

The basic rule

Invitations should be in your guests’ hands eight to ten weeks before the wedding. If guests are travelling internationally, make it twelve. Count backwards from that posting date and you will find when production has to start.

Save-the-date cards run on a separate track — post those eight to twelve months ahead.

Six months out — first conversation and paper

Design is not the subject yet. What matters at this stage:

Guest count and the resulting quantity (one invitation per household, not per guest)
What the suite contains: invitation only, or menus, place cards and orders of service too
Budget range and paper preference
Whether envelopes will be hand-addressed

Ask for the sample pack now. Trying to choose a weight without holding it is the single most common cause of a change of mind later. Our paper guide is a good place to narrow the field first.

Five months out — design

A design round usually takes three weeks: first concept, then two rounds of revisions. What must be settled here:

Every name and title, spelled exactly as it should appear
Date, time and venue — confirm the venue address in writing
RSVP method and deadline
Which techniques are used: letterpress only, or foil as well

Even a one-character change means a new plate, which is why design sign-off is the critical moment of the whole process.

Four months out — plate and proof

The plate is made and a single proof is pressed on your chosen paper. What to check on it:

Colour — what you saw on screen is not what is on the sheet
Bite depth — if you want it deeper or lighter, now is the moment
Typos — this is the final read-through
How the paper feels in the hand and sits in the envelope

Three months out — printing and finishing

The run itself takes about a week. Trimming, edge painting, wax sealing and numbering follow. Hand processes scale with the piece count: a sealed suite for 150 guests needs four to five days on its own.

Ten weeks out — addressing and posting

Envelopes are addressed. If you want calligraphy, book the calligrapher’s time well ahead — that service fills fast in wedding season. Before posting, weigh one complete envelope and confirm the postage; heavy stock and a wax seal often push a suite past the standard rate.

Send wax-sealed envelopes inside an outer protective envelope — machine sorting will crack an exposed seal.

Wedding week — on-the-day pieces

Menus, place cards and orders of service can run on their own schedule, because they depend on the final guest list. They are usually printed three to four weeks before the day.

If your timeline is tighter than this, write anyway — some stages can be compressed. Tell us where you are and we will build a realistic plan around it.

Wedding stationery timeline: counting back six months