Weddingbee boards

When do you have to give your final count to the caterer?  You need to give yourself enough time to call anyone who does not RSVP.  May 1st seems a little early to me, but we only have to give our final count two weeks prior. 

I don't know about calligraphy, I'd call and ask them how long they take on average.  You should send out the invitations 6-8 weeks before the wedding (8 if you did not do save the dates), and give your guests a month to reply.

In my case, my wedding is May 30th, I am planning on having them in the mail on March 30th, and my RSVP by date is April 30th.

You should be okay if you send them out by mid-April!

Yeah, best to work backwards. I'm giving myself two weeks to round up RSVPs before we need to give the final headcount to the caterer. My RSVPs are due June 5. I'm giving my guests 5 weeks between my mailing the invites and the day the RSVPs are due. It's my goal to have them in the mail by the last week of April. I'm not doing calligraphy though, I'm just labeling them myself. So you'll need to work backward on that too - however long your calligrapher needs, make sure you'll get your invites back (and then some) in time to send them out. I'd make sure you get the invites back from the calligrapher at least a week before you need to send them out, so you aren't having to send them out immediately after the calligrapher is finished. Better early than late.

Good luck!

I would check when your caterer needs their final head count! My caterer needs their final head count 10 days before the wedding date so our RSVP date is August 5th (a month before the wedding). I figure with a month I will let RSVPs trickle in for an extra week and then start calling people.