Wedding Invitations

6 - 8 weeks before!

It depends on how far people have to travel - if they have to travel, give them plenty of notice!

.... The wedding is December 6th.... I was thinking beginning of November?

beginning of Nov sounds right

I would go with 6 weeks. Too far ahead they might be misplaced..

some poeple send them out 3mos in advance to poeple out of town so they can get travel arrangements made and time off work

you could always send out an safe this date card!!!that way anyone coming from far would has time to plan!!!

It depends how far they are coming from. I gave my family 3 months, because they were traveling from far away.

I sent mine in late May, early June, and the response deadline was July 30th for an August 16th wedding, but it was rather small, so there wasn't any worry about people not sending RSVP's.

I own a stationery store and am online. The criteria has changed from the time when I actually started 23 years ago,BUT some things don't change. ONe of those things is -for a very small wedding,perhaps less than 30 people it is still acceptable to handwrite your invitation,following a prescribed formula and using ecru paper with black ink (a ball point pen is not the first choice. Even though you cannot do calligraphy go and purchase a real calligraphy pen-no felt tips-perhaps a Shaffer one with cartridges. The paper should be quite heavy. Cranes carries some of the best. DO NOT GO TO STAPLES,they only carry cheap papers.
Now for the remainder of those of you who are doing somewhat larger weddings,the time frame is now six weeks to two months. The reason being you must give the caterer time to make the menu for the prescribed amount of guests. Please note that many guests do not respond in a timely fashion as well,leaving the bride wondering just who is attending. Pick a response on the rsvp (it isn't mandatory,but it certainly helps) that will urge the recipient to respond but not too long a time so they shove the rsvp in a drawer and conveniently forget all about it.
The time frame has absolutely nothing to do with any other details. It used to be three weeks,and still is for a small wedding when the bride is not doing her own,but now it is almost always one to two months. Save the dates,which are designed to further prompt the replies should always be sent out six months in advance. These are intended to prompt the guest to set about making travel and hotel plans for that date as well. If you are looking for further help you can always go to other online sites such as finestationery.com or my own invitationimagination.com Almost all of the professional sites will guide you relative to etiquette details.

I would go more for middle of October toward the end.. plus its very close to Christmas and money can be tight around then.