When should you send destination wedding invitations?

Save the dates 10 to 12 months ahead with the dates as a range and the nearest airport; the invitation four to five months ahead with hotels, travel and the schedule; a reply deadline about eight weeks before.

What should a destination wedding invitation include?

The weekend dates, the ceremony time and venue, where to stay with the booking code and its deadline, how to get there, the schedule of the weekend, a dress code that suits the place, the reply with meals and allergies, and a gentle line about gifts.

How do you word a destination wedding invitation?

Keep the invitation line as clean as any other, and put travel, hotels and the schedule in their own short sections below. Examples are on this page for the save the date, the invitation line, hotels, travel, gifts and the reply.

Is a digital invitation better for a destination wedding?

Usually, yes: it reaches every country at once, the map and hotel code work with a tap, changes reach everyone instantly, and replies come back the same day with meals and allergies written down. A printed welcome note in the hotel room is the paper worth keeping.

Should we tell guests the wedding is the gift?

Many destination couples do, plainly and kindly: "Your being here is the gift." If you keep a registry, put it low on the page and say the flight comes first.

Destination wedding invitations: what to include, and when

I have planned weddings on a cliff above Positano, in a converted olive mill, and on a lake where the only way in was by boat. Destination wedding invitations differ from hometown ones in one way that matters: every guest had to decide whether to spend a thousand dollars and four days of leave to be there. The invitation is where they make that decision. So it carries more, and it goes out earlier.

The timeline moves forward

10 to 12 months
Save the date, with the country and the dates as a range
"June 12 to 14, 2027, Amalfi, Italy." Guests book flights on this, so the range matters more than the exact ceremony day. Include the nearest airport if it is not obvious.
4 to 5 months
The invitation, with everything
Two months earlier than a local wedding. It carries the hotel block and its booking deadline, the weekend schedule, and the reply deadline.
8 weeks
Reply deadline
Earlier than usual, because the venue abroad wants numbers earlier, and because guests who have not booked by now are not coming.
3 to 4 weeks
The travel note
A short message to everyone who said yes: transfers, what to pack, the welcome dinner address, who to call if the flight is late. On a digital invitation this is a section you switch on, not a second mailing.

What the invitation has to carry

A hometown invitation can be five lines. A destination invitation is those five lines plus a small, calm travel guide. Keep the invitation screen itself as clean as any other; put the rest further down the page, in sections a guest can read in order.

The dates as a weekend, not a day. Welcome drinks on the Friday, the wedding on the Saturday, a long lunch on the Sunday. Guests plan around the whole shape.
Where to stay, with the hotel block, the rate, the booking code and the date it expires. Two or three options at different prices, and a line on how far each is from the venue.
Getting there. The airport, the transfer you have arranged if you have, a taxi price if you have not, and whether a car is useful or a burden.
The schedule of the weekend, with times and places, so nobody books a boat tour during the ceremony.
Dress code that respects the place. "Cocktail attire; the terrace is stone, so flat shoes for the ceremony." "Linen and light colors; it will be 90 degrees."
The reply, with a deadline, per person, and one line for meals and allergies. A kitchen abroad works best from a list with names.
Gifts, gently: many destination couples say the trip is the gift, and mean it.

The Harbour invitation on a phone: a painted harbour at dusk with the couple's names. — A destination invitation should look like the place. Guests are deciding whether to go there.

Wording

Save the date

Save the dates. Eleanor & William are getting married in Amalfi, Italy, the weekend of June 12 to 14, 2027. Fly into Naples. Travel details and the invitation to follow.

The invitation line

Together with their families, Eleanor Hale and William Carter invite you to celebrate their wedding on the Amalfi coast. Saturday, June 13, 2027, at five in the afternoon, Villa Cimbrone, Ravello. A weekend of welcome drinks, the wedding, and a long Sunday lunch.

The hotel section

We have held rooms at Hotel Marina Riviera and at Casa Buonocore, both a ten-minute walk from the villa. Book with the code HALECARTER by March 1. If you prefer to stay elsewhere, Amalfi town has everything; the coast road is slow, so stay close.

The travel section

Fly into Naples. A car will meet the group flights on Friday afternoon; if you arrive at another time, a taxi to Amalfi is about an hour and a half. You will not need a car once you are here.

Gifts

Your being here is the gift. Truly. If you would like to do something more, there is a note below, but please spend it on the flight first.

The reply

Please reply by April 15, for each of you, and tell us anything the kitchen should know. The chef speaks English and reads every line.

Why the link earns its keep abroad

Paper crosses borders slowly and unevenly. A suite mailed from Chicago takes a week or two to reach Europe, longer for Australia, and the reply card takes as long coming back, with a foreign stamp your guest had to go and find. Meanwhile the hotel block expires.

A link arrives everywhere at once, in the phone your guest will use to book the flight. The map opens the map. The hotel code copies with a tap. When the transfer time changes, you change one line and every guest sees the new one. And the reply comes back the same evening, from wherever they are, with their meal and their allergy written down for a kitchen in another language. How ours carry the travel details is on the page about destination wedding invitations.

The one paper thing worth doing

A welcome note in the hotel room. One card, in the design of your invitation, with the weekend schedule and a phone number that answers. Guests have travelled a long way; the note says you noticed. Everything else, from the save the date to the last reminder, can live in the link.

The Waterside collection of our digital wedding invitations was drawn for weddings by the sea, on a lake, in a vineyard. Each one sends as a link, holds the reply, and carries the travel sections your guests will read on the plane.

See the Waterside designs

Questions people ask

When should you send destination wedding invitations?: Save the dates 10 to 12 months ahead with the dates as a range and the nearest airport; the invitation four to five months ahead with hotels, travel and the schedule; a reply deadline about eight weeks before.
What should a destination wedding invitation include?: The weekend dates, the ceremony time and venue, where to stay with the booking code and its deadline, how to get there, the schedule of the weekend, a dress code that suits the place, the reply with meals and allergies, and a gentle line about gifts.
How do you word a destination wedding invitation?: Keep the invitation line as clean as any other, and put travel, hotels and the schedule in their own short sections below. Examples are on this page for the save the date, the invitation line, hotels, travel, gifts and the reply.
Is a digital invitation better for a destination wedding?: Usually, yes: it reaches every country at once, the map and hotel code work with a tap, changes reach everyone instantly, and replies come back the same day with meals and allergies written down. A printed welcome note in the hotel room is the paper worth keeping.
Should we tell guests the wedding is the gift?: Many destination couples do, plainly and kindly: "Your being here is the gift." If you keep a registry, put it low on the page and say the flight comes first.