Work backward from the day you want guests to have the card in hand. A pretty proof that is still on your screen the week of the wedding is not a timeline. The dates below are the ones ShaadiPrints prints on the products and in the studio notes, not a guess about what other shops do.
Six to twelve months before
Save-the-dates are listed as pieces sent six to twelve months before the wedding. Send them only to households who will also get an invitation. What to include, and what to leave off, is in save-the-date etiquette. The cards themselves are in the save-the-date catalog.
This is also the time to sketch the guest lists as households, not as a single headcount. Ceremony, mehndi, sangeet, and reception often have three different lists. How many invitations to order walks through that count. You cannot order the right number of cards until those lists exist.
Four to six months before
Lock the wording and the event list. The ceremony card, and any card that will be letterpress, should be finished before you are inside the print window. Samples for Hindu, Sikh, Muslim, and fusion cards are in invitation wording.
If you want help with the layout, the design service promises a proof within 24 hours once that service is on the order. A custom quote is answered within one to two business days. Ask before you assume a date on the calendar is still printable.
After you approve the proof
ShaadiPrints sends a digital proof before printing begins. Nothing goes on press because a file was uploaded. You approve it, and then the clock starts.
- Letterpress takes 10 to 14 business days. The ink is mixed for your wedding and ordered for that order, and letterpress is printed in-house.
- Cards on 14pt stock, matte or gloss, take 3 to 5 business days.
- Raised gold or silver foil on 18pt silky matte takes 3 to 5 business days. Foil stamping is done in the studio.
Those spans are business days, and they do not include the mail. The way the box travels is chosen at checkout. If you want guests to receive ceremony cards six to eight weeks before the wedding, the proof has to be approved early enough for the longer of those print times, plus transit to you if you are stuffing envelopes yourself.
Letterpress and digital printing is the plain comparison if you are still choosing a process.
Six to eight weeks before the wedding
Ceremony invitations are listed as sent six to eight weeks before the wedding. Reception cards that travel with them use the same window. Mail them as a set when the guest lists match. If the reception list is larger, the reception card can still go in the same week, to its own list.
Build a few days of addressing into this window. How to address wedding envelopes covers the outer envelope and the return address. If replies are online, the RSVP link should be live before the cards go out. That setup is in RSVP and guest management.
Four to six weeks before an event
Mehndi, sangeet, haldi, and garba cards are listed as sent four to six weeks before that event. An engagement or roka card is listed as sent three to six weeks before. A brunch card is listed as sent three to four weeks before the wedding. A baraat card is listed as sent two to four weeks before.
If those cards ride inside the ceremony envelope, print them on the ceremony schedule, not on the shorter one. The shorter window is for a card you are mailing on its own.
The week you think you have left
If the ceremony is inside a month and the proof is not approved, letterpress will not land in the six-to-eight-week mailing window. Switch the ceremony card to 14pt stock, which prints in 3 to 5 business days after approval, or move the event details to a card you can still mail. Do not promise guests a date on a save-the-date and then stay silent because the invitation is still in proof.
Day-of pieces, such as menus, programs, and seating cards, are not invitations. Order them so they arrive before you travel, using the same proof-then-print steps. They are in menus and programs and seating and table cards.