As a Wedding Planner, one of the most common questions that come up relate to Invitation Etiquette. I recently asked Kim McDowell the owner of The Event Essentials for some insight on the top three most frequently asked questions.

1.) What is the best way to communicate the Wedding is intended to be an “Adult Only” affair?

At the bottom of the invite you include the text “Formal Adult Reception to Follow” or “Adult Reception to Follow.”

Another indicator is on your reply card. You can use the text

___# Adults Attending

2.) How do you keep guests from rsvping for MORE guests than what were intended?

Usually whomever the invite is addressed to on the envelope is the only people invited. (i.e. Mr. and Mrs. John Smith =2 guests) However, sometimes people know that their guests still won’t respect this. I tell clients that they can put this on their RSVP card, but they have to fill in the blank for each invitation suite.

2 Seats of Been Reserved in Your Honor

Or, you can keep the verbiage traditional and simply make a phone call to the one or two RSVPs that come back with added guests.

3.) How long prior to the wedding should your invitations be sent out?

No less than 8 weeks prior to the Wedding date. That way you can set the RSVP date 4 weeks prior, so you have enough time to create a seating chart. If there are a lot of out of town guests, I would suggest sending your invitations out between 10 and 12 weeks prior to the Wedding. If you’re planning a destination Wedding here in Arizona and most people will be traveling I would suggest sending them 16 weeks prior.