How Many Wedding Invitations Should I Order?

Want to know the number one most asked question I get in my inbox? “How much?” Okay, so it’s usually phrased more politely, but price is a valid concern when you’re shopping for anything. While I’d love to be able to give a quick and easy answer to every price inquiry, there isn’t a one-size-fits-all solution.

Why? Well, the cost will vary a lot depending on what you’re looking for! Before I can tell you “how much”, there is one thing I absolutely need to know: how many invitations do you need?

The number of invitations you need is NOT the same as the number of guests you’re inviting. If you plan to invite 200 people to your wedding, you won’t be sending an invitation to each person. Here’s how to figure it out:

One invitation per couple

Send one invitation to a married couple or a couple living at the same address.

One invitation per family unit

Parents and children living in the same house receive one invitation. An exception to that rule is children over 18 that still live at home should receive their own invitation.

One invitation per single person

Send one invitation to every single guest on your list. Roommates (that are not romantically involved) should each receive their own invite.

10-15 Extras

Make sure to add at least 10-15 extras in case of last minute additions to the guest list, for keepsakes, and in case any are damaged during assembly or mailing.

A quick way to figure out your invitation quantity is to count the number of addresses on your guest address spreadsheet.

But what if you don’t have your guest address list finalized yet? Maybe it’s early in the planning process, or you’re still trying to decide who to invite. If that’s the case, you can get a good estimate by adding 25 to half the total number of guests you want to invite .

So say you plan to invite 200 guests: 200 divided by 2, plus 25 gives you an invitation quantity of 125.

This is just a rule of thumb, so you’ll want to double check your quantity when your guest list is close to being finished. And please make sure to let your stationer know if the quantity changes from your initial estimate! It is soooo much more expensive to order an extra 5 invitations after everything has been printed. And if you end up needing fewer, it’s always nice to have extras, but you don’t want stacks of invitations going to waste!

Now that you can figure out how many invitations you need to order, go ahead and book your consultation so we can chat about the other details of your invitation order!