Indian weddings have more moving parts than most: several functions over two or three days, guests coming from other cities, and in the peak season (roughly November to February) a calendar full of other weddings on the same auspicious dates. So the question “when do we send the invite?” really has three parts: the save the date, the main invitation, and the reminders.
Below is a timeline that works for most families. Shift it earlier if many guests travel, and later if it is a small local wedding.
The timeline at a glance
| When (before the first function) | What to send | To whom |
|---|---|---|
| 2 to 6 months | Save the date (short video or card) | Guests who travel: other cities, NRIs, destination wedding |
| 6 to 8 weeks | Main invitation to outstation guests | Everyone who needs tickets or leave |
| 4 to 6 weeks | Main invitation video on WhatsApp + printed cards where expected | Everyone else |
| 2 to 4 weeks | Personal calls, visits with the card, voice notes | Elders, close relatives, your parents’ friends |
| 1 week | Reminder with the function list | Everyone who was invited |
| 1 day | Time + Google Maps link for that function | Guests of that function |
| After the wedding | A thank-you message or short video | Everyone who came or blessed |
Save the date: 2 to 6 months before
A save the date says only three things: who, when and roughly where. It is useful when guests have to plan travel or leave — an NRI cousin, friends in another state, a destination wedding in Udaipur or Goa. For a local wedding where everyone lives in the same city, you can skip it.
Keep it short and light: a photo, the names and the date, with “invitation to follow”. Our save the date video ideas has examples and wording.
The main invitation: 4 to 6 weeks before
This is the full invite with every function, date, time and venue. Four to six weeks gives guests time to plan, without being so early that they forget. Send it earlier, six to eight weeks ahead, to anyone who needs to travel: train tickets on popular routes sell out quickly in the wedding season, and flights get costly closer to the date.
Most families now send the invitation video on WhatsApp first, because it reaches everyone the same day, and hand over printed cards to those who expect one. If you are making the video yourself, start a week before you plan to send it, so there is time to collect details and check spellings. Here is how to make a wedding invitation video on mobile.
Many families send the very first invitation to Ganpati, the kuldevi or the family temple before anyone else. A printed card is placed there; the video can follow to everyone after that.
Personal invitations: 2 to 4 weeks before
Elders, close relatives and family friends usually expect a call or a visit, not only a forwarded video. A good middle path: send the video, then call within a day or two (“did you get the card?”). For people you can’t call, a short voice note in your own voice with the video feels personal.
Reminders: 1 week and 1 day before
A week before, send a short reminder with the list of functions. The day before each function, send the time and the Google Maps link again — many guests search their chat for the location on the day itself, and a fresh message is easy to find. Our guide on sending invitations on WhatsApp has a message template.
Example: a wedding on 12 December 2026
Say the haldi is on Friday, 11 December and the wedding on Saturday, 12 December 2026:
- Save the date: July to early October 2026, to outstation guests.
- Invitation to outstation guests: around 18 to 25 October 2026.
- Invitation to everyone else: around 1 to 13 November 2026.
- Calls and visits: through November.
- Reminder: around 4 December 2026.
- Day-before messages: 10 and 11 December 2026.
For a mid-February wedding, the same pattern moves forward: save the date between September and early December, the invite to outstation guests around Christmas, and to everyone else in the first half of January.
What if the date is close?
Muhurats are sometimes fixed only a few weeks ahead. Then skip the save the date, send the main invitation as soon as the venue is confirmed, and call the people who matter most the same week. A video invite is useful here precisely because it can go out the same day it is made.
Changes after sending
If a time or venue changes, send the corrected video or card with a clear first line (“Updated: reception venue changed”), and post it in the same groups where the first one went. Don’t rely on people noticing a small change in a new video.
Ready to start?
Pick a design on our wedding invitation video page, and use the wedding invitation wording guide for the text in Hindi, Gujarati or English.