A Pakistani wedding is not one event but five or six, spread over a week, with overlapping guest lists. "When should we send the cards?" has a different answer for each function — and the family that sends everything at once, three weeks before, spends the last fortnight answering the same five questions on the phone.
Here is a timeline that works.
The short version
- 8–10 weeks before: save the date to out-of-town and overseas guests
- 4–6 weeks before: the main invitations — Nikkah, Baraat, Walima
- 3–4 weeks before: Mehndi and Mayun
- 1–2 weeks before: Dholki evenings
- 1 week before: reminders, with the map
- On the day: a short message with directions
Save the date: 8–10 weeks out
Anyone who needs to book flights, take leave or arrange travel from another city should hear the dates first. A save-the-date doesn't need the venue or the times — just the dates and the city.
Overseas relatives especially: flights from the Gulf, the UK and North America around December and the Eid holidays fill up and get expensive fast. Two months is the minimum.
Main invitations: 4–6 weeks out
The Nikkah, the Baraat and the Walima — the functions with the largest guest lists and the most formal invitations. Six weeks is generous, four is the minimum. Less than three, and people have already committed their weekends elsewhere.
If guests are invited to different functions, this is when it matters most that each person gets the invitation that matches their invitation — see how many events an invitation should list. With a digital invitation, each guest can get their own link showing only their functions, sent the same day.
Mehndi and Mayun: 3–4 weeks out
These are closer-family functions, but they come first in the wedding week, and they're the ones people plan outfits around. Three to four weeks gives everyone time to arrange clothes and the dance practice that somehow always happens.
For wording ideas, see our Mehndi and Mayun invitation wording.
Dholki: 1–2 weeks out
Dholkis are informal and often decided late. A WhatsApp message to the family group a week or two ahead is normal and enough.
Reminders: 1 week out, and on the day
A week before the first function, send a short reminder with the date, the time and the map. On the day of each big function, a one-line message with directions saves twenty phone calls. We've written out reminder messages you can copy.
Who needs more notice than everyone else
- Overseas family: two months at least, for flights.
- Elders: send theirs first, and in person or by phone as well as the card. It's a courtesy, and they're the ones who'll be asked about it.
- Colleagues: at least a month, especially for a weekday Walima.
- Anyone you're asking to do something — the Nikkah witnesses, the family making the speeches, whoever is hosting the Dholki — before the invitations go out at all.
What if something changes?
It will. A venue changes, a time moves by an hour, a Mehndi becomes a joint Mayun-Mehndi. With a printed card, that means a correction message to everyone, which half of them won't read. With a digital invitation you edit the card once and every link already sent shows the new details — then you send one short reminder, not a correction.
Start early
The easiest way to stay on this timeline is to have the invitation ready before you need it. You can try any design with your own names in about a minute, see the whole card as your guests will, and decide when you're ready.