Guests need four things: what is happening when, what to wear to each of it, how to get here, and what the visa requires. Everything else is decoration, and putting everything else in is why nobody reads it.
Send it in two parts
The save the date carries the visa note and the dates. That is all, and it goes out six months ahead so people can apply and book.
The full pack goes with the formal invitation, eight to twelve weeks out. Schedule, dress notes per event, travel, accommodation, transfers and a contact.
Dress notes matter more than you think
Guests flying from London to a four day wedding are packing for four outfits in a suitcase with a weight limit, in a climate they have not checked. Tell them the colour for the Haldi, tell them the Sangeet is formal, and tell them the evenings are cold in November.
And tell them about the ground. A Mehndi with floor seating in a courtyard is not a stiletto event, and nobody thanks you for finding that out on the day.
One named contact
A person, an email and a WhatsApp number, printed on the pack. Not the couple. Not the mother of the bride.
Without it every question in the list goes to the family, and the family is doing something else that week.
