When to Order Your Wedding Signage
Almost every rushed signage order we take could have been a relaxed one. The work itself is rarely the problem. The problem is that signage sits near the bottom of most wedding to-do lists and gets reached late, at the same moment as everything else.
Here is a realistic timeline.
How long things actually take
| Piece | Production time |
|---|---|
| Standard signs, A1 welcome sign, table numbers | 1 to 2 weeks from approval |
| Seating charts | 1 to 2 weeks from final names |
| Large custom commissions | A month or more |
Note that production time starts from approval, not from when you first message us. Design and revisions sit in front of it, and that stage takes as long as it takes you to reply.
The timeline
Six to twelve months out, for large commissions only
If you want something oversized or structural, start here. Not because production takes that long, but because the design conversation does, and because a piece at that scale deserves the room to change its mind once.
Two to three months out
Start the conversation for standard signage. Send your venue, your styling and anything you have already chosen. This is when the design happens, which costs you nothing and locks in our calendar.
Four to six weeks out
Approve the designs for everything except the seating chart. Welcome sign, table numbers, order of the day and directional pieces can all be finalised and made at this point. Getting them out of the way now is the best thing you can do for yourself.
Two to three weeks out
Send the final seating chart names. This is deliberately last, and the next section explains why.
The week of
Collect or receive everything, check it against your list, and work out who is placing it on the day. If we are installing, we will have confirmed access with the venue by now.
The seating chart exception
Seating charts are the one piece that should be left late, because they depend on final RSVPs and RSVPs are always late.
The trick is to split the decision in two. Lock in the design, the size, the material and the layout early, at the same time as everything else. Hold only the names back. Once a design is approved, dropping a finalised list into it is quick.
What causes problems is leaving the whole thing late, then discovering at two weeks out that your guest list does not fit at a readable size and the design needs reworking. That is a size conversation, and it is much cheaper to have it two months earlier.
When Adelaide gets busy
Our calendar fills first in the lead-up to summer. Spring weddings cluster, and the weeks before them are the tightest of our year.
If your date falls in that stretch, bring everything forward. Not because we will turn you away, but because the flexibility you want at the end, room for a late change or an extra table, is exactly what disappears when the calendar is full.
Winter and early autumn dates have far more room. If your wedding is then, the timeline above is generous.
If you are already late
Ask anyway. We offer a rush option when we have the capacity, and we would rather tell you yes or no quickly than have you assume the answer.
What helps most when a deadline is tight: know your sizes, have your names finalised, and be quick on approving the mockup. Most rushed jobs that fail do so waiting for a reply, not waiting for a laser.
What we cannot rush is a large custom commission. If your date is inside two months and you want something oversized, tell us the date in your first message so we can be straight with you.
Start early, decide late
The rule that covers all of this: start the conversation earlier than feels necessary, then leave the decisions that depend on other people until last. Design costs you nothing to begin.
Get in touch whenever you are ready, even if your date is a year out. See wedding signage for what we make, or custom commissions for larger pieces.