Planning a Wedding: Getting Your Guests to RSVP on Time

You took all that time writing out you and your fiance’s guest list and were careful to include only those family members and close friends you felt you could confide in at any moment. You believed these people to be straightforward, trustworthy, and reliable. That is, until your wedding came along.

Once you sent your invitations out, that’s when it all happened. It was then that you saw everyone for what they really were and the truth was anything but pretty. Hardly any of your potential guests sent them back and the ones who did were much too late. This is what will happen only if you fail to take these RSVP tips into consideration. If you haven’t sent the invitations out yet, then it’s not too late!

Use an Easy Method

Most couples think that sending a stamped envelope along with the invitation is enough. Well, unfortunately, wedding etiquette is primarily for the ones doing the inviting. Currently, in our society, there are no rules of etiquette that apply to the invited guests.

Basically, this means that if you bite the bullet and decide to go along with the usual, overused RSVP method, then you are screwed. So, in order to get a better result, you need to do something differently.

My fiance and I decided to leave an e-mail address as the method of response. This worked for us really well because by the time our out of state guests received the invitations, there were only twelve days left before the posted deadline. If we had sent the usual RSVP cards, we would have no idea whether or not we could expect them getting here on time.

When it comes to RSVP cards, many people tend to be lazy. Sending their reply through e-mail is by far the easiest method I know out there. They won’t have to walk to their mail box with a card or wait for any ringing on the phone. It truly is the ideal option for weddings in this day and age.

Give A Short Deadline

Another way to get people’s attention is to send the RSVP cards along with the invitations very close to the date of the wedding. This will guarantee a response sooner rather than later for many reasons. For one thing, they will know their schedule much better than if you had sent them months and months ahead of time.

Also, guests are less likely to forget about the wedding or to misplace the invitations if they only have a week or two to respond. Furthermore, it will be considered more of an urgent matter to them on their list of priorities because they will need to purchase plane tickets and make hotel reservations as soon as possible.

So, the key to getting your invitations back on time is to make sure your RSVP method is as easy as can be and to give your potential guests as least time as possible. You’ll be happy you did!