There are so many nightmares that can occur as your wedding draws near. Your dress could go missing. The flowers could arrive dead. There’s just so much to worry about!
One of the common problems for brides-to-be is the lack of response from wedding invitations. You wrote “Please RSVP,” yet, two weeks ’til your wedding, you’ve barely heard a peep.
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Other than just being generally annoying, lack of RSVPs can mean that your guests don’t have enough food, tables or chairs to go around at the reception. If you’ve only heard crickets on the RSVP front, these are some reasons why.
- You didn’t make it easy. Don’t just write “Please RSVP” in the invitation and hope for the best. The fewer obstacles people have, the higher the chance they’ll respond. Include an RSVP card in each invitation. Even better, include a pre-paid envelope as well.
- You didn’t give multiple ways to respond. In this day and age, more people are living and working digitally. Do your guests a favor and give them info on RSVPing to your Facebook account, in addition to snail mail.
- You didn’t give a deadline. It’s an easy mistake, but a costly one. Before you finalize your invitation designs, make sure you give a deadline for RSVPing. Set it for at least three weeks before your wedding.
- You didn’t ask for a declined invite. Some brides say to RSVP only if you’re coming, but this can cause a problem. What if the guest just forgot to send it along? Instead, ask guests to respond with their answer, whether “yes” or “no.”
- You didn’t follow up. It’s three weeks until your wedding and you still haven’t heard from everyone. Time to make some phone calls! As prepared as you can be and as clear as your invitations are, you’ll still probably end up with people who don’t respond. Call them and ask for a final answer. If you don’t have the time, ask a bridesmaid to do it.
Now that you know where you could go wrong, plan out your RSVP process ahead of time so you have accurate guest talleys on your big day.
