When Should Guests Send Their Wedding RSVPs?

When it comes to wedding invitations, whether you go for digital e-vites or traditional paper wedding stationery, managing your wedding RSVP cards efficiently and keeping track of your guests in the weeks before the wedding will help enormously. It can be a big task getting your wedding invitations out on time in the first place, but it's fair to say it can also be a struggle getting the RSVPs back, even when you give your guest list ample time and an RSVP deadline!

Wedding invitations through your wedding website

Online wedding invitations are 100% going to make your life so much easier. This is in relation to collating an accurate guest count, any guests options, and dietary requirements. But also because they’re a cheaper and eco-friendlier option too. So if you haven’t already done so, now is the time to create your own personalised wedding website with Say I do. Through your custom site you can send a save the date, your digital wedding invitations, edit and tweak as you go (if need be), keep in touch with your guests with ease, and receive each online wedding RSVP in an organised, timely fashion. Perfect! But, this isn't necessarily the right option for all couples. Perhaps you've always wanted to send beautifully crafted paper wedding invitations out to your wedding guests? That's absolutely understandable, but doing this with the back up and support of an wedding website will help keep you organised and host all the important information that you simply wouldn't be able to fit on a traditional wedding invitation suite such as any travel arrangements, the dress code and any final thoughts that you might need to share ahead of the wedding day.

Wedding RSVPs

Traditionally your wedding invitations should be sent around four to six months before the big day. These days it's common practice for couples to send a save the date first, once the wedding venue and date are confirmed. We all lead busy lives so this is a great way to remind guests to get your wedding date in the diary asap, hopefully before anyone else beats you to it! If you have already sent save the dates to your wedding party then you can afford to send your official wedding invitations a little later, around six to eight weeks ahead of the wedding day. Sending them promptly will ensure your guests have enough time (about a month) to get themselves organised, book accommodation, arrange their travel and organise childcare if necessary before you need a final head count, allowing everyone a little grace period. Most modern weddings aren't as much of a traditional affair like they used to be, therefore proper wedding RSVP etiquette doesn't need to be strictly adhered to. Saying that, in the weeks prior to the wedding (especially if you're having a destination wedding), you will need to know how many guests will be attending, how many wedding guests need accommodation and who will be coming to the wedding reception. That's exactly why you need to have a cut off date in place. Your wedding day is a very important date and wedding planning can be a stressful time if you're then having to start calling late responders before you can finalise your seating chart and confirm the final headcount with your caterer.

What to include on your RSVP card

Using the right wording will ensure submitting your RSVP isn't a chore, turning it into something that your close friends and wedding guests will want to do! Yes, of course, as a general rule you do need to include some of the most important information such as dietary requirements and the RSVP deadline within your wedding invitation suite but you can also include some fun and interactive elements too such as the dress code for the big day and any song requests that your guests might like to submit for the evening reception.

RSVP due date

Regardless of your wedding theme or whether you’re sending paper wedding invites or digital wedding invitations, you must encourage your guests to RSVP in a timely manner. To do this we'd always recommend that the wedding RSVP deadline is clear and placed in a prominent position on your wedding website and or the RSVP card. The RSVP date should fall approximately four weeks before your wedding day, giving both your guests plenty of time to find the return address and return envelope (if you have one) and to make the appropriate arrangements ahead of the big day. The best thing to do would be to get family members and close friends to help and encourage guests to locate their date cards in plenty of time of the rsvp deadline. An even better way to ensure they make the wedding RSVP deadline would be to direct your guests to RSVP via your custom wedding website whilst you sit back and simply watch the responses come rolling in in the weeks before the wedding.

Destination weddings

If you’re having a destination wedding, we would always recommend giving your guests a little more time to make provisions. They’ll probably have to request time off work, they need to book flights, and potentially source accommodation in a foreign country. As they’re travelling so far, they may well decide to turn it into a holiday and extend their trip too. Why wouldn’t you?! So with this in mind we would recommend sending your destination wedding invitations or e-vites approximately 6 months before the wedding. We’d also encourage you to get your RSVPs back sooner, at the 2 month mark to allow time for the additional admin relating to the final number. If you're getting wed abroad you might need to help guests with travel or transfers arrangements, plus there are probably going to be more events and food etc to organise so do yourself a favour by factoring that RSVP time in and be strict! Reality check: there are ALWAYS going to be a few late guests to RSVP. It’s important that you keep on top of them and keep pushing for them to commit (or not) even though you'll be busy with lots of other wedding planning tasks. Your venue and other suppliers such as the caterer will need a final headcount and dietary requirements soon enough so giving your guests a firm RSVP date and a gentle nudge if they’re dragging their feet is absolutely fine and entirely justified!