Wedding invitees often need reminders to confirm and send details of their attendance. Use our creative RSVP wording templates to ask the right questions and get the answers you need.
When planning your wedding, RSVPs help to get your guest count as accurate as possible. From seating to dietary restrictions, confirming your number of guests is important for the venue. It can feel stressful, however, not knowing what to write (especially if you don’t hear back from invitees). Fortunately, there’s a way to nail your wedding RSVP wording to get on-time responses.
The key to getting guest RSVPs lies in how you ask your questions and strategically follow up. In this guide, we’ll walk you through RSVP card etiquette with helpful tips and examples to send wedding guests (and confirm attendance).
Essential Wording to Include on Wedding RSVP Cards
There are really just two things that a wedding RSVP card must have: the RSVP deadline and a place for invitees to indicate their attendance or not. While the main goal is to keep your RSVP card design simplistic and easy to read, sometimes you’ll need to know more details (like if Aunt Ana is bringing her plus-one).
Here are the most important parts to include on your wedding RSVP cards to collect what you need.
Guest names
When designing your RSVP cards, consider how you want to address guests. For example, you could have a single line for both names, separate lines for each guest, or a designated space for the “plus-ones.” Having pronoun options on your RSVP card also helps promote inclusivity and ensures your guests feel acknowledged and respected.
RSVP date
As for your RSVP deadline, try to set it two weeks before you really need responses. This gives you time to contact invitees who have forgotten to respond, as well as to check, double-check (and even triple-check) your final guest count.
Attending or declining
Of course, you also need to provide clear options for invitees to indicate their attendance. If you are allowing plus-ones, it can be a good idea to make that a “yes” or “no” question as well. Just keep in mind that if you do allow plus-ones, you have to be prepared for the possibility that all of your single guests will bring someone else along.
Meal choices
It’s a great idea to include this question to better accommodate guests at mealtime. Be sure to offer a variety of options if applicable, such as a vegetarian, pescatarian, or any other dietary restriction option. You can also include questions about food allergies (e.g., nuts, gluten) and alternative menu options for children attending.
Contact information
It can be a good idea to have a phone number for all of your guests. Ask for a cellular number to contact them in case of last-minute changes to the schedule or location, for example.
Joy Tip: Use Joy’s digital wedding RSVP cards as a way to collect everyone’s information. This way, you can create an organized guest list for tracking responses, sending thank you notes after the wedding, and more!
Plus-ones status
Since being relegated to a singles table may not be something your guests want, specifying a plus-one is a useful step to take. Use this information when creating your seating chart to ensure tables have a healthy mix of singles and couples. There are plenty of other fun things you could ask as well, from what song they want to hear at the reception to their best marriage advice.
Travel and hotel accommodations
You can ask your guests whether they need help finding accommodations. If a lot of guests are traveling for the wedding, it’s a nice gesture to secure a discounted block of hotel rooms or at least provide suggestions for good places to stay near the venue.
Consider travel arrangements specific to your wedding. If you’re providing transportation from their hotel to your venue, for example, you may want to have guests indicate whether they’ll need shuttle pickup.
Wedding RSVP Wording Examples
Seeing a few RSVP wording examples can help you find the perfect tone for your wedding invitations. For inspiration, we’ve provided a few examples below of a range of styles, from formal and traditional to casual and playful. Use these templates to spark your creativity and craft wording that best reflects your wedding theme.
Formal
Formal RSVPs typically follow traditional language and etiquette, having a sense of elegance and sophistication. Follow these examples if your wedding theme is more of an upscale, black-tie affair:
| Kindly RSVP by [date] whether you will honor us with your presence at the celebration of our marriage. [Invitee Name(s)] ⃞ Joyfully accepts ⃞ Regretfully declines |
| We formally invite you to join in celebrating our special day by [date] [Invitee Name(s)] ⃞ With pleasure ⃞ Forgive our absence |
Casual
Casual RSVP cards will have a relaxed and friendly tone, such as in everyday language. Consider these two easygoing examples for your invitations:
| We’re getting married! Can you make it to our celebration? Let us know by [date]! [Invitee Name(s)] ⃞ Count me in! ⃞ Apologies, can’t make it! |
Let us know if you can join us on our big day! Please RSVP by [date]. [Invitee Name(s)] ⃞ Will be there! ⃞ Sad to miss it! |
Funny
For a bit of humor and personality, take the funny wedding RSVP approach. Check out these two templates to entertain guests while still conveying the necessary information:
| So, you’re coming to our wedding, right? Please confirm by [date]! [Invitee Name(s)] ⃞ Absolutely! ⃞ Will be there in spirit! |
| Will you be our plus one? We hope so! Please RSVP by [date] and let us know if you’ll be joining the party. [Invitee Name(s)] ⃞ I’d be honored! ⃞ I’ll toast from afar! |
Online
A wedding website is an easy and convenient way to showcase your wedding announcement and simultaneously collect RSVPs. Consider the following wording examples on your digital platform for guests to respond quickly and easily:
| Kindly RSVP to our wedding by [date] via the link below. We can’t wait to celebrate with you! [Link to RSVP website] |
| RSVP to our wedding by [date] at [website link] or by scanning the QR code below: [QR Code] |
RSVP Tips for Timely Responses
In a perfect world, everyone you invite to your wedding would read your invitation and respond right away. However, sometimes daily obligations and busy workweeks can get in the way. Other times, an RSVP card could have gotten lost in the mail, or someone forgot to click send on the email reply.
Keep the following tips in mind to help you manage your expectations:
- Set a Clear Deadline: Emphasize the importance of your RSVP deadline, such as needing to confirm catering and venue spacing.
- Use Fun and Engaging Wording: Make the RSVP card enjoyable to fill out, like asking for song requests and dessert ideas.
- Offer Incentives: Consider offering a small gift or mentioning early bird discounts for early RSVPs, such as with hotel bookings.
- Send Reminders: Gently remind guests of the RSVP deadline a week or two before the due date. Fortunately, Joy makes the process easier through automated email reminders for pending guests.
- Go Digital: Digital RSVPs make it particularly easy to ask all the relevant questions. You won’t have to worry about fitting it all on a physical card or it getting lost in the mail.
Joy Tip: Create and add labels to your RSVPs using our guest list manager to easily plan (and update) seating arrangements.
Get Smart RSVP Planning With Joy
Remember, your wedding RSVP card is a vital part of your guest communication plan. Carefully planning the questions you want to ask and how guests can respond will make the process easier once it’s time to finalize your guest list. With Joy’s Smart RSVP inviting features, you can customize questions, track responses, plan for multi-event attendance, and more.
Spend less time worrying about who will show up and more time planning a party that your guests will love! Joy takes the stress out of wedding planning from start to finish.
