Wedding RSVP Cards – Do you need them?

RSVP Cards, do you need them?;

A Wedding RSVP card is a little card included in your wedding invitations, that is designed for you guests to return as to whether they will be attending or not. Traditionally, these are mail out cards, however in recent times they have become less formal with postcards, websites and even just phone numbers or emails.

Whether you choose to send them depends on you, they style of your invites and your budget.

If you are having very formal wedding invitations, then the RSVP cards are a must.

If your invites were more casual, then you can choose to pop RSVP details on the invite itself, or you can add a funky postcard they can return, or a card with email/website/phone details which they don’t need to send back or a full card and envelope for returning.

So, you’ve decided to go with cards, then you’ll need to know how to word them!

How to word your RVSP cards;

The first part of the RSVP card is the date at which they need to return it by. This is usually a minimum of 4 weeks before the wedding, which gives you time to organise seating, meals, deposits, etc. You can word this in relation to your invites. For example, ‘request the honour of your presence,’ would be followed with an RSVP of ‘in favour of your reply’. For ‘Request the pleasure of your company’ would be ‘Kindly respond, or Kindly reply’.

The next part is where they write their name. You can either pop their names here is you want to make sure they know who exactly is invited, or more typically you can leave the area for them to fill in.

On some RSVP’s, you’ll notice an M before a line. This indicate where they pop their name, suggesting their title, Such as Mr and Mrs….

More commonly, this is left out, and the line is simply headed with (name’s)________________

You can then add some tick boxes where they tick yes for attending, or no for not attending.

This can be worded as such

You can make this as fun as you like. I have designed them with multiple tick boxes for reasons why you are coming and why you are not, and they can be quite funny!

You can then add some additional information, such a line for dietary requirements, tick boxes for if they are catching the bus, or need accommodation, etc. Any information you need to know, here is your chance to ask for it.

All about the tone

One thing you should consider is that your wedding invitation and RSVP card has the same tone. Having your invitation be very formal, but the RSVP have a more comedy aspect can send mixed signals about the theme of the night. You want people to know how traditional or casual this occasion will be right from the start! This will influence their choice of dress, gift etc.

Make it easy

You need to make it easy for your guests to respond, the easier you make it the faster they will respond and the sooner you can start planning the details! Asking them to send back to RSVP card is probably the most difficult way for them to respond, but the most common. Its great to have hard copies of your RSVP’s but imagine if one got lost in the mail! Provide a number or email for them to get back to you as well to cover all bases.

P.s if you consider yourself a little forgetful then make sure you specify that in person RSVP’s will not be accepted.

Take notice of the notice

Think carefully about how much notice you need. Somewhere between 4-6 weeks is a reasonable request! Consider if you are having a destination wedding or looking to book a highly sought after venue for the reception. If you are then you may need to know even longer in advance!

And there you have it! an easy way to decide if you need RSVP cards and if so, how to word them!