Everything You Need to Know About Wedding RSVP Cards and Envelopes

Sending your wedding invitations out is one of the many exciting parts of planning a wedding. It’s official! It’s time for your guests to know your wedding-day details and you’ll begin to receive RSVPs almost as soon as you put them in the mail. Who can come? Who can’t come? You’ll now know all of that. But before you send your invitations out, there are a few things to consider, like how to word the wedding RSVP cards and how to address the envelopes. Also, what happens when you don’t receive an RSVP from a guest? The following guide will outline everything you need to know when it comes to wedding RSVP cards and envelopes.

I thee wordsmith. Your wedding RSVP cards should have the RSVP deadline, a space to fill in names and an accept or decline area with checkboxes (see more on that below). You can also include reception entrée options for guests to check and a dance song request for fun. For the deadline sentence, options include the more traditional, like “The favor of your reply is requested by,” or the more informal, such as “Please respond by.” Give guests at least two full weeks between receiving the invitations and the RSVP deadline.

Yeh or neh. There’s nothing wrong with traditional verbiage, such as “Graciously accepts” and “Regretfully declines,” however, just know that you have other options. Here are some alternative ideas:

• Can’t wait. / Sorry to miss it.
• Deal me in. / Sitting this one out.
• Yippee! / Boo.
• Let’s party. / Can’t make it.
• Good news, I’ll be there. / Bad news, have to miss it.
• We’re in! / We’re out.
• Wouldn’t miss it. / Will be there in spirit.
• Yes! / Sorry.

Addressing the envelopes. First thing’s first — determine where you would like the response cards to be sent. More traditional weddings dictate that they should go to the bride’s parents’ residence for collection. However, many modern couples have them sent directly to their houses, if they themselves are keeping track of the wedding RSVPs.

Depending on how formal you’d like to go with it, you can choose to address your guests as “Mr. and Mrs. Josh Fischer,” or you can use first and last names, like “Josh and Lucy Fischer.” For single friends and family members, be sure to include “and Guest” if you are open to having them bring a plus one. For a family with kids, either address the envelope to “The Fischer Family” or list out all of the names, if they are invited, that is. If kids are not invited, only address it to the mom and dad.

Also, make sure you include a stamp on all of the RSVP card envelopes, and that you have enough stamps for both the RSVP card envelopes and your wedding invitations.

The follow up. Every wedding has at least one if not more … There’s someone in the group who is not going to respond to your beautiful, well-thought-out invitations and RSVP cards. And FYI, that does NOT mean they aren’t coming. They might have thought they RSVP’d or think that telling you over the phone covered it and they didn’t have to send the reply card in or they just plain misplaced your invitation and so missed the deadline.

If your guests are email-savvy, wait about a week after the RSVP deadline and shoot them a quick email, saying you are touching base regarding their RSVP for your wedding on (include the date) as the wedding planner and caterer need to know a final headcount. Be very polite, yet firm about receiving a response. If you STILL don’t hear back from them, give them a week (if you have that much time) and then pick up the phone and call, and reiterate what you said in your initial email. Good luck!

Do you have any questions about your RSVP cards? We’d love to answer them for you! Ask us below, leave a comment on Facebook or tweet us @123Print.