When your countdown says ‘Two weeks to go!’ you should have all your RSVPs in! If there’s one thing we’ve learnt it’s that lots of guests will forget to RSVP on time. Some will think that telling you to your face counts as a formal RSVP. Either way, the last thing you want is to be chasing after half your guests to see if they’ll be at your wedding. So, if you want to get your guests to RSVP on time for your wedding (and why wouldn’t you?), these five steps will help!

Go digital!

The best way to get your guests to RSVP on time for your wedding is to make it easy for guests and for yourself. Traditionally, guests RSVP by sending in their ‘yes’ or ‘no’ in the post. These days, with tradition out the window and everything being online, it is acceptable (and smart) to get guests to RSVP online.

Collecting RSVPs digitally means it’ll take guests a couple of minutes to tell you they’re coming! We recommend either creating a free email account or a free wedding website (Squarespace, Wix, Weebly and WordPress are all great options!).

Tell them what to do

It may seem obvious to you, but guests may have lots of questions! Do you want them to send you an email? Tell them! Do you want them to visit a website and click a button? Tell them! Do you need them to send in their meal orders? Tell them! We promise, the more direct you are, the more likely you are to get the information on time!

Get your timing right

Research has shown that if you give your guests too much time to RSVP, they’ll forget to do it! And if you don’t give them enough time, they’ll do it late. Consider all the steps in the process, add a buffer and you should have a timeline that looks a little like this:

Wedding date: 24th September 2021

The date you need to give a final headcount to suppliers: 17th September 2021

RSVP date on the invitation: 10th September 2021

Invitations get sent out: 13th August 2021

Get clever with your RSVP date

Your guests won’t RSVP on time if they don’t know what the RSVP date is. So make it prominent on your invitation and website. While you’re at it, make your RSVP date memorable! We recommend using a round number like 1st, 5th, 10th, 15th, 20th, 25th, 30th or 31st.

Make it fun!

You could keep your options simple with ‘yes’ or ‘no’, but why not make it fun instead? Your options could be ‘wouldn’t miss it’, ‘see you on the dance floor!’ or ‘heck yes’.

Instead of just asking guests to tell you they’re coming and what they’re eating, ask them for their input. Ask them to tell you which songs will get them on the dance floor (and then add those to your playlist) or ask for their best marriage advice.