RSVPs are essential for weddings. They tell you who is going to be in attendance and who won’t be able to make it. But organizing them is challenging, especially if you’re inviting hundreds of people to your special day.

In this post, we take a look at some of the strategies that professional wedding planners use to improve their RSVPs for guests. Check them out below:

Put A Number On Each Card

When guests send their RSVPs back to you, they won’t always include their name. You might just get an answer that says something like, “yes, we will attend.” To avoid this, number each card and then make a key so that you can see who is responding. You can also pre-print the names of the respondents directly onto the card itself, negating the need for them to fill in their own details. This way, all they need to do is reply whether they are coming or not.

Set A Deadline

Setting a deadline might seem like you’re playing hard ball, but it is a great way to get people to indicate whether they are coming early on in the process so that you can get on with other things, such as organizing the catering and the venue. Be generous with the deadline as people’s circumstances can change. But also make sure that you have sufficient time to communicate all your needs to your vendors.

Set Aside A Day To Get In Touch With Non-Responders

Some people won’t respond to your wedding invitation – usually because of laziness or rudeness. You’ll want to deal with these people as soon as you can after the deadline passes. Wedding planners usually set aside a day or two after the deadline passes to contact these people and get them to tell them whether they will come or not. Chasing people up helps to conclude the RSVP stage more rapidly.

Make It Easy To Respond

It’s a good idea to help people respond to your RSVPs using either a virtual or physical address depending on the type of people you’re contacting. Older guests, for instance, might prefer to respond physically while younger people with apps on their phones might respond virtually. If you use two or more strategies, make sure that you create a central spreadsheet where you can track all your RSVPs for the day.

Make Everything As Clear As You Can

You might want your RSVPs to look beautiful and elaborate. But when it comes to organizing a wedding, it’s best to keep things as simple and functional as you can. You don’t want to confuse people.

When writing an RSVP, write the guest’s name and then give them two options: “will attend” and “will not attend.” Guests can then check off the one that doesn’t apply to them, or circle the one that does (you’ll probably get a mixture, even if you leave instructions).

Send out a pre-stamped envelope for them so that they can pop their reply in the mail easily or get them to respond to you online via an app.