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Just Said Yes May 2018

RSVP Card - Ceremony, Reception, or both?

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Brittany, on November 21, 2017 at 1:47 PM

So I am designing our invitations- ceremony will be in one location, the reception in another (about 20 minutes apart). Obviously not everyone who comes to the reception will attend ceremony, and I understand that having different locations a bit apart from each other will deter some people from...

Our ceremony will be in the rotunda of a local courthouse and we are renting chairs- we don't want to over-rent and waste money (& have a bunch of empty chairs in pics). Obviously we will rent a few extras but we don't want a surplus of 20 empty chairs. Also, if there will be more than ~60 attending (inviting 100) we will need to create space on the balcony for people to sit.

I was thinking about including on the RSVP response card "Accepts with pleasure" and under it have 2 lines- "ceremony" and "reception" so that they can check whether they're going to both, reception-only, or none (regrets, obviously).

What are some thoughts on designing the response card like this?

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25 Comments

Dedicated December 2017
Amy · on November 22, 2017 at 4:26 PM
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My RSVP card had a space for both, and it was laid out like this:

__ Number attending ceremony
__ Number attending reception
__ Regretfully Decline

I have had some RSVP to just the ceremony and not the reception and some RSVP to the reception and not the ceremony (Older folks who didn't want the additional drive time in the potentially wintery weather, I guess...).
I wanted to know my RSVP to both, because if I didn't specify, I wouldn't know whether they'd be just coming to the ceremony and not the reception or vice versa...
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Kelly King · on November 22, 2017 at 5:08 PM
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This is a common option, worded like Amy's ^above.
In the case of time/travel gaps -- more guests may stay for the ceremony and opt to leave before the reception if they don't want to travel the extra distance. In my experience, more guests than you might expect will attend both.
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Just Said Yes January 2021
Cierra · on January 1, 2020 at 8:17 PM
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I have the same issue. We are having an English wedding but I'm wondering if his side will only come to the ceremony since they are all Mennonite. I don't want to pay for 200 people to eat if only 100 are actually coming.
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Just Said Yes September 2020
Katie · on February 24, 2020 at 9:17 PM
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Cierra! Funny finding you here 😉

I have the same problem as you, and I like Amy’s solution in the comment above!
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Destiny · on June 25, 2025 at 6:53 PM
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Do two lines and give them the option. It’s not rude to attend the reception and not the wedding. Some people do work and do have crazy schedules. They’ll try to fit the bride and groom in if they can and make it to the reception. That’s not rude at all. They’ll also tell you that once they get the invitation. My brother does HVAC for a living and works more Saturdays than not. He will also send his wife to the ceremony and go to the reception when he gets off work. So it is doable and not rude. But once they get the invite, they’ll let the bride and groom know what they’re able to do.
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