Rsvp: Online vs. Physical

I did online and then physical for older people and it worked perfectly.

We are doing an online RSVP to save money/trees and just because I think it is much easier and more convenient for everyone.

We are also listing an email address and phone number on our details card, so if older guests have trouble with the website they can email, or if they don't even use technology at all (FH's grandma definitely doesnt even know how to use email lol) they can call.

It'll say something like "please RSVP online at ____. Alternately, you can email us at ___ or call us at xxx-xxxx"

The mail in my neighborhood also gets mixed up constantly so I don't want to have to worry about the fate of some of my replies being in the hands of the post office lol

Good luck!

Our wedding website has the option of online RSVPing, but I wanted the physical invites. I come home excited each day to see if I had received any more! Haha. We spent about $20 on stamps, but I can also understand wanting to save the money if you're having a big wedding.

We aren't having huge wedding and everyone we know is capable of RSVP online so, we are doing 100% online to save money as well! I think doing some online and some by mail will work just fine! Happy planning

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Are you inviting kids to the wedding? If not, how did you approach that issue?

We did formal invitations but online RSVPs and it’s been working out great so far. Even my 85 year old grandma who is pretty bad with technology figured it out.

We went physical bc I was worried about older guest. I also added a note that our wedding and reception are adult only on the details card (bad form I know but want to make it clear). Your bridal party/parents can spread the word about the wedding being adult only.

We are only ordering paper RSVPs for those who are elderly or don't use social media/internet very often! So a small percentage of our guests, maybe 20% total? The rest will RSVP online. I know my fiance's single guy friends (there are a lot) and I see maybe one of them actually sending the RSVP back. The rest wouldn't even know to send it back! I've been invited to adult only weddings and seen it written on the invitations "This will be an adult's only event". I know that's against etiquette, I'm just saying what I've seen done and so far, the 2 weddings didn't have any problems!

I think online rsvps are becoming more common place. We did physical ones but something I wish I would have thought about was all the time I’d have to spend entering the info into a spread sheet to give to the venue for meals then our graphic designer for place cards. If you do it online I would think you could easily export a guest list along with any other associated into. I literally spent two and a half hours last night filling out the excel sheet for my venue because they needed it in a different format than I originally typed it up. I think going with the online option will save you both time and money.

I like the idea of online rsvp's, i did it for my baby shower and it was super easy. You may have some that decide to call and text instead but they you can figure that one out. My grandma had my mom submit her's online. I suggest a physical one for the older guest. As far as for online and children, there are many online RSVP apps you can choose from. Several have options for rsvp'ing to more than one event, selecting a food option, or even allowing you to submit custom questions. As far as children, if you have a website you can state its an adult affair there and maybe include if you have an insert with your invitations. Lastly, when you input the names into the RSVP app people will be able to RSVP by typing their name. You can change the settings so that no one can RSVP for a name not listed. Therefore if someone added their childs name if would not RSVP for them. In that case i imagine they would call you and ask if they were unsure. I used RSVP-ify since my event had less than 100 guest and it was free. You can always text it by rsvp-ing yourself to see what it looks like to the outside user and make adjustments.

I went the traditional route with paper invites and rsvp's. I know online is the new way and believe me I don't knock it because it is convenient. I just feel that for a wedding celebration traditional was the way to go for me. I spent a whopping $12.50 on my rsvp return envelopes due to having a small wedding. I think it is a matter of preference, finances and the number of guests who are not opposed to going online to respond.

View Quoted Comment We are not inviting kids. We are making sure to list the names of everyone who is invited on the envelope (“Mr John and Mrs Jane Doe”, NOT “the Doe family”), and also writing the names of the invited guests on the details card. The website for RSVPs is very particular (at least ours is, we’re using The Knot) and requires guests to RSVP using exactly the name we wrote, not any variation (ie a guest named “Geoffrey” who always goes by “Geoff” would not know which name to RSVP with, and it will not work if he enters the wrong one). So we are going to say like: “please RSVP by May 2, 2019 at _____ using the names...... (here we will handwrite the names of the invited guests)”

Thats our way of making sure that 1) guests don’t have trouble RSVPing with the wrong name, and 2) guests know exactly who is invited.

I did online, and waited for a verbal confirmation from elderly and accepted on their behalf. There was only a few so it was no biggy.

I'll have that option, but I have some older relatives who don't have computers or smart phones for that so i'll make sure they have paper ones

We are doing physical invitations due to having a microwedding and over half of the guests being age 50+.

We are doing it where it says RSVP at *wedding website* or call the happy couple at *phone number* we are having a teens and Up event which is stated on the website but i’m Also being specific in the invitations by writing Mr. and Mrs. J. Smith instead of the smith family. If they have one older and one younger it would be Mr. and Mrs. J Smith with Miss. T.. Smith and leave the youngest out