Rsvp??

It’s super common to receive RSVPs last minute. And it’s also very common for people to forget to RSVP altogether. You should pretty much count on having to “track down” responses via phone calls/text messages. Just reach out to those who haven’t responded by the deadline and politely remind them that the RSVP deadline has passed. Tell them you would love to have them attend, but you will need a response by X date in order to get final numbers to the caterer. I’ve also seen people send out text reminders the week before RSVPs are due.

That's why people recommend a week (or so) buffer between your RSVP date and the date you have to give numbers to your vendors. Give it a day or so after your date has passed and then reach out to them by phone/text and ask them if they are coming or not. You can easily phrase it to seem like maybe their envelope got lost in the mail, so it doesn't sound accusatory. Unfortunately, people often take the RSVP by date to be the last day they can mail it, which is why I say give it a few days before reaching out.

It’s very common to have some people who wait till the last minute to rsvp. You will get a ton of replies in the mail on the due date. Other people expect you to be a mind reader. Having online replies doesn’t change or improve that game. You don’t make any contact with those who forgot to reply until the afternoon/evening of the due date when you have all of the mailed replies tallied. You get on the phone with everyone else immediately and if it takes 2-3 days, that’s what you do. You ask them if they are attending and don’t hang up until you get a reply. If their cards are still in the mail after the due date, then you connected with them twice.

It's much too soon to expect RSVPs for middle-end of March wedding which may be why you have more than half missing.

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Everyone has their own reason for choosing their RSVP deadline- Please respect mine.

Yes, that's why I decided to gather as many emails from the guests as possible ahead of time. I plan on sending out a reminder email about a month ahead of the RSVP date (because it's a destination wedding) including a buffer between the soft RSVP date and the actual day the caterer needs final guest count. Then I can still have late RSVPs and it's not going to be a true drama.

Very common. Some don't even bother to respond. Expect to have to reach out to those who don't respond on time.

Lots of people end up last minute because they get hung up on the fridge and then all of a sudden people happen to look one day and say "oh shoot, i totally forgot to do that!" I know it's happened to me many times. Most likely you'll need to chase people's down. But also, if you're expecting hard copy paper ones back, keep in mind that mail delivery is still drastically slowed down by COVID, especially with the Omicron spike and labor shortages. I would give yourself about a week buffer before contacting people directly if your vendors allow it.