Rsvps

We put “We reserved ___ seats in your honor.”

Address the invitation to only who is invited. Then write “we have reserved 2 seats in your honor.” Online RSVPs are also helpful as guests can’t add extra names that aren’t on your list.

As others have said, putting # seats reserved helps. Also address the invites to those specifically invited. We mostly had couples so two seats and addressed to both people. If there were children we added a seat for each kiddo.

Yes! I knew that there was a better way of wording it but I had a freaking brain cramp. Thank you 😄

We were worried about this too, and also didn't want extra postage or waiting for the post office to return mail. We opted for online RSVPs through our website on the knot. You can input guests names, then they type in their name and select attending or to decline.

We did “__ of __ attending” where we filled in the second number (2 for a couple) and guests filled in the first.

So we decided on "we have reserved ___ seats in your honor" with a second line that says "number attending ____". That way if we invite a family of 5 (we are inviting children if they are family, like niece or nephew) and only 2 are coming we can account for it.

We did the same with # of seats reserved for the reason of extra people not being invited

I'm glad I'm not the only one doing this. I was so afraid we would invite a couple and get an rsvp back saying 5 attending. meaning kids, mother in law, and who knows who else attending. It's not uncommon that people think it's okay to "transfer invites", like Aunt Marg can't make it but her 3rd cousin twice removed and his dentist are free! -__-

View Quoted Comment Exactly! This way we know exactly who is coming without the surprise.

Sometimes you just have to call. We had several people RSVP with extra guests. We made an individualized decision to either allow or contact the guest and let them know the invitation was only intended for x amount of people. Most of them we just allowed (my mom's college roommates sister who we also know, my elderly great aunt who needed a companion) but some we curtailed - an elderly family member who included her four adult sons who I'd never met. We just had to contact a few people and explain. I'm happy with how we handled it and also okay with the "extra" guests we allowed.

I developed a way to keep the “who’s invited” confusion to a precise minimum.

Only those that we actually want there are receiving an invitation. The RSVPs state “John Doe will/will not attend” Jane Doe will/will not attend” and they will check a box.

There is no room to write in another name.

I have made it as clear as possible on my RSVP's and I have included spouses, GFs/BFs of everyone I knew was in a relationship and people are still telling me that they want to bring others, children, etc. We had ___ of ____ seats reserved for you, and I still have people cross out numbers. Those people we are reaching out to, and while being respectful, are being sort of harsh in our tone. Its so frustrating that people tell, don't ask and also don't follow the rules.