GayWeddings.com

Did you know that, in the old days, party hosts would send out invitations (hand-written, of course) and would receive a written response back -- yes or no (again, hand-written, of course!)?

The respond folder (reply card) has evolved as a way (stamp included!) to make RSVPing as easy as possible for guests. And not just because the host wants to know who is coming for kicks! He or she might need to work on a seating plan and most certainly needs to plan for food & drink for the event. There are very practical, let alone respectful, reasons for RSVPing.

Just about anyone who has hosted a wedding understands this. And, invariably, a bride or groom (or appointed cold caller) must pick up the phone or grab a keyboard to contact the guests who haven't responded.

So, if you haven't hosted an event to undertand first-hand how important timely RSVPs can be, take a page from this forum! Avoid playing into one of my pet peeves.

RSVP! It's good form!

Isn't it only the R in R.s.v.p. capitalized since it's an abbreviation for the French sentence, "Répondez s’il vous plaît."

I just assumed that if people couldn't be bothered to send back the reply card, they weren't coming. What surprised me was how few people actually knew how to fill it out properly. I think out of 25 invites we sent out, only my wife's 83 yr old grandmother and my brother did it correctly!

quote:

Originally posted by Bridezilla:
Isn't it only the R in R.s.v.p. capitalized since it's an abbreviation for the French sentence, "Répondez s’il vous plaît."

I just assumed that if people couldn't be bothered to send back the reply card, they weren't coming. What surprised me was how few people actually knew how to fill it out properly. I think out of 25 invites we sent out, only my wife's 83 yr old grandmother and my brother did it correctly!

You're right about the R.s.v.p., I think, but RSVP has become quite common as well as the abbreviation has taken off in English.

It CAN be dangerous to assume that no response is a commitment not to come, because some people will change their mind a week beforehand... but how nitpicky you have to be with the head count depends on how much flexibility your reception hall gives you. (Are you doing a seating chart? Are you having a buffet or a plated meal? and so on.)

We had some really creative response card fillings out, too -- and we were glad we thought to number the reply cards (on the back, very small) and correlate the numbers to a spreadsheet, because some didn't fill out the name at all!

We saved most of them because people wrote messages on the inside of the card, which was actually very nice. If I were doing it again, I might actually just provide little cards that say "the favour of a reply is requested by deadline" and then leave the rest blank for the person to write their own response.

We sent out our invitations to arrive around the beginning of July, and the rsvp's have been pouring in! We're really excited every day because we always have two or three waiting for us when we come home from work.

One thing that helped is that we're asking for a rsvp by a date that is much earlier than the one we need for the caterer, so if we need to check with folks we haven't heard from, we can.

We decided to use a postcard so that our guests would have an easy time filling it out, and I think that has helped. (somehow in crazy-human approach to things, sticking a card in an envelope and sealing it, is so much more difficult to get done than dropping a card in the mailbox...)

I attribute our large response to the fact that on the front side of the post card is the rsvp information we're requesting, and on the back, is our address (of course), and then simply:

Procrastination is the thief of time

A response is requested by:

It has worked wonders!

-Rachel

Ha! That is so smart, Rachel! I admire your inventiveness, and wish I had done the same. Just today I was calling people who hadn't responded- over a month after receving the invitations! We should have included your witty line about procrastination. It's amazing- after several weeks in posession of a handmade reply card and envelope with postage that has already been paid for- a third of our guests have yet to reply- including one maid of honor and singer! Yeesh! -Kate-

Ugh. Don't even get me started on the whole RSVP thing. I believe that, once someone has gotten married or has thrown a big party which requires RSVPs, they'll finally "get it" if their mommas hadn't already ground it into their heads when they were kids.

Speaking of moms, here's what mine has to say about the importance of the RSVP.

we just went through my sisters wedding and it was crazy. She was in tears 2 weeks before when she had a bunch of people verbally confirm but never send in their cards...and were not contactable for whatever silly reason. One whole family who verbally confirmed didn't come. Luckily, she got married at a restaurant so if they showed up, she could get them a meal....they didnt though crappy people.

I couldn't agree more! When I got married, we couldn't have made it easier for people to r.s.v.p.

We made our own invitations, everything was gorgeous, down to the little inside envelope, all self-addressed, and we even made little chickens and fish on the cards so the Inn would know who was having what for dinner

well, wouldn't you know that some of the people we invited, and it was only a few, thank God, did not r.s.v.p. so I had to call them, so embarrassing, these were people who I worked with and they waited until the last second

thank God, they didn't show up, who needs them anyway!

I say, if you go to all this trouble to make a beautiful wedding, gorgeous, invitations, then by all means, r.s.v.p in a timely manner!

quote:

My Pet Peeves

>>>Women who insist on wearing outfits that just weren't meant for their bodies. I mean bare midriffs exposed where rolls of fat compete, skin tight tees but gravity has long taken its toll and it doesn't look pretty but too contrived or in local lingo, try too hard! I see a lot of it where I live.<<<

I am completely with you on this one!!! And, it's not just women for whom 'gravilty has long taken its toll' - I've seen younger women who are just out of shape or simply have the wrong body type to wear what they are trying to wear. Some people just simply don't look in a mirror at all I guess. (And, no, I don't think I look perfect, but at least I try to wear stuff that suits me.)
__________________________________________________________________________
search engine marketing training | Sterling Silver Bracelet | watch smallville Online | mini phone ka08

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Jarry96,