How to Choose the Right “RSVP by” Date
Do you know what RSVP stands for? It’s short for “Répondez s’il vous plait,” which means “please respond” in French. Pretty fancy, right?
Using the acronym RSVP is simply a tradition, but adding right respond-by date to your wedding response cards is an important detail.
Featured Card: Greens and Gold
What Should Your Wedding RSVP Due Date Be?
We recommend choosing a date that’s about four weeks before your wedding date.
Why? There are two reasons:
1. Your Caterer and Venue Will Need a Head Count
Typically, your caterer and venue will want an accurate headcount one to two weeks before your wedding day. Before you create your invitations, ask them for a firm date.
Now, take that date and back it up two weeks. Because…
2. Guests Will Respond Late!
You might give a respond by date but that doesn’t mean everyone will actually respond by then. Sigh…
Plan on spending some time sending texts and emails to those slackers who haven’t sent their respond card back to you. And remember, many guests will put the reply card in the mail back to you on the reply by date.
This is one of the most annoying parts of wedding planning and its extra stressful if you don’t allow yourself a couple weeks to gather the tardy responses.
An Example of How to Set Your RSVP-By Date
Let’s say your wedding day is June 20th.
Your venue wants your final headcount by June 6th.
Your RSVP by date should be May 23rd. This gives you a two week window to gather those late responses and give your venue an accurate headcount by their deadline.
Then When Should I Send My Wedding Invitations?
The obvious next question is, “when do I send my wedding invitations?”.The timing really comes down to your RSVP-by date. We like to see your invitation in guest’s hands 3 weeks before that date. This will give everyone time to check their calendars and make travel reservations and get their RSVP in on-time.
Let’s continue with our June 20th wedding example and go through all those key dates:
Since your RSVP date is May 23rd, you’ll want your wedding invitations to hit mailboxes on May 2nd.
This means your invitations should be mailed around April 25th (this gives them a week to arrive)
Our wedding invitations print and ship super quick, which means you could order them at late as mid-April and still have time to address, stamp, assemble and drop them in the mail on time. If you want a little extra time, simply back that date up a week or two.
We hope this advice was helpful. If you have other questions as your personalize your wedding invitations, we’re here with answers! xoxo
