Wedding Invitations

Wedding Invitations RSVP

Have you ever wondered what does the term RSVP, written on the wedding invitation, stand for?

Well, the RSVP is the abbreviation for the French expression “répondez s’il vous plait”, translated as “please respond”.

It is a custom for the future married couple to add an RSVP on their wedding invitations, because they will probably need an attendance response for a better planning of the wedding ceremony.

It just happens that sometimes people tend to forget to give a response on time or they just ignore the RSVP.

The RSVP basically means that the invited guests must give an answer to the hosts, whether they do or do not plan to attend the wedding party.

If the intention was to wait for an answer only in the case when the guest doesn’t plan to attend the wedding, the expression “regrets only” would’ve been used.

Probably everyone can figure it out that things get a bit hectic when the awaited moment approaches so the wedding ceremony is to be planned in minute details, and knowing the exact number of guests attending to the wedding is one of those details. Here is where the RSVP response comes in handy.

The wedding invitations usually come from the bride’s home and should be mailed with six to eight weeks in advance.

If we take in consideration the wedding invitations wording etiquette, the RSVP is found at the bottom of the wedding invitation page, but I shall give an example about how should a wedding invitation, including the RSVP, look like:

“All love is sweet, given or returned. Common as light is love, and its familiar voice wearies not ever.

Sarah Moon and Simon Fall request the pleasure of your company in celebrating their

union of marriage on Saturday, the seventh of December, two thousand and eight, at five o’clock in the evening, St. Nicholas’s Church, Los Angeles, California

Continue the celebration at the reception following the ceremony”

“RSVP

We look forward to celebrate with you

Please respond by October 1, 2008

Name:

Number of guests attending: “

If some guests are out of town consider sending a “save the date” card with some hotel suggestions and add the RSVP date of minimum 2 weeks to receive a response of attendance, so that you can make the proper arrangements for the upcoming ceremony.

On the ‘save the date’ wedding invitation card, if you decide to add an RSVP you should probably be aware of the two existing problems you might encounter: the recipients, either they will mark the date of this event on the calendar so they won’t forget to send a response or most likely they will forget about giving a response, because we are talking about several months in advance and lots of things may occur in this long period of time and sometimes they won’t even be able to keep with their promises.

The RSVP is important, so for the future married couple I can only make the suggestion not to forget, ever, to add it on their wedding invitations, and for the guests who will probably be receiving those wedding invitations I reinstate the advice not to forget to always give an attendance response if it is asked for.