Most couples when creating or ordering their wedding invitations will select an RSVP date to go on the wedding invite.  The term RSVP comes from the French expression "répondez s'il vous plaît", meaning "please respond". The RSVP date is the date that you would like your wedding guests to respond by, to confirm their attendance at your wedding.

Generally before you send out your wedding invitations you will have a good idea as to who will be able to attend your wedding and who the definite and maybes are likely to be.  Close family and friends are unlikely to miss your big day unless that unforeseen circumstances or family feuds prevent them.

As an alternative to the norm why not do things slightly different and state on your wedding invitation that only those guests, who are unable to attend, need to RSVP.  This will probably be music to your guest’s ears as although responding to a wedding invite is not a big task it does require some effort from your wedding guests.  It will also be more environmentally friendly as fewer reply cards will be sent as these normally end up in the bin directly after the wedding has taken place.   Another way to be kinder to the environment and save your guests the cost of a card and a stamp is by requesting that they RSVP by email or text.  Nowadays nearly everyone has access to a computer or a mobile phone and even if the older generation don’t they could get someone to respond on their behalf. 

Wedding Invitations are generally sent out 6 weeks prior to the wedding date.  This can fluctuate greatly for couples.  Those who decide to have a wedding abroad may send out their wedding invites or save the date cards a lot sooner so that the wedding guests can organize flights, save, and book time off work. The RSVP date will be determined by a number of things, i.e. the date of your wedding, the date that your wedding reception venue or wedding hotel requires confirmation of numbers, plus other determining factors.  It is always a good idea to make the RSVP date earlier than these deadline dates as there will always be people who forget to reply before the RSVP date and those who forget completely or just don’t bother, so this will give you time to make a few last minutes changes to your numbers.

Even when you have confirmed your numbers with your wedding reception venue and other wedding service providers it is likely that these numbers will change again on the actual day of your wedding as a result of unforeseen circumstances or simply down to the inconsideration shown by a select number of your wedding guests.  One or two non attendees can cost the wedding couple anything from £40 upwards.