Figuring out how to get people to attend your wedding (without making things chaotic) is one of the biggest challenges that you’ll likely face as you plan your wedding. Using digital wedding invitations can take a lot of the hassle out of getting wedding guests to RSVP.
However, don’t forget to take care of your guests. They still need your personal attention. Here are our recommendations to follow for digital wedding invitations to help you make sure that your guests aren’t left behind.
Be Selective
If you want to ensure a high response rate to your digital wedding invitations, it’s a good idea to make sure that your guest list is highly curated and personalized. Your wedding guests can sense whether or not you really want them to attend by your other interactions with them. Guests who don’t feel welcome may be less likely to respond promptly or at all making it more difficult for you to figure out who’s actually coming.
Proofread Your Submissions
Make sure that you’ve sent your invitations to the right email addresses. A simple slip up could mean that some wedding guests don’t receive invitations. By the time you’re able to correct the mistake, it might be too late especially if you don’t have time to check your RSVPs regularly.
Follow Up
While you wait for wedding guests to reply, why not follow up with them if it’s been awhile? A helpful reminder will do just fine in most cases. In other instances, picking up the phone might be a better solution, especially if the person that you sent a digital wedding invitation to is not web-savvy.
Tweak Your Designs
If you’re not getting the response rate you hoped for, it’s totally okay to tweak your designs. That may mean changing the content of the invitation or simply the headline. You may find that while people didn’t respond on your first attempt, they respond a lot faster after you’ve made some changes.
Be Specific
Let your guests know exactly how to RSVP and what the deadline is. If you’re asking your wedding guests to RSVP urgently, let them know that you need a response ASAP. It also doesn’t hurt to set the RSVP deadline slightly ahead of the date when you actually need to solidify your plans, possibly by one or two weeks.
Plan Ahead
Don’t wait until things are getting down to the wire to send out your digital invitations. Your wedding emergency should not become your guests’ emergency. When you give yourself time by planning ahead, you can ensure that you don’t lose anyone in any last minute chaos.
Expect Last Minute Responses
That said, you should anticipate that at least one or two of your guests will RSVP at the last minute asking whether they can still come. Be prepared to deal with this so that it will be less stressful when it happens.
Be Clear About Who’s Invited and Who’s Not
There are certain people who you absolutely have to invite, even if you rarely see them. Regarding “plus ones,” the general rule is that couples who are engaged, married or who live together should be invited together, even if you don’t know their significant other personally.
After that, you’ll need to decide who gets a “plus one” and who doesn’t based on your budget. Whatever you decide, make sure that you are consistent with your digital invitations as to who’s invited so that people don’t delay responding because they are unsure if they are allowed to bring a date or not.
Include the Details
Guests want to receive the important details so that they can decide whether or not they want to come. If you want to make sure that everyone is on the same page, include the details, such as the exact starting time, date, and venue. Don’t make your guests have to call you just to find out information that should have been included with your wedding invitation.
By excluding important details that should have been included, you could end up turning definitely yes’s into no’s simply because the guests were unaware that they didn’t have the full details about your wedding. This is especially important if your wedding will take place on a date and time that is out of the ordinary, such as on a weekday. Guests will need more leeway to be able to attend a wedding at an atypical time or far away venue.
Don’t Invite People Who Told You That They Couldn’t Attend
After sending your save-the-date, some friends already responded to let you know that they wouldn’t be able to attend your wedding. Don’t make the mistake of sending these people digital wedding invitations. While you might like the idea of retrying your proposal, all you might be doing is leaving less time for you to follow up with the guests that actually do want to come.
While digital wedding invitations can help save you time, you need to put just as much effort into caring for your guests as you would with traditional paper invitations. As you create your wedding invitations, keep your guests needs in mind and make it as convenient as possible for them to RSVP.
By carefully nurturing your guest list, you can achieve a maximum response to your wedding invitation and ensure that all of your guests needs are met.
