Numbers RSVP wording by wedding type
Cocktail reception RSVP wording you can copy
Standing food and a bar still need a headcount. The card should not promise a seated dinner you are not serving.
The short answer
Say what you are serving. Please join us for drinks and small plates. Kindly reply by 29 May. Skip the chicken-or-fish line. A diet blank is still useful for canapés that contain nuts.
Guests who sit down to dinner at every other wedding will assume chairs unless you tell them. The invitation should already say cocktail reception. The reply just collects the names. Alcohol quantities sit in how much alcohol you need.
The invitation line
Print this on the invitation itself, or on a small enclosure if the main card is already full.
Please join us for drinks and small plates. Kindly reply by 29 May.
The reply card
5 lines, and nothing else that the kitchen or the seating chart will not use.
Name ________________________________
Accepts with pleasure
Declines with regret
Allergies we should know ______________
Kindly reply by 29 May.
Use this for a standing reception, a gallery, a city suite or any wedding without a plated main.
A reminder you can send
Wait until a few days after the printed date, then send this once. Copy the replies into the same list you use for the cards, so you are not keeping two headcounts.
Hi Chen, we are confirming bar and canapé numbers on Wednesday. Can we still count you in for drinks at 6. A yes or no, and any nut allergy, is all we need.
When this wording fits, and when it does not
Do not print accepts dinner if there is no dinner. Do not ask guests to choose a starter. Do not forget that a cocktail hour still has a last call, and a count.
The date on the card is not a guess. Work it back from the caterer's headcount deadline with the RSVP deadline calculator. The usual window is ten days to two weeks before that date, as in when to send invitations.
Free toolWedding RSVP deadline calculatorWork back from your caterer's deadline to the date to print on your invitations.Find my RSVP dateOther RSVP wording. evening, plus-one.
Yes, I Do
Every guest, every reply
Paste a list from anywhere and it becomes names. Replies, plus-ones, dietary notes and tables stay in one place, for both of you.
Questions
How do you RSVP to a cocktail wedding?
A name, a yes or no, a date. Add allergies if the canapés need them. There is no main-course choice.
Should the card say there is no seated dinner?
The invitation should. The reply can repeat drinks and small plates so the message survives a glance.
Do cocktail guests still get a plus-one line?
Only if you offered one. Standing rooms fill as fast as seated ones.
When is the RSVP date?
From the caterer's or bartender's deadline, the same way as a dinner. Ten days before that date is typical.
Sources
- Wording below is written for a cocktail wedding. Change the names, the date and the seat count. Do not mix in a line from a different type of day.
- The RSVP date is set from the caterer's deadline, the method in when to send invitations.
- The longer invitation, from who is hosting, is in wedding invitation wording.
- The longer guide this card belongs with is how much alcohol for a wedding.