Numbers RSVP wording by wedding type
Rehearsal dinner RSVP wording you can copy
A smaller list, an earlier night, and often a different host. The reply should not look like the wedding card.
The short answer
Name the hosts if they are not you. Please join us for dinner on Friday 18 June at 6 pm. Kindly reply by 1 June. Keep this list out of the wedding replies, or you will seat people at breakfast who were only coming on Saturday.
The rehearsal dinner is its own headcount. Our rehearsal dinner guide covers who is usually invited. The card should not recycle the wedding RSVP, because the dates and the room are different.
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 dinner on Friday 18 June at 6 o'clock. Kindly reply by 1 June.
The reply card
5 lines, and nothing else that the kitchen or the seating chart will not use.
Name ________________________________
Accepts, and will be at dinner on Friday
Declines
A note for the kitchen ________________
Kindly reply by 1 June.
Use this for the rehearsal dinner, welcome drinks or any hosted meal that is not the wedding. Send it with, or soon after, the wedding invitation, with its own date.
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 Ben, Friday's restaurant needs a number on Monday. We have you invited to dinner at 6. Could you let us know this weekend whether you can come, separate from Saturday.
When this wording fits, and when it does not
Do not put the rehearsal reply on the back of the wedding card. Do not assume the wedding party will come without asking. Do not use the wedding RSVP date, which is usually later.
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. postcard, traditional.
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 word a rehearsal dinner RSVP?
The weekday, the hour, a yes or no, and a date earlier than the wedding RSVP. Name the hosts if they are someone else.
Who gets a rehearsal dinner invitation?
Usually the wedding party, close family and out-of-town guests. The rehearsal dinner guide walks through the list.
Can it share the wedding website form?
Yes, if the form has a separate question. No, if a yes to Saturday will be read as a yes to Friday.
When should rehearsal dinner RSVPs be due?
A week or two before the dinner, which is earlier than the wedding RSVP. Restaurants often need a number sooner than a wedding caterer.
Sources
- Wording below is written for a rehearsal dinner 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 rehearsal dinner.