How do you know? (guests)

[Belle2Be]

FI and I are trying to figure out how many people will actually show up. We're at a borderline # of 30 guests, and if 10 don't rsvp yes then we could save a lot of $$$ and have an Escape wedding... Is there a tactful way to ask before the invites are sent out?

 

[puente0629]

We sent out a Newsletter with Disney info and included a note asking our guests to Pre-RSVP, we wrote the following:

Please Pre-RSVP
As you can imagine, planning a wedding far from home can present an extra set of challenges. We’ll be making arrangements over the next few months based on how many guests we anticipate are likely to attend each event. If you wouldn’t mind, please log on to __________and RSVP to the events you would like to attend, so we may have a general idea of how many people to plan for. If your situation changes at a later time, please let us know.

On our personal website we set up a page with each event and asked guests to Pre-RSVP for the events they would like to participate. The wedding website we used was www.weddingwindow.com, PM me your email address so I can send you the newsletter and the url to our website.

Worked like a charm, before we knew it, we went from 50 guests to 29 guest (our guest count goal).

 

[Belle2Be]

Wow great! PMing you now!

 

[Sccrmnky2005]

I've done this and have only heard back from one of my Aunts Probably sent out 40 or more out through email and through mail to some I didn't have the email to. I'm going to have to start calling around to get it out of people

 

[puente0629]

I've done this and have only heard back from one of my Aunts Probably sent out 40 or more out through email and through mail to some I didn't have the email to. I'm going to have to start calling around to get it out of people

The thing is, when people see a date of 2012, they figure they have plenty of time to RSVP. I think next year you'll see a lot more people responding.

 

[Belle2Be]

The thing is, when people see a date of 2012, they figure they have plenty of time to RSVP. I think next year you'll see a lot more people responding.

True, that is waaay far in advance. I don't think you even need to know for sure until 9-12 months out right?

 

[puente0629]

True, that is waaay far in advance. I don't think you even need to know for sure until 9-12 months out right?

Usually, brides send out STD 10 months to a yr in advance, then you send newsletters (if you want to) and last, 2-4 months prior you send out the invites. This is the usually the scenario but depending on someone's location/situation they can send it even earlier.

 

[geek+nerd]

We sent out newsletters and pre-RSVPs in early July. We had already talked to people we planned on inviting, but still had a few people who were delaying in letting us know if they were coming. We figured the pre-RSVP was a way to encourage them to make a decision or to let us know that they honestly couldn't make a decision yet.

Our newsletter is super simple (I am no graphic artist), but I'd be more than happy to share it with you if you want. Just PM me!

 

[Sccrmnky2005]

The thing is, when people see a date of 2012, they figure they have plenty of time to RSVP. I think next year you'll see a lot more people responding.

Yes, that's true!!! never thought about that...

But it's really not that far away!!! It's coming up faster than I know it!! I will be sending out another newsletter at the begining of next year and maybe I'll get better response then

 

[Belle2Be]

Yes, that's true!!! never thought about that...

But it's really not that far away!!! It's coming up faster than I know it!! I will be sending out another newsletter at the begining of next year and maybe I'll get better response then

It's so hard having a wedding so far out! I'm too excited LOL!

 

[Sccrmnky2005]

It's so hard having a wedding so far out! I'm too excited LOL!

yes but it will be here before you know it. Because I was engaged in March this year and I can't believe it's already August!!!!!

 

[Belle2Be]

We sent out newsletters and pre-RSVPs in early July. We had already talked to people we planned on inviting, but still had a few people who were delaying in letting us know if they were coming. We figured the pre-RSVP was a way to encourage them to make a decision or to let us know that they honestly couldn't make a decision yet.

Our newsletter is super simple (I am no graphic artist), but I'd be more than happy to share it with you if you want. Just PM me!

Thanks so much!

 

[princessheather]

im doing my DFTW on the Disney cruise. I kind of went by word of mouth with my key people & brushed the idea to our parents they were excited and completely willing to take this route. So after that i used Facebook events to tag the guest i want (you can set to private so only you and who you invite see the event) get an idea of the amount of people who want to come because when you set a event on your facebook theres a rsvp option and you click yes, no , or maybe. it helped a lot to give me an idea of my guest count. Then i made my own wedding website with all the cruise information, information about us, and of course about our wedding. i'll still send out save the date cards and invitations but only to those i know who will be definitely coming.

 

[CityGirlLost]

We're having a difficult time to, trying to decide if we're more of an Escape or a Wishes and the number of family members who decide they can or cannot attend really is the deciding factor. I love the idea of the website pre-rsvp and would love to see how it looked/worked.

 

[princesswendy720]

I think I'm going to do a semi-annual newsletter. The first will be in December with our Christmas cards, and will include very basic information. I'll send out a second once we've held our
locations with more specifics on the wedding events. I'll probably send out the save the dates shortly after we've confirmed our space. People are already asking us about hotel and ticket discounts. I've also created a website on wedding window and will collect pre rsvps there. It's also a good place to collect email addresess and go more in depth on newsletter topics.

 

[Jax32]

Great idea about sending info with your christmas cards!

I'm a graphic/web designer so I'm designing our own website. Working on that right now. We've decided that all of our communication is going to be through email or our website. Gotta pinch pennys! We will be mailing the Save The Dates and the invitations but anything else that has information will be via the internet. We will be sending out the first email (pre-rsvp gathering) hopefully this weekend. We got the wording done last weekend, I just have to finish designing it.

I'll let you know how well it works out.

 

[*Pixiedust1438*]

We thought about doing a pre-RSVP thing, but then decided against it. We didn't have a very good idea of the amount of people we were going to have until we sent out our STD at about 10 months out (last month). We have just talked to people and have a pretty good idea of who is coming now. So far we have 41 guests, and there are only about 15-20 people who have said they are not 100% sure yet. Obviously the closer you get the better idea you will have. I think it's hard for guests to commit more than a year out.

 

[erin.w]

We did a pre-rsvp of sorts but got about 50% confirmed of who we expect to attend. It took a lot of effort to get in touch with everyone hopefully we will have a more accurate number at 6 months out.

 

[princesswendy720]

I think the value of a pre RSVP is that it weeds out the people who just don't want to go to a wedding in Disney (or a destination wedding in general). It's not as useful for weeding out the people who can't attend for various reasons (financial, time off work, etc.) Those people likely won't know until less than a year out.

 

[Disney-Chick]

We are having a Escape wedding. I knew my father would love to have this huge wedding but my budget could not make it that far. We told the immediate family that we can only have 18 people attend. My parents rented a house so we will be ordering catering and having the reception there after the wedding. So we ended up doing 2 different invitations. One for the 18 guests that will be attending the wedding and another 40ish that can attend the reception at my parents place. So far we have another 10 or so people going to the reception. They are also aware that they can view the wedding from the boardwalk (SBP) but can not "officially" attend. We also noted that we will have another get together in the Spring/Summer for those who could not attend.