Wedding Invitations

When do you need response cards?

Response cards are a must in today’s society. With everyone’s busy schedules,
you cannot expect folks to send you a handwritten reply that was the
traditional practice many years ago. If you want to know who is coming to your
wedding you need to include response cards in your wedding invitations. Even
then, you will find that a number of your invited guests will not respond and
you will still have to make some phone calls or send some emails to find out if
they are coming.

You don’t want to have to spend money to cover guests who aren’t going to show.
There will probably be a few invitees who at the last minute are not able to
attend for some reason or another and you will have to forfeit the money
prepaid for those guests at your wedding reception. Of course you want to keep
your expenses at a minimum.

Nowadays, some brides have included a phone number, email address or URL for
responses. That’s okay, but returning a reply card is still the traditional,
formal way to offer for a response. Adding any of the above could be offered as
an alternative if your guests should choose to use it to advise you of their
intention.

Why is it proper to include a response card with your wedding invitations?
The response card has become an accepted part of wedding etiquette.
Including one with the invitation is a thoughtful way to ease the guest’s
responsibility to reply to formal invitations. As a courtesy to your guests,
enclose a stamped, self addressed envelope with a response card.