RSVP Wording Examples You Can Steal For Your Wedding Invitations

One of the elements of the wedding invitation suite that seems to cause the most uncertainty is the RSVP card. If you have no idea how to effectively ask people to respond to your wedding invitations then you’re in luck because I’m giving you different RSVP wording examples to suit EVERY wedding theme.

What does RSVP mean on wedding invitations?

RSVP is simply the shortened French phrase, “Respondez S’il Vous Plait” which translates as “Please Respond“. Hence we also call them Response or Reply cards.

The custom is, at the bottom of wedding invitations, to ask your guests to respond to your invitation by a certain date. You can give your guests an option of filling out and returning your Response card, or you can ask them to RSVP via email, text message, phone call, or even your wedding website.

Read on for RSVP examples for each of these options!

What information should an RSVP card contain?

Including a physical RSVP or Response card with your invitation is a straightforward way to get your guests to reply to your invitation (especially if you include a stamped, addressed envelope so they can just pop it in the post!)

You know by now that my favorite saying is that “there are NO wedding police“! So, you can put whatever the heck you like on your Response cards. But, in order to actually be functional, you should be asking your guests for a minimum of 3 pieces of information:

1. Are they accepting your invitation?  
2. Who is attending? 
3. The date you’d like your guests to respond by

It does make sense in most cases, however, to use the opportunity to get some other information from your guests, for example:

1. Do they have any dietary requirements?
2. Which menu option would they like?
3. Other information, such as:

• A song suggestion for the wedding disco
• If they’ll need transport for any stage of your wedding
• If they’re interested in staying onsite

rSVP text examples for your wedding invitations

So, let’s get down to it. Here are some RSVP response examples for you to steal for your wedding:

1. FORMAL RSVP CARD WORDING

We respectfully request your response by [DATE]

M___________________________*

__ We would be delighted to attend

__ We regretfully decline

Dietary requirements: _______________________

What is the M on an RSVP card?

M is the first letter for your respondent to write Mr/ Ms/ Mrs/ Miss. This is quite a traditional way of asking for the information so would suit a more formal wedding.

2. CASUAL RSVP WORDING

We’d love to receive your response by [DATE]

Name(s): _______________________________

__ Joyfully accept

__ Sadly decline

Menu choices: __ Beef  __ Fish __ Vegetarian

Other dietary requirements: _______________________

3. FUN WEDDING RSVP WORDING

Save your seat before it’s too late! Let us know if you’re in by [DATE]

Name(s): _______________________________

__ You couldn’t keep us away

__ Booo! We’re sitting this one out

Dietary requirements: _______________________

A song to get us on the dancefloor: __________________________

4. RSVP CARD WORDING WITH NUMBER OF GUESTS

Wondering how to limit guests on an invitation, or how to specify a plus one?  This RSVP card example is a good way to limit wedding guest numbers politely, by specifying the number of guests that are invited…

We have reserved [NUMBER] of seats in your honor

Name(s): _______________________________

__ We’ll be there

__ Sorry to miss the celebrations

Entrée choices: __ Chicken  __ Salmon  __ Vegetarian

Please respond by [DATE]

Read more: How To Make Wedding Invitations At Home: The Ultimate DIY Guide

RSVP response wording: Is it OK to ask guests to RSVP online?

Absolutely! You can ask people to email or text their responses to you, or to submit their response on your wedding website. You can add this information at the bottom of your invitation BUT the phone number, email address or website address MIGHT look a bit ugly on your lovely invite.

So, you could include the information on a separate card within the envelope if you’d prefer.

RSVP response examples for online responses

• Straight to the point: RSVP to [EMAIL ADDRESS]/ [PHONE NUMBER]/ [WEBSITE] by [DATE]
• Polite: Kindly send your response by [DATE] to [EMAIL ADDRESS]/ [PHONE NUMBER]/ [WEBSITE ADDRESS]

For someone who wants to keep everything organised online, email or text RSVPs can work well. However, one downside of asking people to RSVP in this way is that you’ll have to follow up with them individually to capture some of the information that you can more easily capture in a Response card (such as dietary requirements, menu choices, etc.)

Just something to keep in mind!

Read more: Save The Date Etiquette: Your Questions Answered

There you have it, everything you wanted to know about RSVP wording examples for your reply cards!

I hope these RSVP wording examples will help you get your Response cards written with zero stress. Be sure to check out my other post on RSVP etiquette to get ALL your questions answered about how long to give guests to RSVP and when you can safely start chasing for answers!