digital RSVPs

PaulaJo85

I am on a super budget, $4K or less if possible! I am purchasing things a little at a time. I refuse to put anything on a credit card or get into debt.

I made my own save the date cards by hand. They were flip flop shaped and a huge hit! all together 85 save the date cards cost a total of $125 with postage!!

I will be making the invites myself as well. The invites are proving more of a budget challenge however. If i were to add RSVP cards it almost doubles the cost. Since I have a wedding website with an RSVP option and a facebook group for our wedding with a created event for the wedding, i am thinking of having people RSVP either on the website or facebook. My mother HATES this idea and she can't come up with a good argument other than "it just looks wrong". 

Is digital RSVP a bad idea? I thought it was budgeting-genius but my mom has be second guessing myself... 

manateehugger

Where are you looking for invitations that the RSVP card is doubling the price? Hobby Lobby, Michael's, Joanne's all have very affordable invitations (and they have constant coupons available). Vistaprint is another great option - you could do RSVP postcards there and save yourself a bit of money. I did our Save the Dates on Vistaprint; including postage, I paid $50 to have 100 printed and mailed. 

I personally dislike online RSVP's since they seem too casual, and I think the standard paper version aren't that expensive and usually generate a more timely response rate. But if you're set on the online RSVP's, I'd leave it at that. 

I personally think a Facebook wedding group/RSVP is really really tacky. I don't know; Facebook is much better suited to bar crawls and casual birthdays, not a wedding. Are all of your guests in the group? Is that group private at least? Anyone not invited to the wedding shouldn't be able to see or get updates. 

ETA: There's also a couple Etsy designers who can do invitations for $2/set or less. Inviting Moments, Peachwik, and The Extra Detail.

AddieCake

I'm not a fan of online RSVPs b/c I think weddings deserve more formal correspondence. Also, there can be technology glitches and not everyone is computer savvy. 

PaulaJo85

nobody can see the facebook group except those that have been invited, its secret. The wedding is reception only at a park. it's going to be a casual luau theme. I chose to do the facebook thing because i was getting constant texts and calls and nobody was visiting the wedding website. the facebook has actually alleviated that. i've gotten more feedback from facebook and, since the website is on the group page, more hits on the site. i know its tacky but we're not conventional.

I've been to Michaels and all the local craft stores but  there wasn't much variety and didn't really go with my vision.

If i do choose to mail RSVP, should i include stamps on it? 

JoanE2012

PaulaJo85 said:

nobody can see the facebook group except those that have been invited, its secret. The wedding is reception only at a park. it's going to be a casual luau theme. I chose to do the facebook thing because i was getting constant texts and calls and nobody was visiting the wedding website. the facebook has actually alleviated that. i've gotten more feedback from facebook and, since the website is on the group page, more hits on the site. i know its tacky but we're not conventional.

I've been to Michaels and all the local craft stores but  there wasn't much variety and didn't really go with my vision.

If i do choose to mail RSVP, should i include stamps on it? 

I hate electronic RSVPs.  It's one of the most important events you'll host.....treat it a little more special than a backyard BBQ invite.  Send paper RSVPs.  And yes, you need to include the stamp.

You really should've saved the $125 on STDs and put that towards the invites.  STDs are not required.

manateehugger

A wedding can be relaxed in atmosphere, but still have traditional and appropriate elements such as paperinvitations. 

Look at Vistaprint, OP, and do postcards for the RSVP's. They'll save you a bit in postage, because yes, you should include a stamp. 

misshart00

As someone who did online RSVPs, I highly recommend not doing it. There were a ton of glitches and we had about 100 people RSVP out of about 400. People just don't take it as seriously.

jdluvr06

I think it depends on your group. Our family and friends are really tech savvy and there are more people in my family who would remember to RSVP online but would forget to drop a paper RSVP in the mail box. I'm not doing a wedding website though. I set up a special email account for the RSVPS and I'm going to include that and a phone number for RSVP options.

Jen4948

Many people just don't take eVites seriously-especially for weddings.

And some people just aren't tech-savvy or even online.

Use paper.

jdluvr06

@Jenn4948 not having an RSVP card doesn't mean you aren't going to send out paper invites.

Jen4948

jdluvr06 said:

@Jenn4948 not having an RSVP card doesn't mean you aren't going to send out paper invites.

I'd still stick with paper.

As noted above, many people don't take electronic RSVPs seriously or can't use them-and for formal weddings, they're out of place.  So I'd just skip electronic RSVPs and find other ways to save money.

MyNameIsNot

I'm not a fan of them either.  It seems too casual and that you aren't taking the wedding seriously.  It should be treated with a bit more importance than a birthday party.

If you must do online, use an email and offer a phone number.  Websites (especially the knot) are notorious for glitches and errors.  At least with email, people will know that they sent it and that you received it.  

wabanzi

We are doing paper invites with online rsvp (with a phone # option too).  Over half of our guests are international and paper rsvp would not only be expensive, but result in significant delays in getting responses (e.g., our in-country save the dates arrived to their target in 3 days, on average, while the international ones took up to two weeks to arrive, one took over 3 weeks). I also like that they are more environmentally friendly and kept our invites under an ounce, so only regular postage rates (both U.S. and international) applied. 

Be sure to offer another rsvp option, such as a phone number for those not comfortable with a website (I would skip FB, IMO). Also, I do not recommend TK's online rsvp (way too glitchy), but I have had no issues with WeddingWire's.  Nearly 1/3 of our guests have already online rsvp'ed based on the save the dates and reported zero issues, so far so good.  FYI: two-thirds of our guests are over 50.

jdluvr06

Jen4948 said:

jdluvr06 said:

@Jenn4948 not having an RSVP card doesn't mean you aren't going to send out paper invites.

I'd still stick with paper.

As noted above, many people don't take electronic RSVPs seriously or can't use them-and for formal weddings, they're out of place.  So I'd just skip electronic RSVPs and find other ways to save money.

Like I said I think it depends on your group. There are several people in my family (myself included) who would remember to send off an email saying we're going to attend something and forget to send in an paper RSVP. For someone like myself who doesn't mail anything it will be easier to remember to do it electronically. Apparently I'm not the only person in my family like this. When my cousin got married she sent out the paper RSVPs and ended up having to half of her guest list because they (myself included) forgot to send the card in.

Jen4948

jdluvr06 said:

Jen4948 said:

jdluvr06 said:

@Jenn4948 not having an RSVP card doesn't mean you aren't going to send out paper invites.

I'd still stick with paper.

As noted above, many people don't take electronic RSVPs seriously or can't use them-and for formal weddings, they're out of place.  So I'd just skip electronic RSVPs and find other ways to save money.

Like I said I think it depends on your group. There are several people in my family (myself included) who would remember to send off an email saying we're going to attend something and forget to send in an paper RSVP. For someone like myself who doesn't mail anything it will be easier to remember to do it electronically. Apparently I'm not the only person in my family like this. When my cousin got married she sent out the paper RSVPs and ended up having to half of her guest list because they (myself included) forgot to send the card in.

Your group is the only one I have ever heard about where they'd go for it-here or anywhere.  This is an instance where "know your crowd" doesn't make good general advice.

swyatt2014

My RSVP cards almost double the price of our invitations too so we opted out. We are doing electronic RSVP, but not much about our wedding is really tradiitonal anyway.