Reply Cards Question

jwoftexas

My reply card reads

"The favor of your reply is requested by Feb. 14.

M______________

__ graciously accepts

__ regretfully declines

We have reserved # seats in your honor"

For guests who are given a '+1', if they don't include the name of their date on the reply card, does that mean they aren't bringing a date?

I will clarify with my guests if they are bringing a date or not.  However, I would like to know the proper custom for responding to a reply card. 

jwoftexas

meganpaigenolen said:

I've seen them formatted as:

M____________
[ ] gratefully accepts
[ ] regretfully declines

____ number in your party


if you can change your reply cards, I probably would would do something along those lines.

I'm not asking about format. I was just asking what is the proper way to respond.

MyNameIsNot

jwoftexas said:

My reply card reads

"The favor of your reply is requested by Feb. 14.

M______________

__ graciously accepts

__ regretfully declines

We have reserved # seats in your honor"

For guests who are given a '+1', if they don't include the name of their date on the reply card, does that mean they aren't bringing a date?

I will clarify with my guests if they are bringing a date or not.  However, I would like to know the proper custom for a reply card. 

Not necessarily.  When you put 2 seats are reserved, many will assume that means two will be coming.  

You need to put something on the card to give the guest a space to indicate how many will be attending.  

jwoftexas

MyNameIsNot said:

jwoftexas said:

My reply card reads

"The favor of your reply is requested by Feb. 14.

M______________

__ graciously accepts

__ regretfully declines

We have reserved # seats in your honor"

For guests who are given a '+1', if they don't include the name of their date on the reply card, does that mean they aren't bringing a date?

I will clarify with my guests if they are bringing a date or not.  However, I would like to know the proper custom for a reply card. 

Not necessarily.  When you put 2 seats are reserved, many will assume that means two will be coming.  

You need to put something on the card to give the guest a space to indicate how many will be attending.  

Ok Thanks! My friend and I were debating this so I was looking for another opinion.

vt&dt

We didn't include the "# seats reserved" part and instead had a " # attending" line.

I guess I'm trusting my guests to know that the invitation is only for the people listed on the envelope - so far that's been the case.  When we invited a truly single person with a +1, I wrote that on their RSVP card (it's very awkward to write "and guest" on a mailing envelope!)  

jwoftexas

vt&dt said:

We didn't include the "# seats reserved" part and instead had a " # attending" line.

I guess I'm trusting my guests to know that the invitation is only for the people listed on the envelope - so far that's been the case.  When we invited a truly single person with a +1, I wrote that on their RSVP card (it's very awkward to write "and guest" on a mailing envelope!)  

I said "# reserved" because we didn't have an inner envelope and I wanted to politely make it clear how many people were invited.  For example, I invited my friend and her husband, but not their kids.  

MyNameIsNot

How about instead of saying "X seats have been reserved..." you say "___ of 2 will be attending" or something?

Jen4948

I think that no matter what wording you use, whether it is "X seats have been reserved" or "X are attending" you are not going to be able to get across to people who really don't understand that they are not welcome to bring their kids, dates, or other uninvited guests that they are not welcome to bring said guests.

AddieCake

Here's what we did. 

On that M_______ line, we wrote in the names of the people invited for them. On the ___accepts/declines line, people seemed to know to write the appropriate numbers. I think we only had like 2 who didn't put a number and just put a check or x. 

Coalette2013

In hindsight, I wish we had included the "number of seats reserved in your honor" on our RSVP cards. A number of our guests threw away their envelopes, so when they got around to replying they thought they could write any number they felt like in the "number attending" line. Overall guests have been very good about writing all the names of the people attending (whether they were actually invited or not).

Gizmo813

We are giving *most* single people the option to bring a guest (with the exception of older relatives, or special circumstances). I am not planning on including "# of seats reserved" on the reply cards, because if guests choose not to bring a date, I don't want a miscommunication result in my paying for people who aren't attending.

Instead, I am planning on including a paper band around the invitation and enclosures. I will write the names of the people invited on the band - similar to an inner envelope. If there is an issue with people writing in guests who are not invited, we will handle these on a case-by-case basis. 

I think people create more hassle for themselves than necessary by trying to preempt EVERY problem that might arise. When, in reality, the problems will be few, far between, and easily handled individually.