Need opinions for RSVP

[Deleted User]

Hello!!

Im obviously very new to this.  Where my venue is located the ceremony chairs are not included.  Im worried about getting a chair for every guest and wasting potentially $300-400 on chairs.  Do you think it would be appropriate to have guests RSVP for ceremony, reception or both?  Not sure if guest will even do that if given the option. Would like some opinions and feedback.. Thank you so much!!

holyguacamole79

tmeyerpeter85 said:

Hello!!

Im obviously very new to this.  Where my venue is located the ceremony chairs are not included.  Im worried about getting a chair for every guest and wasting potentially $300-400 on chairs.  Do you think it would be appropriate to have guests RSVP for ceremony, reception or both?  Not sure if guest will even do that if given the option. Would like some opinions and feedback.. Thank you so much!!

When someone rsvps, it is safe to assume that he/she is going to attend both the ceremony and reception (unless he/she indicates otherwise)

emmyg65

Your guests' comfort is not a waste of money.

[Deleted User]

You should assume they will be coming to both. Will you have some empty chairs, probably, but it's hard to avoid. I had 2 guests that were suppose to come to both & one threw out her back the morning of of my wedding & another had a family emergency where her newborn grandchild had to be rushed to intensive care so her daughter & SIL needed her help to watching their other two children so they could be with their baby. They had both had full intentions of coming but things happened that could be avoided.

Plus for you, if someone who wasn't originally planning to come to the ceremony because of lack of a sitter or work, if their plans change suddenly and they can then come to your ceremony, you don't want to be short chairs or have to deal with changing your chair number order at the last minute.

climbingsingle

Assume that they are coming to both. So if 120 people RVSP, you need to have 120 chairs set up at the ceremony site. 

Maggie0829

Having a seat for every guest is not a waste of money.  Period.

When someone RSVPs to your wedding you should assume they are coming for both the ceremony and reception.

southernbelle0915

If you want, you can word your RSVP so that they respond separately:

"_____# of guests attending the ceremony

 _____# of guests attending the reception"

But no matter how you word your RSVP, you should have some extra chairs at the ceremony anyway since people will leave a chair between them, not fill a whole row, etc. 

At our outdoor wedding, we ordered about 15% extra seats for the ceremony. We ended up having about 175 RSVP yes, but we had 25 extra chairs available to be safe. It only cost $50 to do this (about $2/chair). WAY worth it and I'd do it again in a heartbeat. 

When you say $300-400 on extra chairs... are they made of gold? That's a ton of money for a few extra chairs.

AddieCake

Assume they are coming to both and make certain that every butt has a seat. This is so important that you should not give any potentially wasted money on unused seats a second thought. 

[Deleted User]

Obviously I want people to sit and am I no way saying it is a waste of money. However, I know when I go to many weddings personally many skip the wedding and go to the reception only.  thank you for any suggestions

Maggie0829

tmeyerpeter85 said:

Obviously I want people to sit and am I no way saying it is a waste of money. However, I know when I go to many weddings personally many skip the wedding and go to the reception only.  thank you for any suggestions

You still need to be prepared to have a seat for every butt at your ceremony.  Always plan for 100% attendance.  Better safe then sorry.

[Deleted User]

Maggie0829 said:

tmeyerpeter85 said:

Obviously I want people to sit and am I no way saying it is a waste of money. However, I know when I go to many weddings personally many skip the wedding and go to the reception only.  thank you for any suggestions

You still need to be prepared to have a seat for every butt at your ceremony.  Always plan for 100% attendance.  Better safe then sorry.

And if the reception immediately follows the ceremony, I think you'll have fewer people choosing one over the other.  It's when there's a five hour gap of unhosted time in between the two events that I'll choose to skip the ceremony because I'm not giving you that much of my day.

Jen4948

Enough seating for both the ceremony and reception is Hospitality 101, so I'd assume everyone who attends the ceremony is attending the reception and plan to have a seat for every person.

photokitty

tmeyerpeter85 said:

Obviously I want people to sit and am I no way saying it is a waste of money. However, I know when I go to many weddings personally many skip the wedding and go to the reception only.  thank you for any suggestions

Curious. Why would skip the ceremony? The ceremony is the important part. Unless you can't get off work in time or something like that I can't imagine only going to the reception...it would feel like I only care about the free food and booze to me if I skipped the ceremony without a really good reason.