XP Questions Galore!

roseofdeborah

Ok so I have a few questions about practical things

1. I have 30 out of 217 people that have not RSVP'd after multiple attempts to contact them through calls, texts, facebook (was the last resort with the wedding website link where they could rsvp), sending a reminder postcard (as I forgot to put the time on the invite)...I honestly don't know what else to do. Our overhead costs are about $30pp. Do I eat the costs or is there an alternative? 

2. Seating chart questions- So we get a reply card back that has Mr & Mrs Smith want chicken and fish. I do not know whether Mr smith is the one with chicken or fish. I will have stickers on each name card letting the caterer know ok that pink sticker person wants fish. Do I just guess and if its wrong they can change plates? This would only be the case for families of course. 

Also, my dad has this irrational fear that people are going to move my place cards around and there's nothing I can do about it. I have placecards for a reason because my venue's space is not just wide and open so it will flow better without having gaps in tables and with people who want to sit with each other. Is this something anyone experienced? 

3. Timeline- We have an L shaped room with everyone on the long side of the L, including the dance floor, and the cake and gifts on the other side of the L. When should the cake be cut? Mainly the question comes because everyone would be leaving from one side of the room to the other to see the cake. We are doing dinner first, then toasts, and we will eventually have first dance and fauther/daughter dance and dj for the rest of the night. Just not sure what is the best time to throw the cake in there. People might be pretty full after a 3 course meal to go directly to cake. 

Sorry for the length of the questions, it's just so many questions coming in a short amount of time. 

honeybear072012

1.) Send them one last message, I'd say a phone call.  Leave a message stating that if you don't hear from them by this Friday that you're putting them down as a no

2.) As long as you're not splitting up the group, just say mr gets the fish and mrs gets the chicken or vise versa.  That's what I did.  Also, there is nothing you're going to do about people moving their place cards.  Just put them where you think they should go and then forget about it.  My venue is only putting enough chairs at each table to accomadate the number of guests coming.

3.) Cut the cake before you eat so your venue can have it ready to serve.  I just want to a wedding that they didn't cut the cake till after dinner and NO ONE paid attention or was interested.  They also threw most of the cake out because it wasn't actually put in front of anyone, they had to go get their own piece.  My DJ suggested going straight from intros to cake cutting when everyone is paying attention to you.

ETA - #2 again- For large groups I'd get a hold of someone to verify those.  For couples I'd just assign since most couples don't really care who gets what, they get one of each to sample.

butterflyjumper1

1. call them. give them a deadline. "If I do not hear from you by July 12th, I will assume that you are not able to attend. Hope you can make it, love you!"

2. We had separate lines on our RSVP card for this very reason where each guest had to write their name with their own individual meal choices beside it. You need to know who wants what. It's awkward to switch meals around, especially if someone has an allergy, or if it is a big family with multiple RSVPs. 

2b. People won't move seats until after entrees are served. People have no reason to mingle during toasts, first dances, etc., and everyone wants to make sure they get fed. I wouldn't worry about it. 

3.  We are cutting cake during the salad course. It takes our kitchen awhile to do the plate painting and mousse decorating that they put on each slice of cake, so logistically, we have to do it that way. Every venue has different requirements, I woulk talk to your coordinator about what would flow best.