Response Card Questions

GardenMaven

I'll start by saying I am probably over thinking this.  I am making our invitations.  For our response cards, I am not sure if I should put each individual person's name, or just a line.  And if I put each person's name, do I need a separate accepts/decline for each person? Example:

Mr. John Smith __ accepts  __declines

Mrs. John Smith  __accepts  __declines

or

Mr. and Mrs. John Smith

__accepts  __declines

We are having a buffet, but there will be a children's plated option if people would prefer.  I am not sure how to include that.  I also wanted to include something about food allergies and I have not seen any examples of it anywhere.  Any help would be appreciated!  Thanks!

Summer2011Bride

Most of the time I just see:
M_______________________
___accepts
___declines

And then the person RSVPing writes in their names. Of course, with this option, they could really write in whoever they want, even if they weren't invited, and then you would have to call them up.

So if you wanted to pre-print the names on the RSVP, I would do your first option. The second option doesn't allow for one person in the couple to RSVP yes and one to RSVP no which might happen.

As far as allergies, at the bottom of the response card, you could put something like:
"Please let us know of any allergy restrictions you might have" or something to that effect. I will say I have heard stories of guests taking this as an option to call up the B&G and tell them they are "allergic" to foods they simply didn't like. Not saying this wil happen with your guests, but some people may take that as an open invitation to tell you they don't want olives or onions, etc.

In most cases, guests who truly have very severe food allergies are probably used to advocating for themselves in situations like this and would more than likely take it upon themselves to contact you ahead of time and let you know, even without a line about it on the card. I truly think you'd be OK with leaving the line off if you wanted to.

Jen4948

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_invites-paper_response-card-questions?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20BoardsForum:cd062f89-8272-496a-b0ab-225e1f87acecDiscussion:0adeb224-68e7-40a1-8b6a-f996ccb61102Post:288b1c13-2ab6-4ef3-b0f0-fc771deaee4a">Response Card Questions</a>:
[QUOTE]I'll start by saying I am probably over thinking this.  I am making our invitations.  For our response cards, I am not sure if I should put each individual person's name, or just a line.  And if I put each person's name, do I need a separate accepts/decline for each person? Example: Mr. John Smith __ accepts  __declines Mrs. John Smith  __accepts  __declines or Mr. and Mrs. John Smith __accepts  __declines We are having a buffet, but there will be a children's plated option if people would prefer.  I am not sure how to include that.  I also wanted to include something about food allergies and I have not seen any examples of it anywhere.  Any help would be appreciated!  Thanks!
Posted by GardenMaven[/QUOTE]

I like the first example you gave because one partner might accept while the other might decline.

I'd tell those guests who might want to take advantage of the children's plated option with a separate insert for just those guests, or by word of mouth.

As for food allergies, probably your best course of action is to include a menu but then just let your guests take the initiative on that and tell you anything they think you need to know.  As long as your menu is pretty generally inclusive (that is, it doesn't focus too much on one or just a few kinds of food), you should be okay.  For really serious anaphylaxic allergies like peanut allergies, your best bet is probably to make sure that your caterers don't include them in the menu.

GardenMaven

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_invites-paper_response-card-questions?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20BoardsForum:cd062f89-8272-496a-b0ab-225e1f87acecDiscussion:0adeb224-68e7-40a1-8b6a-f996ccb61102Post:f7e3635c-92f0-41dc-86ec-a1069af7d720">Re: Response Card Questions</a>:
[QUOTE]Most of the time I just see: M_______________________ ___accepts ___declines And then the person RSVPing writes in their names. Of course, with this option, they could really write in whoever they want, even if they weren't invited, and then you would have to call them up. So if you wanted to pre-print the names on the RSVP, I would do your first option. The second option doesn't allow for one person in the couple to RSVP yes and one to RSVP no which might happen. As far as allergies, at the bottom of the response card, you could put something like: "Please let us know of any allergy restrictions you might have" or something to that effect. I will say I have heard stories of guests taking this as an option to call up the B&G and tell them they are "allergic" to foods they simply didn't like. Not saying this wil happen with your guests, but some people may take that as an open invitation to tell you they don't want olives or onions, etc. In most cases, guests who truly have very severe food allergies are probably used to advocating for themselves in situations like this and would more than likely take it upon themselves to contact you ahead of time and let you know, even without a line about it on the card. I truly think you'd be OK with leaving the line off if you wanted to.
Posted by Summer2011Bride[/QUOTE]

<div>Thanks for the replies!</div><div>The example above is normally how I see it too, but I am doing mine from scratch, as in cutting the blank paper and printing them myself, so I do not have a form to follow.  </div><div>
</div><div>The only problem I would run into with giving everyone an accept and decline is space.  I have two families with four and five kids respectively.  That's a lot of names!  I guess my other thought is should I put the woman's first name, or just leave it as Mrs. John Smith for a married woman?</div>