RSVP - What Does this Mean?

We received a wedding invitation on Monday for a very good friend's daughter's wedding in September.  As I was reading the invitation I came across the RSVP card.  The response date was August 20th.  This immediately reminded me of planning Brooke's wedding.  I was so surprised and frustrated at how many people did not do anything with their RSVP.  I wasn't sure if people did not know what it meant or if they were just being rude.  I wanted to assume the best with the reason being that guests don't RSVP to an invitation because of ignorance, not rudeness.  An incomplete list of respondents can cause lots of problems for a host including difficulty in planning food quantities, minimum guarantees with catering halls, uncertainty over the number of party favors and problems in planning seating arrangements. 

Brooke and Brad call several invited guests to find out if they intended on going to the wedding.  Surprisingly, most of them said yes.  Hello!!!  What did they think they were going to eat if we did not plan a meal for them?  Really?

Let me just say that I put our RSVP (that we just received) in the mail the very next day.  I am hoping that we are the first ones to get our response in.  :)  Having done party planning for work and hosting two weddings I understand how important this information is and how it is used.

So what does RSVP stand for?  RSVP stands for a French phrase, "repondez, si'l vous plait," which means "please reply".  The person sending the invitation would like you to tell him or her whether you accept or decline the invitation.  That is, will you be coming to the event or not?  It's that simple.

Etiquette rules followed in most Western cultures require that if you receive a formal, written invitation, you should reply promptly, perhaps that same day. It is a simple courtesy of responding to someone who was nice enough to invite you.  Even if it is to say that you regret that you will not be able to attend.

Do you RSVP for your invites?

Debbie