A reply card can be a really useful inclusion for your wedding invitations and something we strongly advise you consider providing – not because we are trying to upsell (as many of our invitations already include a reply card as standard), but because it can make your life a lot easier. And we’re all about making your life easier!

As well as being a really handy way of encouraging prompt replies from your guests (see our blog post “Three Ways to Encourage a Prompt Reply From Your Guests”), it can also be used to gather exactly the information you need from your guests.

We’ve produced 1000s of reply cards over the years and have seen them used to gather all sorts of information and have used this experience to give you the top five things you can use your reply card for.

1. ATTENDANCE
 

This is an obvious one! The very least your reply card should do is ask your guests to convey whether they are coming or not.

Here are some of the common ways of asking this question, ranging from the more traditional to relaxed and informal:

• Accepts with pleasure / Declines with regret
• Would love to attend / Unfortunately cannot attend
• Will be there with bells on / Sorry, I’m washing my hair that day
• Our bags are packed and we’re on our way / We can’t make the departure
• Look forward to celebrating with you / Will raise a glass from afar
• Yes, I’m in / No, but I have a really good excuse!

2. DIETARY REQUIREMENTS AND/OR MENU CHOICES

If you are providing your guests with a meal, you will want to know whether they have any specific dietary needs you need to know about.

This tends to be allergies or vegetarian/vegan requirements, rather than an opportunity for your guests to make demands! You can then use this information to communicate with your venue. The last thing you want on your wedding day is a guest going into anaphylactic shock because of an allergy you didn’t know about! Kind of ruins the mood!!

This question tends to be not as important for your evening guests, especially if you’re proving a buffet style evening spread (I flippin’ love an evening buffet!)

If you are giving your guests a choice of meal, then we can configure your reply card to include a menu. This makes it really easy to collect the information you need about who wants what, with the minimum of fuss!

3. ACCOMMODATION

Depending on the venue, couples sometimes reserve rooms on behalf of their guests in anticipation of them needing accommodation.

However, you may not know for certain whether these rooms will be needed, so you can use your reply card to ask whether your guests will need a room or not. A simple tick box will suffice and get you the information you need right away.

If you’re having a destination wedding, you may want/need to know where your guests are staying, so you can add a line to ask for this information.

4. TRANSPORT

If you’ve decided to lay on transport for your guests, you can use your reply card to gather information about if your guests need it or not.

For example, we’ve known couples who have organised coaches home at the end of the night to certain drop off points, or couples who have arranged for transport between the ceremony venue and the reception venue.

Use your reply card to ask your guests if they need space on the coach, and if so, how many spaces. You can also use it if you’re considering laying on transport, but are trying to ascertain how useful it would be.

This can be a useful inclusion for destination weddings if you are considering transport to and from the airport for your guests.

5. SUPPLEMENTARY EVENTS

This is a popular inclusion for destination weddings where you might be having a post-wedding party the following day, or a meal the day before and need to know numbers.

You may also be looking to include a couple of excursions which you would like to invite your guests to.

We’ve also seen it used for couples who are getting married in this country and are having a BBQ the next day for close friends and family.

If you are having any additional events to celebrate your marriage, use your reply card to your advantage and get the information you need.

6. SONG CHOICES

This is a popular inclusion for couples hoping to pack out their dance floor!

Including a line or two for your guests to add a song choice gives you the chance to build an evening play list that will have something for everyone. You can share this information with your DJ before the night so that they can be prepared.

If there is a particular artist you have a dislike for, don’t be afraid to have a bit of fun when asking the question. We once had a couple add a disclaimer saying “due to an allergy, requests for Barry Manilow will not be accepted”.

Sorry Barry.