Managing your guest list can be tricky enough at the best of times, let alone during a global pandemic!
If you’re planning your wedding during COVID-19, you’ll need to change the way you communicate with your guests before the day. From travel plans to safety precautions, your wedding invitations and RSVPs can help you gather the right information to ensure your celebration runs smoothly without a hitch.
To help you and your loved ones best prepare for the day, read on for 5 RSVP questions to ask your wedding guests during the pandemic.
RSVP Questions During COVID-19
Your wedding invitations and RSVPs will be your first point of contact with guests, making it a great place to set some expectations around health and safety! Going digital with online RSVPs also gives you the flexibility to ask some extra questions that may not fit on a traditional invitation.
Along with your standard RSVP questions (such as the RSVP response, number of people attending and dietary requirements), consider including some additional questions specific to COVID-19. This will not only ensure you take the right safety precautions for your event, but also help your guests feel more comfortable about attending!
So, what kind of RSVP questions should you consider asking during the pandemic? Here are our top 5 suggestions:
1. Will you be attending our virtual wedding?
During the pandemic, there may be certain guests who are unable to travel or aren’t comfortable attending your wedding in person. Including a “virtual” wedding component is a thoughtful way to include these loved ones in your celebration.
You can easily live-stream your wedding ceremony using digital platforms like Zoom, and embed the link via your wedding website so guests have easy access. You can even live-stream other elements such as your first dance, speeches and cake cutting. It’s a good idea to have guests RSVP to your virtual wedding before the day, so you know exactly who will be joining you from afar. Read 8 useful tips for hosting a virtual wedding right here!
2. Are you in a high-risk group?
When it comes to planning a wedding during COVID-19, identifying any high-risk guests is essential. If you have elderly or immunocompromised guests, you’ll want to keep this in mind when organising details like your floor plan, seating chart and food and beverage service.
The number of high-risk guests may also influence the safety precautions you decide to take on the day – for example, encouraging masks or setting up sanitizing stations. If you’re particularly worried about any high-risk loved ones, you can always encourage them to attend your wedding virtually instead.
3. Will you be travelling to attend our wedding?
If any of your loved ones live interstate or overseas, asking this RSVP question will help you open up a conversation around their travel plans for your event. For example: where are they travelling from? Are they happy to arrive early and self-isolate? Would you like them to take a COVID test before the wedding? These are all important questions to help you guarantee the safety of your event.
4. Will you require more time to RSVP?
During COVID times, some guests might simply be unable to RSVP by your proposed deadline due to changing travel restrictions. It’s a good idea to gauge these numbers via your RSVPs so you can mark them down as a “maybe” and communicate this with your caterer and venue.
5. Are you happy to wear a mask and practice social distancing?
If you’ve decided to implement additional safety precautions such as masks and social distancing, including this RSVP question will help you set the right expectations before the day.
Don’t forget to include a link to your wedding website where you can share more information about these safety measures and address any COVID-related FAQs to put your guests at ease.
RSVP Card Response Options During COVID-19
Along with including these additional RSVP questions, you can also tweak your RSVP response options in light of the pandemic. Rather than the standard “yes” or “no” replies, you might want to include some more flexible alternatives to reflect the current situation.
For example:
- Yes, we will be there with bells on!
- Sadly we are unable to attend.
- We can’t be there in person, but would love to participate in your virtual wedding!
- We would love to attend if travel restrictions ease in time – fingers crossed.
You may also want to leave a blank space for guests to make a note of any special circumstances.
Safety First
Including these additional RSVP questions might seem like a bit of extra work, but rest assured they’ll help your special day run smoothly! Looking for more advice on planning a wedding during the pandemic? Read these 5 ways COVID-19 might impact your wedding (and what to do about it) here.