RSVP Planning · · 1 min read
Wedding RSVP Counts: Adults, Children and Households
A family saying “we are coming” is not yet a usable catering count. Record the invited household, the people attending and the events they will attend separately. This worked example helps you turn replies into a count you can explain.
Set up the guest record
Give every household a stable reference, such as F014. Keep invited adults, invited children, confirmed adults and confirmed children in separate columns. A blank response means unknown; it must not silently become either a yes or a no. Count attendance per event when the guest lists differ.
Work through one example
Suppose F014 is invited with two adults and two children. Their reply confirms two adults and one child for the reception, with nobody attending the mehendi. Record three reception attendees and zero mehendi attendees. Do not count the household as four everywhere just because four people were invited.
Before sharing the total
Check the caterer's definition of a child meal and confirm that volunteers, photographers and drivers are counted separately where needed. Send totals and unresolved replies together. Keep the identifiable guest sheet private; the caterer may only need aggregated meal counts.