The Wedding RSVP Questions You Need to Ask Your Guests

You've already said "yes" to a life with your love. Now it's time for your friends and family to say "I do" to laughing, crying and dancing alongside you as you celebrate. "Will you be attending our wedding?" is obviously the most important wedding RSVP question. But did you know that this section of your wedding stationery or wedding website can help you gather even more info from your guests, both for practical or pleasure purposes? Now you do.

Below, we're breaking down exactly which questions to ask wedding guests on the paper enclosure cards that accompany your invites and which to pose online. We'll list the necessary queries to cover, plus a few more thoughtful online wedding RSVP questions, so you can be sure you're accommodating your loved ones to the best of your ability. What's more, we've also got some fun and funny wedding RSVP questions that'll get your guests extra excited to toss some confetti with you.

Wedding Website RSVP Questions: Common | Destination | Fun

Plus: RSVP Card Questions | How to Get Your Guests to Respond

Questions to Ask on Your Wedding RSVP Cards

Photo: The Knot

Tucked in the envelope along with your wedding invitation, your paper wedding RSVP cards are there to gather all of the quick-and-dirty details you'll need from your guests to pass along to your vendor team. But before we get into which wedding RSVP questions you should list out on your stationery, remember that the sooner the better is the name of the game when it comes to getting those many "hell yeahs"s and those few regretful "nos" from your invitees. That said, the date by which you'll need your final headcount should be displayed front and center.

Modern RSVP cards typically list the following essential elements and queries:

• Will you be attending our wedding? Below this question will be an area to accept or decline, whether by checkbox or write-in response, and likely a line for guests to write their names.
• How many seats should we reserve in your honor? In lieu of an actual question phrased like this, you can also choose to use a fill-in-the-blank phrase where the invitee can indicate how many seats you should save for them. This is mostly necessary if a single invitation was addressed to a couple or a family, or to a single guest who was given the option to bring a plus-one.
• What's your meal selection? It's popular to have a spot for your nearest and dearest to check or circle their choice of entree for your reception on your stationery. Consider including an extra line where they can indicate any food allergies or dietary restrictions.

Wedding Website RSVP Questions

Illustration: Ashley Detmering

If you're looking for a little more info from your loved ones, you should definitely consider some questions to ask on an online wedding RSVP in lieu of or in addition to paper RSVP cards. You'll have room to add as many queries as you see fit on an online platform, which is especially important if you want to give guests the chance to fill you in on any special considerations ahead of the event. Plus, it'll give you space to toss in a few fun RSVP wedding questions—like if anyone has song requests—to get your loved ones pumped up and feel like a part of the celebration.

The magic of online responses is that every "yes!" is gathered in one place, making it much easier to see the final tally and refer back to it (no more freaking out if one of your paper cards flutters to the ground and under the couch). And there's only so much you can squeeze onto a little paper rectangle that's about half the size of your wedding invitation, so your digital wedding RSVP form questions can also cover additional wedding-weekend events like welcome parties and farewell brunches. Pro tip: Add the infographic above to Your Favorites by signing into your The Knot account and clicking the heart in the top-right corner. Now you'll always have a list of wedding RSVP question examples close by.

Common Wedding RSVP Questions

These RSVP questions for a wedding cover all the basics (and you've probably already answered a few of them yourself for any nuptials you've attended recently). From getting the info you need to pass along to your rockstar wedding vendors to gathering the details required to make everyone comfortable as they toast and dance the night away with you, these inquiries are (and should be) commonplace wedding RSVP questions.

• Will you be attending our wedding?
• What's your meal preference?
• Do you have any dietary restrictions or allergies?
• Will you need transportation on our wedding day?
• Do you have any accessibility requirements (sensory, physical, mobility or otherwise) we can accommodate?
• How many guests are in your party?
• What is/are the name of your guest(s)?
• May we have your email address to relay any potential last-minute updates?

Destination Wedding RSVP Questions

For those with nomadic nuptials, your online destination wedding RSVP questions are a great place to gather guest intel regarding accommodations, as well as anticipated arrival and departure dates. You'll get a better idea of who'll be around with you before and after the celebration (whether you have events planned or not) and if you'll need to arrange deets like extra transportation or special wedding welcome bag drop-offs for those staying outside of your hotel block.

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• Will you be staying in our hotel block at X hotel?
• If not, where will you be staying?
• What date do you anticipate arriving in X?
• What date do you anticipate departing X?
• What's your arrival airline/flight number?
• Will you be using our arranged airport shuttle?
• Do you need accommodation suggestions?
• Will you be attending our welcome dinner on [date]?
• Will you be attending our farewell brunch on [date]?

Fun Wedding RSVP Questions

We know, we know—writing out questions for a wedding RSVP is one of the more logistical wedding planning tasks and doesn't sound as fun as tasting cakes or testing out the dance floors at potential venues. That said, it is possible to have fun questions to ask on a wedding RSVP. Infusing a little personality into your queries can do wonders to hype up your guests and make them feel like an even more special part of your celebration. (Whether that's knowing they'll have a "This is my jam!!" moment at the reception with an ask for song requests or giving them space to wax poetic on what marriage means to them with a prompt about advice for newlyweds.)

• Do you have any song requests?
• Any advice for us before we walk down the aisle?
• What's the signature move you'll be breaking out on our dance floor?
• What's your favorite memory of us?
• Would you like to leave a note for us?
• Wedding planning is hard—can you tell us a joke?
• What's your favorite TV or movie wedding?
• What's your go-to wedding drink?
• How many slices of cake do you think you can eat?
• Where do you see us in 10 years? 20 years?
• Are you ready to party?

How to Get Guests to Respond Online

Getting guests to RSVP online is as easy as pie (wedding cake?) if you have a wedding website. So, if you haven't yet, open up a new tab and create your wedding website on The Knot before you keep scrolling. All set? Let's continue.

How to Set Up Your Online Wedding RSVP Survey Questions

Photo: The Knot

From the wedding website tab, navigate to the heading "RSVP" at the bottom of the page. Then, click "Edit Form" to set up your RSVP survey. You'll find a number of ways to customize this page from here, but it's prefilled with a couple of helpful fields.

You'll see two sections for questions: one called "Wedding Day" to collect any queries about the main event and another called "General Questions" to add in additional inquiries, like those about travel arrangements or some funny wedding RSVP questions.

Photo: The Knot

The former section will offer up a couple of prepopulated questions you can choose from that are pretty common. You can hit the text: "Add Custom Question" below to input as many of your own questions as you'd like. Guests will see the questions categorized under this heading first when they start their RSVP forms.

Appearing after the day-of inquisitions, Qs under the "General Questions" heading will be presented to all guests regardless of their attendance. For example, even if someone has indicated they can't come to the celebration in the previous section, they can still answer inquiries like, "Do you have any marriage advice for the couple?" if you choose to include them.

Photo: The Knot

As you add questions, you'll have the option to choose a short answer format, which will come in handy for inputting details like the name of a plus-one, or a multiple choice format, where you can list out your meal options and ask your guests to check "yes" or "no" to your wedding weekend events.

Photo: The Knot

Once you're all set with your questions to add to the wedding RSVP, click the "View Settings" text at the banner at the top of the page. A sidebar will pop up on the right side of the page where you can then toggle the Page Visibility switch to "visible" so your guests can see the finished form and answer all of your thoughtful questions. Now all that's left to do is watch the answers roll in.

Online RSVP Advice

Photo: The Knot

One last thing that's almost as important as deciding what questions to ask on your wedding RSVP: If you're instructing guests to RSVP to your wedding online (whether you have a mail-in RSVP option or not), don't just assume they'll find their way to the correct page on your wedding website. It's best to print the exact URL to the RSVP form or a QR code that goes straight to the page at the top or bottom of the physical enclosure card in your wedding invitation suite. Simply use some wedding RSVP card wording like: "Kindly RSVP here" or "Join the party here" above the printed link or code to let guests know where to go.

Additional reporting by Shyla Watson.