Free tool

RSVP deadline calculator

Enter your wedding date and when your caterer needs final numbers. You'll get a suggested date to send invitations, a reminder date, an RSVP deadline and the date your final count is due.

Check your catering contract. Two weeks is our placeholder.

Go earlier if many guests have to travel.

Pick your wedding date to see suggested dates.

How the dates are worked out

These are rules of thumb, not requirements. Your caterer, venue and guest list may call for different timing.

  1. Start from the caterer

    The final count is the one date you usually can't move, so everything else is counted back from it. We use two weeks before the wedding until you know your caterer's deadline.

  2. RSVP deadline: one week before the final count

    That week is for chasing the guests who didn't reply, and for finishing the seating chart once you know who's coming.

  3. Reminder: one week before the deadline

    Late enough that most people have already answered, early enough that the rest still have time.

  4. Invitations: eight weeks out

    That leaves about a month to reply. Choose ten or twelve weeks if many guests need to book travel.

Questions couples ask

How far before the wedding should the RSVP deadline be?
Work back from your caterer's deadline for final numbers and leave about a week before it to follow up with late replies. With a two-week catering deadline, that puts the RSVP deadline about three weeks before the wedding.
When should we send wedding invitations?
Around eight weeks before the wedding gives guests about a month to reply before a three-week RSVP deadline. Send earlier if a lot of guests are travelling.
What if some guests still haven't replied by the deadline?
Contact them directly in the week between the RSVP deadline and the final count. That buffer is why the deadline sits a week before your caterer's date.

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Set the deadline once. Let the site handle the rest.

Your RSVP deadline appears on your WedKit site and in your emails, and reminders go only to guests who haven't replied.

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