Mrs. Eggplant, San Francisco
Age and Occupation: 28, Human Resources
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 24, Associate Marketing Manager
Engagement Date: January 19, 2007
Wedding Date: October 20, 2007
Blogging Since: May 31, 2007
Venue: Ceremony at a cement and stained glass cathedral and reception at a boutique hotel ballroom
About Me: I'm a shopping junkie who lives to discover great deals and a craft addict that loves to scrapbook and knit. My profile picture was taken on the day I got engaged which is why my smile is so huge!
Respondez s’il Vous Plait!
August 15th, 2007 @ 2:43 pm by Mrs. Eggplant
Technology is awesome. Living in the heart of Silicon Valley, our friends and family can really appreciate a convenient option of doing things via the internet, including responding online for a wedding. Yesterday I blogged about our invitations, and today I’m following up with an entry about our online RSVP system.
As mentioned previously, each invited party was given a unique pass code which was written on the RSVP card in their invitation. The card also directed guests to our wed-site.
When guests arrived at the URL for our RSVP page, they were greeted with a welcome message and brief instructions.
Once guests entered their pass code and selected “submit,” their party’s information populated in the fields, along with a personalized message. I had fun creating unique welcome messages for everyone. Each guest’s name also populated in the name fields. For the “plus one” folks, I input the guest name as “Guest (please complete name)” so that a party member could fill in the blanks themselves.
It’s not shown, but for the OOT guests, a field populated requesting their arrival date and hotel name.
If guests neglected to fill out the RSVP form completely, Brother Eggplant coded error messages.
Once the “submit” button was selected, guests were presented with a “thank you” confirmation message along with the details of their selection. They were also informed that an email would be sent to us notifying us of their response.
A different confirmation message was populated for guests that declined our invitation.
A screenshot of our email account. We’ve already received several responses and we only sent the invites out on Friday! I think the web option is really convenient for folks.
Here is a screenshot of the confirmation email that Brother Eggplant coded. We can also access the data in spreadsheet form via an admin login page.
And that’s our RSVP system in a nutshell!
I’d have to say that things became a little complicated when we started combining RSVPs for both our Saturday and Sunday events online (we’re hosting two events: a Saturday wedding and reception plus a Sunday Chinese banquet). The guest list for each event is different with some crossover guests, so Brother Eggplant had to figure out how to code the system to accommodate all scenarios.
Some have inquired about what we’re doing for our older guests who are less familiar with computers. Since we’re close to our family members and there are only a handful of older guests, my parents or Mr. Eggplant’s parents can easily call them up to retrieve their responses.
I know a web option is not for everyone, and there is definitely something charming about receiving the traditional mailed RSVP cards. But for those who are on a short timeline or want to give guests a convenient option, we’ve received tons of positive feedback on our online system. Also we’ve received the “decline” responses to our wedding more quickly, which allows us to invite other guests without making them feel like they were on the “B” list.
Did anyone else opt for a web RSVP option? How did it work out?
22 Responses to “Respondez s’il Vous Plait!”
No, but I wish I had! That looks so awesome!
You are so my hero. My RSVPs are through our wed-site too, but are not nearly as thorough as yours. I love that there’s no real way for people to add extra people to their RSVPs the way that you’re doing it. I can just see them entering an extra person and getting the error, “oops! You have entered a guest who has not been invited.”
that is soo cool - plus it’s so personalized - love it!
Great job! We did online RSVP and it was great! We had a few people who just flat out never responded (and continue to ignore follow-ups!) but overall I loved having it online!
This is so awesome - I am going to show this to FI and I know he’ll totally want to to do this too.
Btw, would Brother Eggplant be willing to create a similar website for us for a fee?
Best. RSVP. Ever. He should start a website that focuses on responses, I think a lot of brides would love to do this! I would.
HOT DAMN! That’s amazing!
Seriously…you should pimp out his services.
We did online RSVP only as well and our guests loved it. We had a really high response rate and only had to track down a few people after the deadline. I went with Wedshare.com because of their RSVP system, which was so much better than the knot’s system. Brother Eggplant did an amazing job on your RSVP system…I wish I was that good with databases!
my fiance and i are in the early stages of planning but were thinking about doing an online rsvp. i will definitely take your ideas and use them! thanks so much! i also like how you’ve controlled the number of guests by stating how many seats are reserved for them! LOVE IT!
hot diggity - that is so nifty and cool! i love it! you guys are so super creative!
Even better, this will probably cut down on the can I bring my uninvited ______ calls.
my FI did the same thing for us with our website. we did really well in the beginning - over 25% replied in the first week. but then it started to lag - REALLY lag. we were only at 80% response by the time the deadline came around, and that was b/c we started calling at 60% to start reminders. our seating chart is due in 2 weeks and we’re still tracking down about 10-15 people. most people loved the idea, but i guess weren’t at their computers to reply and forgot.
amazing how people think they rsvped - some even thought that they “mailed” it in!!!
hahaha I just love em’s response. hahaha
We did a website RVSP…not NEARLY as detailed as yours though! Looks fabulous! plus saves on stamps! I love doing online RSVPs
Ugh, that’s amazing? I seriously see a cash cow here–I think you should encourage Brother Eggplant to market this (when I read he manipulated all the coding, I am assuming he built it from scratch?). I wish we’d had this option!
Super Idea. Who do you use to host your wedding site. I think the form is great. Did you build the form yourself?
you are very lucky. that’s so much cooler than every other RSVP-making site. so much more personal and tailored to fit your specific events. so cool. i wish i knew more than css.
Thanks guys! I will give my brother the postive feedback. He will appreciate it! And maybe even start something on the side? 
wsukarebear: Yes, he did code it from scratch. I predict that Brother Eggplant is next on the list to be wed, so he probably had some incentive in building the RSVP system. 
My: I’m not sure who is hosing our website, but I can tell you that my little bro did build the RSVP form from the ground up.
awesome!! i’d respond quicker via online than mailing the card too. =)
Your RSVP is amazing! We did online RSVPs through weddingwindow.com, and it has been really easy so far! I’m definitely glad that we went this route…
this is by FAR the BEST web RSVP i’ve ever seen! I have a feeling you will get a really high response rate especially among those aged 50 and younger. (i know its like pulling teeth with getting people to send back their snail mail responses!) I’ve been invited to “e mail response” weddings and have found that so tacky…but the way you’ve set up your response site is so elegant! If I had the talent/patience to do this, i certainly would! Great job.
Your invitations and website are all so pretty. We didn’t include and RSVP system like that we just set up an rsvp account for our webpage and mentioned it on the cards, but also sent traditional stamped envelopes so that people could mail back. However I’ve had hardly any response of either kind and my first deadline is in 10 days 
