Numbers and Notes

Numbers and Notes

June 14th, 2010 @ 2:04 pm by Mrs. Sewing
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Planning a destination wedding? Well, there’s one thing they always tell you - be prepared for many “declines”. Obviously, it’s not easy for people to just jump on a plane and romp on some island for a week.

I guess it’s good advice, since our wedding is no exception to the general rule. Here are the numbers:

Egads! Only 40% of our loved ones are actually coming!

At first, I was irrationally upset. Every “no” RSVP depressed me, and it got to the point where Mr. Sew would have to open the envelopes - I couldn’t stand to see the bad news. Some of the declines, in conjunction with the “why are you having your wedding there” statements, felt like personal “I don’t care about you” messages. And it hurt.

However, with time and Mr. Sew’s ever-rational explanations, I eventually came back to reality. Just because many people can’t come doesn’t mean they love us any less. It doesn’t mean they disapprove of our union. It simply means that they can’t come, and I don’t need to know why. Instead of moping over who isn’t coming, I’m just thankful for those that are attending. And I’ll come back and re-evaluate our numbers again after the second reception, where hopefully the missing ~60% can attend!

Now, on a more upbeat note, we got some great responses back with our mad-lib RSVPs! The weird and random cards were our favorite, as you can probably guess:

This captures us perfectly!

And sadly, I’m probably more of a snorer in this relationship.

I like the change-of-mind here.

Whoa there. And as an interesting side note, many of the other cards mentioned underwear as well. What’s with that?

Bad advice, indeed!

Mr. Sew thought I should include at least one sweet one, just so you don’t think all our friends and family are abnormal.

Anyway, I’m really glad we did the Mad-Libs, even though not everyone filled them out. Oh, and speaking of not filling things out - of the 115 invitations we sent out, we had 50 not respond either by card or the wedding website. That’s a whole 43% that we had to call and e-mail for an answer. And Mr. Sew would like me to mention that the lack of etiquette came predominantly from one person’s side of the family. And that person shall remain nameless.

What kind of numbers did you expect? Did they turn out like you thought? And can anyone beat my 40% for worst acceptance percentage?

Tags: guest-list, honolulu, rsvp |

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24 Responses to “Numbers and Notes”

1 2 Last

Member

edb (message) 415 posts, Helper bee

Love the mad-libs! Did you incorporate them into your wedding website as well? We are only doing e-sponses so I would love to add these somewhere…

6/14/10 @ 2:19 pm (reply)

Member

Miss Splash (message) 148 posts, Blushing bee

We’re at 31% — expect to be more like 35%. But it’s also a “out-of-town” experience for most. Wedding is in Upstate NY (my hometown), we currently live/met in Washington, DC and he’s from the Mid-west.

At first I was a bit sad, but thankfully we thought this could happen and didn’t book a place that had a required minimum. So now, we’re saving more money than we had expected! …That’s nice

6/14/10 @ 2:30 pm (reply)

Bee

Miss Cardigan (message) 8,645 posts, Bee Keeper

I love the mad-libs - such a fun idea!

We will probably end up with a low acceptance rate too, just because we’re getting married very shortly after Christmas!

6/14/10 @ 2:35 pm (reply)

Member

sgarrison2 (message) 445 posts, Helper bee

We’re having a destination wedding in Nashville, TN and our coordinator told us to except a 40% acceptance rate. So don’t worry!

6/14/10 @ 2:53 pm (reply)

Bee

Mrs. Hamster (message) 4,046 posts, Honey bee

Those mad libs are hilarious, thank you for sharing some of the responses

6/14/10 @ 3:02 pm (reply)

Member

alivoo01 (message) 2,625 posts, Sugar bee

Those are too funny! Hope you’re keeping those in a wedding box for future memoirs!

6/14/10 @ 3:04 pm (reply)

Guest

Erika

We have a 30% acceptance rate

6/14/10 @ 3:08 pm (reply)

Member

littlemissmango (message) 1,818 posts, Buzzing bee

Dang. I guess this is what I have to look forward to… We live in Oahu but the vast majority of our families and friends are on the mainland. Maybe a second reception over there will be a good idea for us too. Although, I think I won’t tell anyone about that plan until after we get all our RSVP’s, that way they can all feel nice and guilty for not attending, for a while at least!

6/14/10 @ 3:09 pm (reply)

Member

misschristinec@hotmail.com (message) 163 posts, Blushing bee

I feel for you. Even though we arent’t doing a destination wedding, I feel as if we have asked people to travel to Siberia… I’m having a winter *jan 15th* wedding and I am already getitng people telling me that they dont fly in the winter!
HA… It’s like no one goes outside their homes for Christmas!?!? Christmas, my friends, is in the winter!

I love the response “but it’s going to be so cold out”…. it’s not like I am having an outdoor ceremony kooks! The ceremony and reception are at the same place… enough with the excuses…

6/14/10 @ 3:15 pm (reply)

10.

Bee

Miss Scissors (message) 7,343 posts, Bee Keeper

Aww, I’m sorry. We’re in the opposite boat– we were shooting for about 60-70 to attend, and we’re at 90 right now.

6/14/10 @ 3:23 pm (reply)

11.

Bee

Miss Starfish (message) 1,926 posts, Buzzing bee

I have no idea what to expect, I’m sorry your numbers weren’t what you expected, but your wedding will be awesome!

6/14/10 @ 4:03 pm (reply)

12.

Bee

Mrs. Parfait (message) 1,755 posts, Buzzing bee

Lol, that treehugger one is too much! I’m sorry you’re not getting the responses you hoped for. I mean, who wouldn’t jump on the chance to go to Hawaii? : )

6/14/10 @ 4:05 pm (reply)

13.

Member

scournoyer418 (message) 138 posts, Blushing bee

sorry your responses have been low. Love the mad libs idea though! How much fun are those!

6/14/10 @ 4:12 pm (reply)

14.

Bee

Mrs. Pug (message) 3,753 posts, Honey bee

oh i love those responses! and i think we can all guess from which side of the family that 43% came!

6/14/10 @ 4:13 pm (reply)

15.

Member

jordynrose (message) 6,351 posts, Bee Keeper

Those Mad Libs are too funny. I think we are going to have the opposite problem as you, way TOO many people RSVPing. Ours is not a destination wedding though.

6/14/10 @ 5:04 pm (reply)

16.

Member

crayon78 (message) 130 posts, Blushing bee

Love the Mad Libs. I wish we did something like that! We had a destination wedding in Hawaii with about 60% acceptance… but we only invited about 60 people (which includes immediate families) so I think that explains the high %.

6/14/10 @ 6:22 pm (reply)

17.

Bee

Miss Lobster (message) 668 posts, Busy bee

Haha, the mad libs are great! Sadsies the RSVP isn’t turning out how you expected but think this way, you have almost 90% of people that are in state.

6/14/10 @ 8:38 pm (reply)

18.

Member

SapphireSun (message) 5,066 posts, Bee Keeper

I think I win. At our RSVP date, we still had 75% of our cards outstanding. It was brutal!

6/14/10 @ 9:06 pm (reply)

19.

Member

xoxokristin (message) 541 posts, Busy bee

I know how you feel…. Perhaps NO ONE from the groom’s side is coming, his parents definitely aren’t. It makes me sad but I try not to take it personally. If I were invited to a destination wedding right about now (in my case, an international wedding!), I don’t think I’d have the financial resources or the vacation time to go, either.

I can’t believe 50 of your guests never turned anything in. In the words of Stephanie Tanner, “How rude!”

6/15/10 @ 12:22 am (reply)

20.