According to the Crane's Wedding Blue Book, although there is no hard and fast rule, most brides use 2 weeks prior to the wedding date for the RSVP. However in my store I counsel my clients to use one month to the date, for several reasons. First, typically your reception facility will ask for your count numbers two weeks prior - therefore if your response date is two weeks it doesn't allow any responses to be late, nor does it allow you time to contact/follow up with those you have not heard from. Secondly - most often invitations are mailed six to eight weeks prior to the wedding. If you mail them eight weeks prior and your response is two weeks prior, that leaves a very long "respond window" of time. People don't mean to, but when they receive something in the mail that they don't have to respond to for over a month - they have no sense of urgency and may stick in a drawer or somewhere and then totally forget about it, thus not responding at all. By creating a shorter respond window it prompts the guest to fill it out and return the card by creating a sense of urgency. I have found that in doing this it helps reduce the number of non-responses. Don't get me wrong - you will still have to chase people (it is inevitable unfortunately), but I have found that you chase less people. Lastly, by selecting a response date one month prior to the date it helps them to remember the date - if you are getting married the 5th of June and your response date is the 5th of May - it helps the guest remember your date!
RSVP deadline date
