I have an A, B and C list for my wedding being held on June 1st. I'm just about ready to order invitations but I'd like to put a deadline date on the RSVP cards. That way I know if I should send an invitation to someone else from the next list. The problem is, I would have to order RSVP cards with different dates and I don't know if that can be done. If not, (I'm being a bit proactive as I'm in the process of asking the invitation company about this), do you have any suggestions on what I can do?
I don't have any ideas about your invitations. But, I would caution you about having a B and C list. As a good host, you would not want any of your guests to feel as if they are less important as others. So, it is best to allow for a long response time and hope that your A list guests will respond quickly. As they respond in the negative, then you can invite others. But, no one should be invited with less than 6 weeks left before the wedding, because they shouldn't know that they are on a B or C list. In fact, the new standard is to mail invitations two months before the wedding because we are so spread out these days and may need time to arrange travel and lodging.
I agree, I don't want my guests to feel less important. However, I need the guests on the A list to know that I'd like them to respond by a certain time so that I can allow for other guests and still meet the 6 week deadline.
Some guests will tell you if they cannot attend when you mention the date (verbally) to them. So, if you have on-going communication with some of your A list guests, you will have a rough idea of who will or will not attend.
One way to help you in this (just thought of it--silly me) is to send out save the dates to only those on the A list. It is best to do this very soon. Even though this is not an invitation and there is no RSVP, many usually reply with their intentions.
RSVP deadline with multiple guest lists
