Sending the Reply Card

• If you're planning a wedding, reply cards should always be included with a self-addressed, stamped return envelope with the invitations that you send out. Doing so ensures that responding will save your guests any hassle and, hopefully, encourage recipients to reply as quickly as possible. The reply card should always include a "respond by" date to give the recipients a deadline for responding, but should allow a sufficient time for guests to consider their response, especially if the wedding requires travel.
  
  

Dates

• The Knot specifies that "Ideally, invitations should go out six weeks before the wedding--that gives guests plenty of time to clear their schedules for the day and make travel arrangements if they are out-of-towners. It also lets you make the RSVP date a little earlier--say three weeks before the wedding date." However, the more time you allow guests to plan for a destination wedding, the better. And the greater the amount of time between your requested response date and the wedding, the more time you allow for wedding planning. Frugal Bride advises, "If someone hasn't responded to your invitation, 1 week past the 'Reply by' date, call him or her and confirm over the phone."
  
  

Wording

• Wording the reply card is an especially important consideration. If sending the card to a single person, you must let him know whether or not he can bring a guest. For example, address the card to "Mr. John Smith and guest," but leave space for the invitee to include whether or not they will be bringing a guest. When inviting families, Frugal Bride suggests that children over age 16 get their own invitations, though things are a bit flexible, and it is generally acceptable to include those under 18 on their parents' invitation. If children are not allowed at the reception, it is imperative that you include the words "Adult Reception" on the reply card.
  
  

Considerations

• With the increasingly widespread use of the Internet, it has become common to allow for electronic responses to wedding invitations. If you would like to allow for electronic response, you must nonetheless include reply cards with the mailed invitations and let guests decide which method of response they prefer. More traditional invitees may find electronic responses unconventional, so it is often best to include the option in the context of a wedding website that includes information about you and your betrothed, pictures, and basic information about the wedding.
  
  

For Invitees

• If you are invited to a wedding, it is essential, as The Knot notes, to "respond promptly--everything, from seating arrangements to placing the liquor order, is riding on your response." When replying, make sure to consider every piece of information on the invitation and reply card. Are you allowed to bring a guest? If so, make sure you make it clear if you will be. If not, your hosts will assume you are bringing a guest and may order an extra meal. Does the card say "Adult Reception"? If so, under no condition should you bring a child to the reception.