Dovely
A well-written RSVP form saves hours of follow-up. Most confusion at weddings traces back to vague or missing RSVP questions. Here are the questions that actually work — and the wording that keeps things friendly, not clinical.
The basics: attendance and events
If you have multiple events (ceremony, mehendi, reception, sangeet), ask about each one separately. Don't assume everyone invited to one is attending all of them.
"Which events are you planning to attend? Select all that apply."
- Mehendi — Friday, 7pm at [venue]
- Baraat & Ceremony — Saturday, 11am
- Reception — Saturday, 7pm
In Dovely, you define events once and the RSVP form shows the right subset for each guest based on which events they're invited to.
Dietary and allergies
A single open-text field works better than a checkbox list here, because people have specific combinations your options won't cover.
"Any dietary requirements or allergies we should know about? (e.g. vegetarian, nut allergy, gluten-free)"
Make this field optional but clearly labelled. Guests who have no requirements will leave it blank. Guests who do will fill it in unprompted. Dovely stores this on the guest record so your caterer export shows the column automatically.
Plus-ones
Only show the plus-one question to households where you've flagged the allowance. Dovely filters this automatically — guests without a plus-one allowance never see the field.
"Will you be bringing a guest? If yes, what is their name and any dietary notes?"
Asking for the name upfront means you don't have a mystery plus-one arriving on the day with no seating assignment.
Travel and accommodation
If you're arranging transport or accommodation for out-of-town guests, a single checkbox tells you who needs what.
"Are you travelling from outside [city]?" — Yes / No
"Do you need help with accommodation recommendations?" — Yes / No
Use the travel tag in Dovely's guest list to filter and broadcast logistics separately to this group later.
Questions to avoid
- Open "message to the couple" fields. Sweet in theory, but they generate hundreds of messages you can't act on and the useful ones get lost.
- Asking for addresses at RSVP. Most guests won't bother and you already have their contact details. If you need postal addresses, do a targeted follow-up to the households that matter.
- Song requests. Unless your DJ specifically wants this input, it creates expectation you can't fulfil.
Keep the deadline visible
Dovely shows the RSVP deadline on the invite page. Set it 3–4 weeks before your caterer's headcount deadline — you'll need time to chase the non-responders. The broadcast scheduler can send a reminder to guests who haven't replied as the deadline approaches, so you don't have to message people individually.
One more thing: test the form
Before sending to guests, use Dovely's preview link to fill in the RSVP form yourself. Check that the event list looks right, the dietary field is present, and the confirmation screen is friendly. A three-minute test prevents a hundred confused WhatsApp replies.