Dovely
WhatsApp is where most Indian and diaspora wedding guests prefer to hear from you. But managing 200+ individual chats is chaos. Here's how to do it right — using Dovely's broadcast tool so messages go out at scale without looking like spam.
Why Dovely uses a template-based approach
Meta requires that businesses send the first message in a conversation using an approved template. Dovely handles template registration so you don't have to. Your invite and reminder messages are sent via the WhatsApp Business Platform — which means they arrive in the guest's personal WhatsApp, looking like a message from you.
Once a guest replies or clicks your invite link, you can send follow-up messages in that conversation directly. The broadcast tool takes care of the first touch for each guest.
Credits: what you spend and when
Each WhatsApp message sent through Dovely deducts credits from your wallet:
- 1.9 credits per message to Indian numbers (+91)
- 5 credits per message to international numbers
A batch of 200 Indian guests costs 380 credits. A mixed list of 150 Indian + 50 international guests costs 535 credits. Top up your wallet before scheduling a large broadcast — a broadcast that runs out of credits mid-send will pause and resume once topped up, but guests earlier in the list will have received the message while later guests haven't.
Segment before you send
Not every guest should get every message. Dovely lets you filter by event, city, side, or custom tag before sending. Practical examples:
- Send venue directions only to guests confirmed for that event
- Send shuttle pickup times only to guests tagged as "out of town"
- Send the mehendi reminder only to guests invited to the mehendi
- Send a different dress code message to Side A vs Side B families
Filtering before sending saves credits and keeps messages relevant. Guests who receive information that doesn't apply to them are the guests who stop reading.
Timing reminders
Three broadcasts tend to get the best response rates:
- Save-the-date — 3–4 months out. Short message, one link. No questions yet.
- Formal invite with RSVP deadline — 6–8 weeks out. Include the personal RSVP link and the deadline date.
- RSVP nudge — 1 week before the deadline, to non-responders only. Dovely can filter the guest list to people who haven't submitted an RSVP automatically.
A fourth broadcast — final logistics (venue directions, parking, dress code) — one week before the wedding is the most-read message of all. Keep it short.
What not to do
- Don't send from your personal WhatsApp number. Individual forwarded invites get marked as spam by Meta if too many people report them or don't engage. Use Dovely's broadcast tool which routes through the Business Platform.
- Don't add guests who haven't heard of your wedding yet. If a guest receives a WhatsApp from an unknown number about a wedding they weren't expecting, they'll block it. Add guests to Dovely with the numbers they'll recognise your messages from.
- Don't send the same broadcast twice by accident. Dovely shows sent history per guest so you can check before firing again.
International guests
International numbers cost 5 credits per message. For a small international group (say, 20 guests), it's worth sending a separate, slightly more detailed message that includes the RSVP link, timezone-localised event times, and any travel logistics — rather than sending 5 separate messages that add up.
Dovely renders event dates in the guest's local timezone on the invite page automatically. Direct international guests to the invite link; the page does the timezone work for them.
Email as a fallback
For guests whose WhatsApp number you're not confident about, use email as the primary channel. Email reminders cost 1 credit per send regardless of country. Dovely can send both channels for a guest, or just one — configure per-guest or per-broadcast from the broadcast settings.