RSVP

The term RSVP comes from the French expression "répondez s'il vous plaît", meaning "please respond". If RSVP is written on an invitation it means the invited guest must tell the host whether or not they plan to attend the party / wedding.

personally, i think the term is not that widely used in our society just yet unless you are having the weding in a hotel or some other fancy place which means the host needs a definite head count for the planned event, and needs it by the date specified on the invitation. it would be a termendous waste for the host who has not recieved the response from the invited guests. waste of foods, doorgifts, etc.

i still remember a wedding i attended a few years ago where i needed to answer the RSVP. i felt a bit awkward at first sebabnya tak pernah dapat kad kawen yang guests kena indicate nak datang ka dak..and i was complaining it to my friend..napa lak kena bagitau nak pi ka dak..bukan kenduri ni tak payah bagitau ka semua tu? heheh...later i slowly undestood why is the RSVP is so damn important...bayangkan lah if u have to pay at least RM80 per head, and your invited around 500 people. but the turn out is only half of the number...MEMBAZIR kan??? that is the first thing that we should avoid when it comes to wedding...membazir sahabat syaitan..

but, being in a society that is still not used to the RSVP term is quite a challenge i guess cos orang2 kita mana lah layan segala RSVP ni sangat kan..so mau tak mau we, the hosts terpaksa jugak la order extra foods, doorgifts, dan sebagainya...if terkurang masalah..if terlebih pun still masalah jugak kan! especially yang ada bajet yang perlu dituruti.

but i think, in future i would really love to see more of RSVP in the invitation cards. An incomplete list of respondents can cause numerous problems for a host including difficulty in planning food quantities, issues relating to minimum guarantees with catering halls, uncertainty over the number of party favors and difficulties in planning appropriate seating, among other things.

in an event such as wedding, i firmly believe that the bride and the groom are the people that we celebrate not so much on celebrating the guests..so as the guests we should at least care a little with a prompt reply to RSVP...just a thought! =)