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Response Card Help

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Fancy605

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Hi all. I am having a difficult time coming deciding on what to put on response cards for my wedding reception.

We are having quite a formal reception. It will include a sit down plated dinner, and there are 3 menu options. Our caterers are perfectionists, and want to be able to take each guest his/her food without having to ask "who had chicken" etc. I think they have this vision of the food magically appearing infront of everyone without the guests even having to think about it. So, we are having a seating chart and need to know well in advance exatly what each of our guests would like to eat. Of course, that makes response cards difficult. We thought about these options for response cards:

1.A card that has the menu choices listed along with blanks for guests to write in the # of members from their family who would like to have that choice.
The problem with this is that we need to know Who wants what. Some of the families we are inviting are large (9ish people or so).
If we did this we would have to leave out little menue cards that the guests picked up on the way in and set at their places. The problem with that is that people tend to forget what they asked for and grab the wrong thing, and people sometimes forget to grab those cards at all.

2. Send enough response cards for every member of each family to have his/her own response card. The problem with this of course is that it is more expensive, and it will make the envelopes heavier, and it is a lot for guests to have to keep up with.

BUT, after identifying potential issues with the other options, we thought this would be best:

3.A card that looks something like this: (I''m not sure of the exact wording of the entrees)

Please indicate a menu choice for each guest attending
Pecan Encrusted Chicken with Burban Glaze
Name(s)_________________
Filet of Beef in red wine sauce
Name(s)_________________
Mushroom Glazed Salmon in white wine sauce
Name(s)_________________
Unable to attend
Name(s)_________________

The only problem my coordinator (who has never done a wedding like this before) and I can see is that many guests may have never filled out anything like this and may find it confusing. I personally think it is pretty self explanitory, but I wondered what all of you think of the third option.

Response cards...what a trivial thing to be worried over, right?
 

robbie3982

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Fancy, I''m going to have to do this as well. My tasting is next weekend, but the event director already told me when we booked the place that we''d have to put menu selections on the response cards.

I think that the third option is the best, but I do think that people will be confused because people will be confused no matter what you do. I''d say if you go with that option, make sure you put a space between each choice:

Please indicate a menu choice for each guest attending

Pecan Encrusted Chicken with Burban Glaze
Name(s)_________________

Filet of Beef in red wine sauce
Name(s)_________________

Mushroom Glazed Salmon in white wine sauce
Name(s)_________________

Unable to attend
Name(s)_________________

It might help just *a little* with the confusion. I''ll let you know what my place suggests next weekend at my tasting.
 

Fancy605

Brilliant_Rock
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Thanks. I DEF think the spacing will be helpful too. If people mess up on the response cards, I suppose I can always call them and get clarification.

Have fun at your tasting. My fiance and I had the BEST time at ours. Everything was BEYOND our expectations, and we felt so pampered the whole time. It has def. been my favorite part of this whole planning experience. The best part was, they packed us up a basket of the left overs, and we got to have reception food several times.
 

So_happy

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I work as a banquet server at a Hyatt once a week for extra money and frequently I get to work at weddings (they''re my favorite event!!). I work at 100k weddings all the time and we, too, like to not have to ask what each guest is having that evening. It just feels more professional to us to not have to approach each guest as if we''re in a restaurant or something! Especially if you are having a 3-way split! It just takes too long to recite the choices to 250 people.

IMO, the best thing to do is to have cards for each guest, in a different color for each entree option, that they need to put out at thier spot. Most couples put these cards with the seating indicators before guests enter the ballroom. So, each guest picks up thier table number/name indicator and thier entree card. Of course, your response card idea will have had to let you know what each guest is ordering.

This way, us servers take a quick walk around the table and note what each guest is having based on the color of thier card and that''s that. No need to even bother each guest to ask what they are having (except for the rare person who doesn''t put thier card out). This also solves the problem of guests choosing to sit somewhere slightly different than what you provided for in your seating chart.

If your caterer doesn''t like to use entree cards and only wants a seating chart from you with selections indicated, then be prepared for a couple snafus when uncle Jim sits where friend Joan was supposed to sit etc....
 

robbie3982

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Hey Fancy,

I didn''t want you to think I forgot about you, but I''m still waiting to hear from the Events Director. We had our tasting this past weekend and made our choices, but she didn''t show up (supposedly a family emergency, but I don''t know if I believe it...) so I didn''t get to ask her. I sent her an email with our choices and asked how to word the response cards though. I''ll let you know what she says.
 

FireGoddess

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I think the 3rd choice is self explanatory, just make sure the spacing makes it clear which blank line is for which option.
 

ammayernyc

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Dec 23, 2004
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1,268
Maybe I''m in the minority in this, but I HATE being asked on a response card what I want to eat. Personally, I find it tacky.
 

robbie3982

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Date: 4/3/2007 4:20:20 PM
Author: AmandaPanda
Maybe I''m in the minority in this, but I HATE being asked on a response card what I want to eat. Personally, I find it tacky.
Amanda, I personally hate having to choose what I''ll be eating months in advance, but some places (like mine) need a count.
 

ladykemma

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Date: 4/3/2007 4:20:20 PM
Author: AmandaPanda
Maybe I''m in the minority in this, but I HATE being asked on a response card what I want to eat. Personally, I find it tacky.
i would rather tell them what i want to eat rather than be presented with "fish with mushroom sauce", my worst nighmare.
1.gif
 

FireGoddess

Super_Ideal_Rock
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Date: 4/3/2007 4:20:20 PM
Author: AmandaPanda
Maybe I''m in the minority in this, but I HATE being asked on a response card what I want to eat. Personally, I find it tacky.
I love being asked. I''d rather get to choose than have to sit there and not eat something because I don''t like it.
 
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