Let’s Help Build an RSVP Culture in Thai Society with ARA-YA

Let’s help build an RSVP culture in Thai society.

What is RSVP?
Put as simply as possible, RSVP means “responding to an invitation” — but in a fairly formal way, such as replying via a card or online. RSVP is a French term, from “Répondez s’il vous plaît,” which in English means “Please Respond,” or in Thai, please reply (whether or not you’ll attend), through a card or online.


What are the benefits of RSVP?
The purpose is to let the host know the number of guests attending, which makes preparation much easier — a very important factor. For example, if the host knows exactly how many guests are confirmed, they can prepare a budget, food, tables, chairs, and seating that’s sufficient for the guests (no need to guess by booking extra hotel banquet tables in case guests don’t show). Some RSVPs also include details about food type — for example, vegetarian, or how many companions are attending, such as coming with a son or daughter. In other words, the higher the proportion of guests who respond through an RSVP system, the better it is for both the host and the guests.

Weddings in Thailand and RSVP culture
When holding a wedding in our country, confirming attendance is usually done by word of mouth, returning the envelope in the final week, giving the envelope after the event day, or simply not showing up at all. Overall, Thailand doesn’t yet have a concrete RSVP culture. Having managed many weddings, I’ve seen couples run into serious trouble from not being able to predict whether a given guest will actually come or not. There have been many times a guest said they would come, but on the actual day, they didn’t show up. In practice, our guest-list management system here is still purely a guessing game, which causes huge stress for couples when they need to allocate the guest list and budget appropriately. Once invitation cards have been handed out, I always tell couples to prepare seating regardless, since not having enough seats if a guest does show up is a much bigger problem. All this means that unconfirmed attendance forces couples to set aside a larger contingency budget as well.

Let’s help build an RSVP culture with Ara-ya
That said, we also have to understand the nature of our guests — changing a culture always takes time to build gradually. Bang Joke and the Araya team are committed to making this culture happen in weddings, by using the most streamlined system possible, one that’s as low-hassle as possible for guests who tend to respond less, requiring time to gradually adjust. In upcoming cases, we’ll be trying out tools such as creating a Facebook Event, working together with Araya’s guest-list planning system, or looking for other channels that can be added.
To make an RSVP culture happen in our Thai society, let’s help each other out. It adds one small extra response step, but once you become the bride or groom yourself, this culture will let you take care of your guests better, by making your budget go further and not wasting anything — and making that happen takes everyone pitching in. Let’s do this!

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