Proper way to say "limited Seating" on details/rsvp card

I had the same situation. Unfortunately, many of my guests did not understand me and were offended. That's why it's hard to advise something, because you never know how the guests will react.

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MY GOD! If that happens to me they are uninvited. i have made it perfectly clear i do not want children at my wedding. My sister in law asked if her child could be a ring bearer. After i had said it was a child free wedding.

I did something similar on the RSVP card that indicated how many guests are invited.

Other versions have been included to show how you can word for the guest to limit their options of not filling in more family members.

This is a very tactful way of saying don't come if you're not invited. I love it. I think this is a common problem for all brides. I too am worried about my 20-something cousins bringing a plus one just for the sake of bringing someone, ie not in a committed relationship.

As well as putting how many seats have been reserved, you could also do RSVP cards where you list everyone's name on a separate line with a tick box to attend and a tick box to not attend. If they have to choose their meal, you can add that to the same line. For example:

James [] will not be attending [] will be attending and would like to dine on []Main 1 []Main 2

Jane [] will not be attending [] will be attending and would like to dine on []Main 1 []Main 2

It probably won't stop the determined ones from writing in extra people, but it'll be clear who is invited and who is not, especially if you don't list children or a child's meal option.

I think the line you have is a great way to indicate you are planning a very specific amount of people! It's polite yet still sounds firm! If anyone calls to ask or complain just explain to them exactly as you have done here I think it's perfect!

The wording i put for the RSVP was ___ guests. This way every household has no extras yo invite.

"_ seats have been reserved in your honor" is a perfect way to handle this, as well as addressing the invitation explicitly to those who are invited, as in "Mr and Ms Smith" and not "The Smiths" or "The Smith Family".

I'm honestly terrified of this too! We have RSVPs online, so we have a box where you put your plus one, but we make is clear and say "Please be respectful of the names on the invitation." This was for if we are just inviting the parents of a big family we know.
On the invitations we only put the parents names. If it's a whole family we will put "The_____Family" on the invite.

You can also maybe appease your community members by inviting them to just the ceremony and say that the reception is reserved for close family and friends of the bride and groom (Aka not the parents). But my ceremony is an hour long Catholic Mass which makes it worthwhile timewise for people coming out to it. If your ceremony is short maybe do a little coffee and cookie bar right after, so the people who aren't going to the reception feel included and able to celebrate a little bit.

Sorry for the long winded message. I've thought about this a lot 😂😂😂

View quoted message Yeah, I couldn’t believe it. It wasn’t for my wedding, but I expect she will do it to me as well

I like the sentence “we have reserved _seats for you” that’s prefect Brittany I might have to use that on my invitations. But I’m expecting my family to be perfect and not invite people who aren’t invited 😂😂😂

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For real?

I don't understand why people assume this is okay.

One of my bridesmaids is getting married this year and that’s what she did with her invites, and it makes perfect sense to me! If someone has an issue with it, then can contact you for clarification. It just makes it clear who is invited. No surprise guests!

My sister did this. totally ok.

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I second this. My aunt wrote on her invite (that was meant for her and my uncle), "and *cousin name*"!

That's fine. It's a nice way of saying you can't bring extra. However, there are brides who have had a couple of people who have crossed out the number and write their own so be prepared for that.

That’s a good way to do it. We just wrote the names of whoever was invited, but I’m anticipating that uninvited people will show up anyway.

That's a great way to put it. It doesn't give them an option to add more guests. If it says "2 seats are reserved for you...." Then they will understand that only 2 seats but you will likely get guests calling or asking you about bringing extra guests and all you have to say if that there is very limited seating at the wedding so the amount of seats your invitation says is all you get. It's hard to confront family like that but they will understand.

We put the whole “we have reserved _ seat(s) for you.” I don’t think it’s rude at all and it clears it up for the guests too. They know exactly who is supposed to be there because it’s awkward for them to have to ask if they can bring so and so.