What is R.s.v.p and Who Actually Responds Anyway?

Complicating social etiquette for decades

If you are sending out either formal or informal invitations and want to know who will accept and who will decline, it is considered good form to include the initials R.s.v.p at the bottom of the invitations.

It’s debatable how many people actually use these initials anymore on their invitations, not to mention how many, if any, will actually respond. Regardless, event planners have been using these intials for decades, trying in vain to gather statistics on who will attend their events; most of them having no clue what the initials R.s.v.p actually stand for.

R.s.v.p is an abbreviation for Répondez s’il vous plait which is French for “Please Respond”. R.s.v.p is the correct form to use on an engraved invition, that is, ensuring that the “R” is capitalized and the rest of the letters are lowercase. You must also make sure that a period seperates each letter. Many event planners incorrectly use the abbreviation with variations such as R.S.V.P and RSVP, the nerve of some people!

On wedding or other formal invitations, you may also use the phrase “The favour of a reply is requested”. When issuing an informal invitation, especially to a large party or one not including a meal, you may use the phrase “Regrets Only” which only requires the invitee to inform you if they plan “not” to attend.

The most polite way of answering invitations depends on the formality and structure of the invitation that you receive. In an effort to confuse partygoers everywhere, event planners and “holders of official event doctrine” have established dozens of “official” alterations of formal invitations that require a PhD in Social Communications to determine what it is that you, as the invitee, are actually supposed to without offending event planners who’s world may surely come to an end should you dare to use the incorrect response.

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