Add guests and collect their RSVPs

Import or add your guests, send each group its own RSVP link, and watch the answers arrive on your Guest List.

Updated

Every RSVP in Ceremo starts on your Guest List. You add your guests in groups, like a family or a couple, and each group gets its own RSVP link. Guests open their link, answer, and their reply shows up on your Guest List right away. Nobody needs an account.

What you need

  • A Ceremo invitation. The free plan covers up to 50 guests. Premium has no guest limit.
  • Your guest names. A spreadsheet is fastest, but you can also type them in.

Step 1: Add your guests

A spreadsheet of names becoming guest groups on the Guest ListThe Santos FamilyCopy LinkTita Linda + 1Copy Link

Open your invitation and go to Guest List. Then pick one of two ways.

Import from Google Sheets

  1. Click the arrow next to Add guest and choose Import.
  2. Not sure how to lay out your sheet? Click Download CSV template. It has one row per guest, with first_name and last_name required. Guests with the same group_name are put in one group. For a family whose names you don't know yet, leave both names blank on a row with their group_name: each such row becomes a seat they fill in when they RSVP.
  3. Connect your Google account, then click Choose from Google Drive and pick your spreadsheet.
  4. Check the Column Mapping and the preview. Rows with only one of the two names are skipped, and the preview tells you how many.
  5. Click Import Guests.

Importing adds to your list. Nobody is removed. A guest already on your list with the same first and last name stays in their group and keeps their RSVP. They take the email, phone, side and plus ones from your sheet where those cells are filled in. So you can import the same sheet again after adding rows, and only the new guests are added. If an email or phone number in your sheet has a typo, that guest is still added without it, and the import tells you whose to fix.

Add a group by hand

  1. Click Add guest.
  2. Type each guest's first and last name. Email and phone are optional. Click Add another guest for everyone in the same household.
  3. Set how many plus ones they may bring, and which side they are from.
  4. Give the group a name, for example "The Santos Family", and click Create Guest Group.

Don't know the names yet?

Invited a family but not sure who is coming, or how their names are spelled? Set Seats without names, at the top of the form, to the number of places they have. Give the group a name like "The Reyes Family" so you know who it is. On your Guest List each of those seats shows as "Guest 1", "Guest 2" and so on, marked "name pending". When the family opens their link they answer one question, "How many of you are coming?", by tapping a number. A name box then opens for each person coming, and they type a first and last name for each one. Those names then appear on your Guest List. A party with a single seat without a name answers yes or no instead.

Seats without names make RSVPs quicker, but a few things work differently until a name is added. The seat shows as "Guest 1", "Guest 2" on your seat plan, lists and exports, and in Seat finder a guest searches your group's name ("Reyes Family"), not their own.

To do the same in a group you already made, click Edit, then Add a seat without a name.

Send a family like this their group's own link. If they lose it, they can still find their invitation by searching for their family name, for example "Reyes". If they made a typo in a name, they can open their link again, choose Plans changed?, and fix it. Once you change a name yourself, it is yours, and they can no longer change it.

Step 2: Copy and send each group's link

A guest group with its link copied, sent as a message in a chatThe Santos FamilyCopied LinkRSVP

Every group on your Guest List has its own RSVP link.

  1. Find the group and click Copy Link. On a phone, Share opens your phone's share sheet instead.
  2. Paste the link in Messenger, Viber, a text or an email to that group.

The link is personal. It opens your invitation with the group's names already filled in, so guests only have to answer. Send each group its own link, never another group's.

Step 3: Guests open their link and answer

A guest on a phone tapping Joyfully accepts above the Submit RSVP buttonHELLO, SANTOS FAMILYRSVPJoyfully acceptsRegretfully declinesSubmit RSVP

Guests open the link and scroll to the RSVP section. For each person in the group they choose Joyfully accepts or Regretfully declines, add their plus ones' names if they are bringing any, answer your questions, and tap Submit RSVP. Until your RSVP deadline, they can open the same link again to change their answer.

A guest who lost their link can still answer. On your invitation, they search for their name to find their group. A family you added without names searches for their family name instead.

Step 4: Follow the answers on your Guest List

The Guest List with Attending, Declined and Pending counts over guest groups showing their statusATTENDING86DECLINED9PENDING24AttendingPendingDeclined

Go back to Guest List. The counts at the top show who is Attending, who Declined and who is still Pending, and they update as guests reply. Click a count to show only those guests. Each group also shows its own status, plus the answers to your questions.

To remind the guests who have not answered yet, filter by Pending and send them their links again.

Messages and changes

  • Guest messages: a note a guest leaves with their RSVP shows inside their group on your Guest List. It is marked "via invite link" or "via name search", depending on how they answered.
  • Change an answer yourself: click the pencil (Edit RSVP) beside a guest's answer, for example when a guest tells you by chat instead.
  • Rotate Link: in a group's menu, Rotate Link replaces the group's personal link with a new one and copies it. The old link stops working at once. Use it only when a link reached the wrong person. You don't need it after editing your invitation: links always show your latest changes.

Frequently asked questions

Do guests need to sign up or download an app?

No. The link opens in any phone browser, and guests answer without an account.

Can a guest change their answer?

Yes, until your RSVP deadline. They open the same link and submit again. Your Guest List shows the latest answer.

Why does each group get its own link?

The link tells Ceremo exactly which group is answering. That is how you know who replied without guessing from names.

Some guests can only come to the ceremony, or only the reception. Can they say so?

Yes. On your Guest List, open More › RSVP settings (or, in the design studio, your RSVP section's settings) and turn on Guests can come to just the ceremony or just the reception. Guests who are coming then tick Ceremony, Reception or both. Under the switch, choose who answers: Once per group (one answer for everyone coming) or Each guest (everyone coming picks their own part). On your Guest List and your dashboard the Attending count shows a line like "Ceremony 80 · Reception 72", and each guest coming to one part is marked "Ceremony only" or "Reception only" (on the seat plan too). You can change it for a guest with Edit RSVP. Your event-day brief and the Day page count plates for the reception only, so a ceremony-only guest is not in "to feed" or on the kitchen's dietary list. Turn the switch off and every guest counts for both parts again; turn it back on and the answers already given come back. It is off until you turn it on, and works on every plan.

Can I get the list out as a spreadsheet?

Yes. Click the arrow next to Add guest and choose Export to send your Guest List to Google Sheets. The export carries each guest's entourage role too, with two roles written as "Principal Sponsors; Bible Bearer".

Still stuck? Send us a message and we will walk you through it.