Collecting Meal Choices and Dietary Requirements
How to ask for meal selections per guest rather than per household, which dietary questions to ask, and how to hand your caterer numbers they can actually use.
Per person, not per household
The mistake that costs you the most rework: one meal answer for a party of four. Your caterer needs a count per dish and a name against each allergy.
How many options to offer
The trade-off between choice and kitchen complexity, and why three is the usual answer.
Asking about dietary requirements
Free text versus checkboxes. Why a checkbox list misses the case that matters and free text is unsortable — and the hybrid that works.
Allergies are not preferences
Handle them separately. They need a name attached and they go to the caterer as a named list, not a count.
Children's meals
Easy to forget, annoying to collect late.
What your caterer actually wants
The format to hand over: counts per dish, named exceptions, and a total that reconciles with your head count.
Changes after the deadline
They will happen. What to do about them.
Run Your Wedding Guest List by Talking to It
Add guests, change party sizes and check who has not replied by asking, from the same assistant you already have open — no spreadsheet, no forms.
RSVPs for a Destination or Multi-Day Wedding
Why a single yes-or-no does not work when there are three events, how to collect per-event replies, and the earlier timeline a destination wedding needs.
How to Chase Wedding RSVPs Without Being Annoying
A chasing schedule that works, message templates for each round, and how to automate the reminders so you are not the one sending them.
Use our wedding vendor search platform to find the perfect vendors for your big day.