A Guide to Inviting Guests to a Celebration of Life
You’ve booked the venue, decided on the time,
now it’s time to invite your guests
Introduction
When you’ve decided to host a celebration of life, it’s important to communicate the important event information to your guests. We chose one of our first posts to focus on invitations and the RSVP process to help you gather your thoughts and decide the best method for your planning group.
Before Invitations go out...
We recommend that you choose a venue before deciding on your guest list. For in person events, you will want to make sure that you do not invite more guests than the venue can hold.
If you find yourself with a large guest list, we highly recommend adding a virtual component to the ceremony to encourage guests to attend and participate, even if they can't join in person.
Invitation Details
Ultimately, you'll want to include any and all details that will help your guests feel comfortable so they can participate fully. Part of feeling comfortable is understanding the expectations so they can be prepared.
Here's what we recommend to include on your invitations:
A photo of the honouree
Date of the Event (include the year so you can treat the invite like a keepsake)
Time of the event (if virtual or hybrid, inlcuding two other time zones to ease confusion)
Location (bonus points if you can link to a Google Maps URL or recommend parking in the area)
When guests should respond by
Special instructions or an encouragement to bring a special something with them
Dress Code*
*This one deserves its own blog post, but ultimately you'll want to encourage guests to dress based on the occasion. Sometimes the event will feel more appropriate as a casual affair and other times, you'll want to encourage guests to dress in their best. Let the intended tone and feel of the event guide the dress code recommendation.
Public Notice or Private Invitation?
A celebration of life can be an open invitation or a private event, depending on what your planning group decides.
An open invitation is one that is posted publicly with instructions on how people can RSVP and attend. An open invitation is a more accessible way to spread the word and to connect with those you may not have contact information for already.
If you would like to host a private event but do not have contact details for everyone, we recommend creating a Save the Date email with information on how guests can RSVP.
For private events, we recommend creating an invitation with all event details and sending an email out to your guests with the information. We love using Canva to customize the invitations to our unique preferences.
To Track or Not to Track?
There are several reasons we recommend tracking who will be attending. The first and most obvious reason is to understand how many people you may be feeding if you decide to host a reception following the ceremony. You should be able to estimate how much food you will need for your event, based on the number of guests who are coming.
RSVPs can also be helpful if your venue requires tables and chairs to be set up. Knowing how many guests are attending can encourage you to get creative with seating plans that are more inviting than chairs in rows of straight lines.
Further, we love it when our clients can estimate how many people will be in attendance at their event so they'll have a better idea of what to expect on the day.
Some families find that tracking invitations and seeing who is coming beforehand can reduce their anxiety.
It also helps to know who to follow up with to confirm if they are coming or not!
And Finally…
It can certainly be overwhelming to create an attendee list, set up your RSVPs, handle the guest list, and manage your attendees while grieving (in your own way). We hope you found the post above helpful and are here if we can help you set up your own RSVP list, select the perfect venue, or coordinate the details for this special event.