Add guests and collect their RSVPs

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

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 row with the same first name, last name and group_name as a guest on your list is that guest, and they keep their RSVP. They take the email, phone, side and plus ones from your sheet where those cells are filled in, and plus ones only go up. So you can import the same sheet again after adding rows, and only the new guests are added. Your sheet does not sync by itself, so import it again whenever it changes. Renaming a guest or changing their group_name in the sheet adds a new guest and keeps the old one, so make those changes and any removals on the Guests page. 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

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 belongs to the group. 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.

A link for each guest

Some groups are people who don't know each other, like a table of friends from work. Each guest's row has its own link button. Click it to copy a personal link that opens your invitation with that one guest only: they see their own name and their own plus-ones, never anyone else's, and they answer just for themselves. The group's Copy Link keeps working beside it.

To send a group's emails the same way, open the group's menu, choose Edit and turn on Each guest answers for themselves. Invitation emails and reminders then carry each guest's personal link instead of the group link, and a guest who searches for their name sees only themselves. QR cards still carry the group link, so send these guests their personal links instead of a card.

If you use booths with stubs, a personal link's claim pass counts that guest's own stubs: theirs and their plus-ones'. A booth that gives one item for the whole group shows as Shared with your group, without saying who already took it. When staff scan a personal link at a booth, that guest is already picked on the group's card.

Step 3: Guests open their link and answer

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.

Under the search, How do I find my link? tells guests their link is in your invitation message or on their printed invitation, and to message you if they can't find it. To say it your own way, open the Design Studio, go to the RSVP section and, on its Search tab, write your own Help Message. The Responding tab also has a Group Greeting, the line over a family's form: type {group_name} where the group's name should go, like "Mabuhay, !".

Step 4: Follow the answers on your Guest List

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. Don't want notes? Open the Design Studio, go to the RSVP section and, on its Responding tab, turn off Let guests add a message. "Include a message?" then disappears from the form. Messages you already got stay on your Guest List.
• Change an answer yourself: click the pencil (Edit RSVP) beside a guest's answer, for example when a guest tells you by chat instead.
• Make new link: in a group's menu, Make new link replaces the group's link with a new one and copies it. The old link stops working at once, and so do the personal links the group's guests got, copied or emailed. 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.

Can guests in one group answer without seeing each other?

Yes. Copy each guest's personal link from their row, or turn on Each guest answers for themselves in the group's Edit window so emails send personal links. A personal link shows that guest alone. If one reaches the wrong person, use Make new link on the group: it stops every link the group has, so send the others their new links.

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 or download a CSV. You choose the columns and their order, who to include and how to sort, and the choices are remembered for next time. Tick Entourage role to include it, with two roles written as "Principal Sponsors; Bible Bearer". Pick Import back for a file you can bring back in through Import.

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