For the host the caterer keeps calling
The caterer wants a number weeks ahead, not the night before. Here is how confirmations, plus-ones, and declines add themselves up the moment a guest replies, so the headcount is settled while you still have time to act on it.
Every vendor asks for the same thing at the same awkward moment: how many people. Order the portions, set the tables, buy the favours. A paper list of maybes cannot answer that, because it counts everyone you might have invited, not the people actually coming.
A headcount that works is one that updates as each real reply lands: a yes adds a body, a named plus-one adds theirs, a decline takes a place off. By the time the caterer calls, the number has been quietly assembling itself, and you are reading it off, not estimating.
The number only holds if each of these counts correctly.
Different vendors read the same headcount differently. Here is what each needs.
Portions follow the confirmed count, broken down by meal where you asked for a choice. The kitchen wants a number per dish, which the replies give you.
Place settings follow the count of people actually coming, so you are not laying places for guests who declined three weeks ago.
Room size, goodie bags, printed names: all of them want a settled number early enough to prepare, not to change on the day.
A single tally is easy to fake; a trustworthy one is harder. The difference is that every figure is tied to a real reply and a real name, so you can look behind the number when someone questions it. Plans still move, of course, but a guest who changes an answer edits the same record, and the count shifts with them. Nothing drifts.
As your list grows, the same mechanism holds; you upgrade the plan as the guest list grows, and see /pricing for what each tier covers. The point is that the number you hand over is one the replies built for you, current to the last confirmation.
How it works
Switch RSVP on so guests confirm from the page you shared, each answer tied to a name on your guest list.
List the dishes you can actually serve and cap how many companions each guest may name, so those figures arrive with the yeses.
Send the link once. Confirms, plus-ones, and declines add and subtract from the running count as each reply lands.
When the caterer calls, read the headcount off the live list instead of assembling one from memory.
Questions
They count as answered, but not toward the places you need. A decline removes the guest from the headcount for catering and seating, so you are not laying a place for someone who has said no.
Each companion is named inside the limit you set, so an extra place is one more actual body with a name attached, rather than a vague slot added to your estimate.
It reflects every reply received up to that moment, and a guest who updates their answer edits the same record, so the figure is current to the last response rather than a snapshot you took early.
The headcount for planning comes from replies. Separately, if you use door check-in, a scan marks a confirmed guest present on the day, which is a different view from the pre-event number.
Your plan governs how large a guest list you can run. Start with what you need, upgrade as your guest list grows, and see /pricing for the current figures rather than a number quoted here.
Get Started
Let confirmations, plus-ones, and declines add themselves up as replies arrive, and give every vendor a headcount that has been building since the first guest said yes.
