Last updated: 7 October 2026
The short answer: decide where guests will reply, ask only for their name and headcount, put one closing date on the card, send the link over WhatsApp, and lock the pax with your caterer a week before the majlis. Setting it up takes an evening. Chasing the people who never answer is the real work. Below are the full steps, lines you can copy straight onto a card, and our eight newest designs with RSVP already built in. Want a digital wedding card with the RSVP already built in? That's the third section.
The eight latest designs in our catalogue. These are real cards, not mockups, and each has the RSVP form inside the card, so guests reply on the same page where they read the date and location. Tirai Baldu and Bertaut Kasih animate as you scroll. Tap any of them to open the full catalogue.
An RSVP is the part of an invitation that asks a guest to confirm attendance by a stated date. For a Malaysian wedding it usually collects three things and nothing more: the guest name, how many people are actually coming, and which session they will attend if the majlis runs morning and afternoon. Some hosts add a field for dietary needs or a table number. The replies become the figure you hand the caterer, the number of chairs set out under the khemah, and the quantity of doorgifts you order. Without them you are guessing, and families almost always guess high because running out of food in front of 300 people is the fear that outranks every other. That padding is money you never get back. RSVP looks like admin, and it is also the one job before the majlis that puts cash back in your pocket.
Printed cards used to carry a small reply card that guests posted back. Almost nobody does that now. Replies arrive by phone, whether that is a WhatsApp message, a form, or a button built into the invitation itself.
Start about two months out if you can. Cards that land six weeks ahead collect the most replies, and they leave you time to chase the quiet ones before the caterer wants a final number.
Under 80 invitations, one person can still count WhatsApp replies. Past that, use a form or the RSVP button inside a digital card so every answer lands in one list instead of five group chats. The table further down compares all four options.
Those two are non-negotiable. Add a session choice if you are running separate morning and afternoon slots, and a phone number if you want a way to follow up on unclear answers. A wishes box is nice to have. Keep it optional, because each extra required field loses you replies.
Two to three weeks before the majlis. Print it on the invitation itself rather than in the message that carries it, since chat messages sink within a day. One date only.
One short sentence with the date and a request for headcount (samples below). Message close family and older relatives individually and broadcast to everyone else. Same wording, but personal messages get answered faster.
A week out, total the confirmed pax, add roughly 15% of the silent names, and give that number to the caterer. Keep the list open afterwards. Late replies trickle in until the night before, and you will want them for the seating.
With a digital card you don't build the RSVP separately. The form is already in the card and replies land in your dashboard. Here's how it works on MajlisKenduri.
Every card in the catalogue comes with an RSVP form. Preview for free to see it on a guest's phone.
Names, date, venue, programme and contact numbers. Guests see all of this before they reach the RSVP.
Pay RM10 once and send the link in a WhatsApp broadcast. Guests enter their name and headcount on the card, no account needed.
The pax count climbs in real time. When your closing date arrives, export the CSV and send it to the caterer.
Guests who RSVP'd can be scanned at the door, so you know who actually turned up.
Malaysian wedding catering is priced per head. A standard buffet runs roughly RM35 to RM60 per person depending on the menu, the tent and where the hall is. At 300 guests that is RM10,500 to RM18,000, usually the largest single line in the whole budget.
Now price the error. Order for 300, have 240 walk in, and RM2,100 to RM3,600 goes out with the leftovers. Flip it: 360 arrive against a 300-head order, and the guests who come late in the afternoon find empty trays. Both outcomes come from the same unverified guess.
Which one fits depends on how long your list is and how much counting you want to do by hand. Under 80 invitations, one person can hold WhatsApp replies together. Past that, it turns into a second job for whoever volunteered.
On MajlisKenduri, steps two and three are a single screen in the editor. Tick which fields to show (phone, number of guests, a note), mark the required ones, and set a closing date. Replies collect in one list with a running pax total, and you can export it as a CSV for the caterer.
| Method | Cost & effort | Works when |
|---|---|---|
| Printed reply card | Printing plus postage; replies take weeks | A formal majlis with a short guest list |
| WhatsApp replies | No extra cost, but you tally every message yourself | Under 80 invitations with one person managing |
| An online form | You build it yourself; answers land in a spreadsheet | You are comfortable in spreadsheets and will tidy the data |
| RSVP button in a digital card | Included in the card, from RM10 paid once | 150 guests and up, or two separate sessions |
These six lines are the reply request only, not invitation wording. They run from formal down to casual. Whichever you pick, name a date and ask for a headcount. A request with no date gets read, considered, and forgotten by dinner.
A healthy response rate sits somewhere around 60% to 75% of the list. Most of the silent ones are not refusing. They read the message while holding a child, meant to reply after, and never did.
A date printed on the card beats a date mentioned in the message you sent it with. Choose one that leaves you room to negotiate with the caterer, and never put two different deadlines on the same invitation.
A single WhatsApp nudge about a week before the deadline pulls in most of the outstanding replies. Repeated broadcasts make people mute the group, which is the opposite of what you wanted.
Name, headcount, session. Every extra field costs you replies. Dietary questions can go directly to the handful of guests you already know need them.
For the last 30 to 50 names, message individually or ring them. Older relatives answer a call, not a button. It is an hour of work and it usually moves the final number more than anything else on this list.
Most RSVP trouble starts with a vague ask, or with answers landing in three different places that nobody merged. Guest laziness is rarely the cause.
Choose one place for guests to reply (WhatsApp, a form, or a button in a digital card), ask for name and headcount, set a single closing date two to three weeks before the majlis, send the link out, and confirm the pax with your caterer a week before the day.
Yes. Google Forms costs nothing and handles a small list fine: add questions for name, headcount and session, copy the link, and paste it into your invitation message. The catch is that the form sits apart from the card, so guests open two links and you clean up the spreadsheet yourself when someone replies twice.
It is a request for guests to reply and confirm attendance by a set date. For a Malaysian majlis those replies are used to work out catering pax, seating and the number of doorgifts to order.
Yes, even when the majlis is open to everyone. You are not limiting who may come, only replacing a guess with an estimate. One RSVP button with a headcount field gives the caterer something defensible to work from.
Roughly 60% to 75% of the list replies, and about 70% to 85% of those who confirm actually turn up. On 300 invitations that means somewhere near 200 to 230 people through the door.
They can, and they will. A child falls ill, a car breaks down, another majlis lands on the same Saturday. Keep the list in something you can edit up to the day, not a printout made a month ahead.
Take the confirmed count, add about 15% of the silent names, and work to that figure. Then call the 30 to 50 people whose attendance genuinely matters to you, and let the rest be a surprise.
Every MajlisKenduri card carries an RSVP button and a guest list that tallies pax on its own. Pay once, from RM10.
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