How to Send Invitations and Manage Guests Online

A 400-guest wedding reception rarely goes wrong on the day. It goes wrong in the weeks before, when replies arrive as voice notes and "we'll try", and nobody knows the real count. Engagements and corporate launches are no different.

The fix is one guest list, one personal invitation per guest, and one place where every reply lands. Here's how it works on Evatril. If you still forward one PDF to everyone, read why WhatsApp invitations are not enough for modern events. No invitation yet? Start with how to create a digital invitation.

Type guests in one by one, upload an Excel or CSV file, or pick from your phone contacts in the Android app.

Fix wrong names, because each guest sees their own name on the invitation. Then sort people into groups such as Family, Friends and Colleagues, so you can send to a whole group or limit it to certain functions.

Add guests or whole groups to the Sending Cart. Sending is charged per guest from your Sending Wallet when you confirm, not when a guest opens it. Current rates are on the pricing page.

After checkout, choose what each invitation collects. RSVP is always on; food preference and QR Pass are optional. For a wedding with a Haldi, Sangeet and reception, say yes to sub-event RSVP, add each function, and show the Colleagues group only the reception. See setting up Multi-RSVP for Indian weddings.

Send Now goes out straight away. Schedule Later starts at today's date, 30 minutes from now, and you can change both. Before either goes out, you confirm that your guests know you and are expecting your invitation. For how far ahead to send, see when to send wedding invitations.

Each guest gets one Kindly RSVP message on WhatsApp or RCS from Evatril's official sender (on WhatsApp it shows as "Evatril Invitation"). It carries two evatril.com links, Kindly RSVP and View Invitation, and opens in a browser with the guest's own name. No app needed. Follow a complete guest journey screen by screen, and how guests experience Multi-RSVP. After replying, guests are prompted to leave a wish on the free Event Wall, or on the paid Aura Wall, with music and a design built around your event.

Go to Home, tap the event icon, then EVENT REPORT. It shows who viewed the invitation, who hasn't opened it, and who is Attending, Not Attending or Pending. It downloads as PDF or Excel. Replies lock 72 hours before the event date and time. More on RSVP tracking.

There are no automatic reminders. Instead, the Event Report shows exactly who is still pending, so you call or message those people, not all 400. The Emily Post Institute calls it "perfectly polite" for hosts to phone and ask, as long as you keep it friendly.

With QR Pass on, each invitation gets one code the family shares, with an allowance per function. Add staff in Manage Passes; scanning runs from 12 hours before to 12 hours after the event. Staff scan and enter how many people walk in. The pass confirms the invitation, not identity. See how QR Pass entry works.

Go to Home, tap the event icon, then EDIT. Changes are free, and the Event Wall and every guest link update. Messaging every guest on WhatsApp or RCS is a paid per-guest send. Postponing reopens RSVP for a fresh 72 hours from the new date and time. See postpone or cancel an event.

Every decision after sending, from caterer to gate, comes from one list, and that protects the budget. The Event Report shows invitations sent, opened and confirmed for each function, so you can book catering, seating, hotel rooms, guest transport and return gifts for the real number. Guessing is expensive: a study by the Indian Institute of Public Administration for India's consumer affairs ministry found that 15 to 20% of the food served at social gatherings is wasted, with weddings the worst (Business Standard). Ordering for confirmed guests wins much of that back.

The feature that does this is Evatril's personal Kindly RSVP sending, with the Event Report and QR Pass behind it.