The Guest Handbook
Collecting addresses
without chasing.
Asking two hundred people for their address, one message at a time, is the single most tedious job in event planning. It is also almost entirely avoidable.
What is the best way to collect guest addresses?
Send one shareable link that each guest fills in themselves, rather than asking individually. Ask for the address in separate fields, ask for the full name as it should be written, and ask once — early, before save-the-dates. Chasing addresses one message at a time is the slowest possible method and produces the most errors.
01
Ask once, ask early, ask everyone at the same time.
The reason address collection drags on for weeks is that most people do it reactively — remembering a missing address at the moment they need it, messaging that person, waiting, forgetting, repeating. Two hundred separate conversations, spread over a month.
One link sent to everybody at once turns a month of chasing into a single afternoon plus a couple of reminders. Do it before save-the-dates go out, because that is the first time you need addresses and it gives you a natural reason to ask that does not feel like admin.
02
What to ask for, and why.
Fewer fields is not better here. These are the ones that prevent a returned envelope or a misspelled name in calligraphy.
| Field | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| Full name, spelled as it should appear | This is what gets printed or written. Ask for it explicitly rather than reusing whatever is in your phone. |
| Everyone at that address who is invited | Confirms the household in one step and catches children you did not know about. |
| Street address in separate lines | One free-text box produces addresses that cannot be printed onto an envelope without hand-editing every one. |
| City, region, postcode, country as separate fields | Country is the field people skip and the one that returns international post. |
| Preferred email and phone | This is your reply channel later. Collecting it now saves a second round of asking. |
| Language they would rather be written to in | Only if your event spans languages — but if it does, this is far easier to ask now than to guess later. |
03
How to run it.
Make one link and send it to everyone
One message, sent to your whole list, with a sentence explaining why you are asking and when you need it. People fill these in immediately if the ask is clear and short.
Ask a household to answer once
Do not make four members of a family each submit the same address. Ask whoever reads it first to confirm everyone at that address, which also gives you the household structure for free.
Chase only the gaps, twice
A week later, message only the households that have not answered. A week after that, message whoever is still missing individually. The pattern is the same as chasing RSVPs, and it works for the same reason.
Fill the last few yourself
There will always be a handful. Ask a parent or a mutual friend rather than the guest — for older relatives especially, someone in the family almost certainly has it written down.
Check the list before you print anything
Scan for missing countries, missing postcodes, and names that are obviously informal. Fixing twelve addresses on screen costs minutes; fixing them after printing costs a reprint.
Do not collect addresses in a public spreadsheet. A shared sheet where every guest can see every other guest's home address is a genuine privacy problem, and it happens constantly because it is the easiest thing to set up. Use anything where each guest sees only their own entry.
04
Common questions
When should I collect addresses?
How do I ask without it feeling like admin?
What if someone moves before the invitations go out?
Do I need addresses if I am sending digital invitations?
Keep the list you just built.
Addresses collected for save-the-dates are the same addresses you need for invitations, and the same names you will seat. Evorrah keeps them as one guest list across the whole event — and to the next occasion, if there is one.
See how the guest list works