Replies arrive in the Guests workspace the moment a guest sends them. This guide covers reading the responses, chasing stragglers, and getting the numbers to your caterer. Setting up the form in the first place is covered in Set up RSVPs and meal choices.
Reading the responses view
The responses view is a table, one row per reply. Each row shows whether it came from an Open or Guest list RSVP and when it was submitted. Expand a row to see every member of the party: their attendance (Attending or Can’t make it) and their meal selection for each course.
Anyone who chose Speak to host on a menu carries a Follow up badge. Ode deliberately never collects dietary detail through the form — allergies and religious requirements are sensitive information — so the badge is your prompt to contact that guest directly and have the conversation yourself.
Chasing guests who haven’t replied
If you’re running a guest-list RSVP, the guest-list tab shows reply status against every name, so the guests who haven’t replied yet are visible at a glance. That’s your chasing list as the deadline approaches. With an open RSVP there’s no list to compare against, so you’ll be working from your own records instead.
Numbers for the caterer
Check the catering summary.
The catering summary shows per-course totals: how many of each option across everyone who’s replied. This is usually all a caterer wants for early planning.
Export the CSV.
For the final numbers, export the CSV. Each row covers one party member, with columns for section, submitter, member, plus-one, attending, menu choice, message and submitted date. It opens in any spreadsheet and is ready to send to the caterer as-is, or to sort and total however they prefer.
Late changes
Guests change their minds, and replies reflect whatever was sent most recently. If someone tells you in person that their plans have changed, ask them to reply again through your page so the table and the export stay correct, rather than keeping a separate note that the caterer never sees. Re-export the CSV once the deadline has passed and the last few replies are in, and send the caterer that final version rather than an earlier one.