Cut-off date

The date after which held rooms, RSVPs or menu choices are released or locked.

How it works in practice

Every hold in event planning expires. The hotel releases unsold rooms, the caterer locks the menu and the count, the rental company commits trucks and linen, the printer needs final names. Each of those is a cut-off date, and they are not the same date. Most problems come from treating them as one deadline, or from setting the guest-facing RSVP date too close to the vendor-facing ones.

The rule is to work backwards. The earliest vendor cut-off that depends on guest information sets the latest you can close RSVPs, minus the time you need to chase stragglers and build the seating chart.

Worked numbers

A typical stack for a Saturday wedding in the GTA (check each contract; these are typical, not universal):

How to handle it

1. Pull every cut-off out of every contract into one list as soon as contracts are signed.
2. Put each one on the master timeline with a reminder a week before.
3. Set the RSVP date a week before you truly need it. Some guests will be late regardless.
4. Assign one person to chase non-responders by phone in the three days after the RSVP date.
5. When you submit the final count, confirm in writing and keep the email.

In Ontario and the GTA

Legal deadlines behave like cut-offs that cannot be negotiated. An AGCO Special Occasion Permit must be applied for at least 10 days before a private event and 30 days before a public one; a Toronto marriage licence is valid for 90 days, so it cannot be picked up too early either. Put both on the list alongside the vendor dates.

Questions to ask

• After the guarantee, can the number go up, and at what price? Can it go down at all?
• Are cut-offs counted in calendar days or business days?
• If we miss the room-block cut-off, will you still honour the rate on remaining rooms?

Use the timeline generator to place every cut-off from your event date automatically.