How do I let guests decline the ceremony but attend other events?
Allow guests to independently RSVP to each event, even if they can't attend the main ceremony.
Plan requirement: Standard or Pro plan
Short answer: Disable main event attendance and add each event (including the ceremony) as a separate event. This removes the dependency between events so guests can decline one and still attend others.
Why this happens
By default, the RSVP form asks "Will you be attending our wedding?" as the first step. If a guest selects "Not attending," they are automatically declined from all additional events. They never see the events page.
This is because the main event attendance acts as a gateway: only guests who confirm attendance can proceed to RSVP for individual events.
How to fix it
Go to RSVP > Events
Click Add event and create your ceremony as a new event (e.g., "Wedding Ceremony") with its date, time, and venue
Add any other events you need (reception, dinner, brunch, etc.)
Click the Our wedding card (the main event)
Uncheck Collect attendance from guests
Click Save changes
Now each event is independent. A guest can decline the ceremony and still RSVP "Attending" to the reception or any other event.
What guests see
Instead of first being asked "Will you be attending our wedding?", guests go straight to the events page. They see all the events they are invited to and select "Attending" or "Not attending" for each one individually.
Alternative: keep main attendance and use an event-specific link
If you only have one or two events where guests should be able to RSVP independently, you can keep the main event attendance step and share a direct event RSVP link for those events. Guests who open the link go straight to that event's RSVP without being asked about the main wedding first, and their event response is independent from their main wedding response. This is a lighter-weight option than restructuring your whole RSVP form.
You can also use the Display this event to setting on an event to show it to "All event guests" so guests who decline the main wedding still see it on the events page. See Displaying events by RSVP status for how that works.
Tips
Make sure you add your ceremony as a separate event before disabling main event attendance, otherwise guests won't have a way to RSVP to it
If certain events should only be visible to specific guests, use the Exclusive guest list option on that event
If you want an event to be visible to everyone (including guests who declined the main wedding), set Display this event to to All event guests
A guest's overall status is based on their event responses: if they accept at least one event, they show as Confirmed