I've had this comment come up among friends and customers alike, and thought it would be something interesting to address. I've heard time and time again about parties that suffer from having used only an online invitation via social media, email or a digital invitation site. People get the invitation alert months or weeks in advance and either reply immediately or never remember to RSVP. 

One instance I heard of a Backyard BBQ for a significant number of guests. The invitation sent via a social media site in which most of the guests replied "yes" almost immediately. The main course was being provided by the hosts, in this case, quite a substantial portion of BBQ from a local restaurant, and the guests were to bring the sides. On the evening of the party only a fraction of the guests showed. Among the comments of those who replied yes but didn't attend, "We forgot, we haven't seen the invitation since you sent it and didn't put it on the calendar." And "We didn't know it was such a big deal to miss." One of the guests from this party, who actually replied yes and didn't attend told me of the situation. She admitted that had a paper invitation been sent, visible to her in a prominent place, she'd have thought this to be a more than just a casual cook-out and likely would have been more inclined to go.

When you put this into perspective and think about how many emails you get a day, how many status updates and alerts you receive via social media or your smart phone, its a wonder we make it to anything or get anything done!