Event RSVP Automation
An RSVP pipeline with fuzzy name matching, conditional email routing and real-time logging. Built for a real event and run with no manual steps on the day.
Guest lists are messy. Humans are messier.
People don't spell their names the same way twice. "Jon Smith" RSVPs as "Jonathan Smith," and the system has to work out they're the same person and send the right confirmation without anyone checking each submission.
Different guests also needed different replies. None of it could need manual intervention during the event itself.
Match it. Route it. Log it.
I built the pipeline in n8n. An RSVP submission triggers the workflow, which compares the submitted name to the master guest list using fuzzy string matching to absorb spelling, nickname and formatting differences.
Once matched, conditional logic picks the email template (confirmation, waitlist, declined or custom) and sends it through Gmail OAuth. Every submission, match result and response is logged to Google Sheets as it happens, so attendance is always current.
The fuzzy matching was the interesting part. The confidence threshold is a balance between too strict (real guests rejected) and too loose (the wrong person matched). I tuned it against realistic name variations, not the ones I expected.
Ran itself. Start to finish.
Confirmations went out, the sheet stayed current, and the event had an accurate headcount throughout.
Beyond events: fuzzy match against a reference list, route conditionally, log in real time. That pattern fits customer intake, ticket routing and many other small business processes.