A wedding needs to have at least four people: the bride and groom, the officiant, and a witness. However, it’s usually more complicated. Read this article for tips to plan a wedding guest list.
Consider Size and Price
The first thing every couple should consider is how they picture their wedding day. Are their hundreds of people or is it an intimate affair? The couple should decide whether they want to invite people that are acquaintances, coworkers, friends from high school and college, and people that they haven’t talked to in years. An intimate, small wedding is usually a wedding consisting of less than one-hundred guests. Remember, a wedding with a small guest list does not mean that it can’t be an extravagant affair.
At this point, the couple should start to look into venue locations and begin discussing rough price-per-person estimates. This could help a couple decide whether they can invite one-hundred or one-hundred and fifty guests. This is the point in time that the couple should know what they want to spend the bulk of their budget on, so they can decide how many people will be a reasonable amount for their budget.
Divide and Cut the Guest List
Usually twenty percent of wedding invitations get declined, so a couple should plan to invite about one-hundred and twenty guests for a one-hundred person wedding. Once a couple decides how many guests will be invited, they have to begin considering how they will split up the guest list among parents and themselves. The couple should determine how many guests each set of parents will be able to invite. Ask each set of parents for a list of names and contact information that does not exceed the number of guests they are allotted.
As the couple collects the guest list and contact information, they should begin making a spreadsheet that includes this information. It will help in the future when sending save-the-dates and invitations, making escort cards, putting together the seating chart, and writing thank you notes for gifts.
If a couple finds themselves with a guest list that surpasses the amount they can reasonably invite, they have to decide who they are going to cut. Here are a few tips for deciding who to cut:
- Start with people that the couple feels obligated to invite. A couple does not have to invite someone to their wedding just because they were invited to that person’s wedding or their children’s wedding. If the couple feels bad about cutting these people, they can have an open house or dinner party after the wedding and invite the social obligations they cut from the guest list.
- People that the bride and groom do not have a close relationship with such as coworkers and plus-ones can be cut. A couple does not have to allow guests to bring another guest unless they are in a serious relationship or married. Keep the rules consistent. If the couple allows some guests to bring a boyfriend or girlfriend, then they should allow each guest to do this.
- Break down extended family into three categories (immediate, close extended, and others) and decide which categories will be invited. Again, be consistent. If the couple is inviting one distant relative, then they should invite all other distant relatives.
- Another way to make a cut is to decide to not have children attend the wedding. The couple can decide an age cutoff and only invite those children over that predetermined age.
Once the couple has determined the number of guests, the price of each guest, and put together their list, they’re ready to send out the invitations. Congratulations!
