THE GUEST LIST

by on October 4, 2010 in The Day and Life of a Colorado Bride

So I thought we had the guest list figured out until I realized that the entire venue would only fit 300 people to sit down and have a formal dinner. I asked for a list from my fiance’s parents as well as a list from my parents.  I then added all of our friends.  When it came down to it about 375 people were on the list including children.  I started to FREAK out because I didn’t want to leave anyone out, but the venue will not allow anymore than 300.  Oh yeah and I forgot to ask my FIANCE for his list of friends that I may have not included.  Note to self: include Matt in everything.  I think I got so excited about planning the wedding that I forgot to collaborate with the love of my life.  I am glad I noticed this early!  So I gave him a print out of the guest list and told him to add anyone I may have forgotten and then we would schedule a date to meet and sort out who we might be able to take off the list.  We also booked a separate room for the kids to eat in during dinner.  This has actually cut the list down to 320 people.  So I am open for advice on who I keep on the list or suggestions on how we might make this work without any hard feelings???  I want to make sure that everyone who is important in our life and who has seen our relationship grow be added to the list FIRST.  Oh yes and one other side note, how would I handle my friends and family who are single?  Do I added + 1 guest.  This has been a tiring process…Any advice???

2 Responses to “THE GUEST LIST”

  1. October 7, 2010 at 3:50 pm #

    Hey Emily,

    Remember, there is a difference between the people you invite and the people who will come. Typically, the difference between the invite list and the actual attendees is 1/2 to 2/3 the amount. Some people won’t be able to travel, some will have to work, some are just flakey…etc. If you are inviting 320, you can expect to have no more than 250…its just the way it is.

    Also, one thing Laura and I did was ask people to get babysitters. I don’t think Kids really enjoy weddings all that much (sit still, be quiet, no running around for the first couple hours at least) and parents definitely get to have more fun when they consider your wedding as a night out for them. I don’t remember exactly how we phrased it in our invitation, but we phrased it as a positive for the parents and had VERY few complaints about it (and those were minor). Just a couple ideas!

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  2. October 7, 2010 at 3:56 pm #

    Two other ideas… go through your list and mark them as “Likely to come” or “Not likely to come”. You probably have a decent idea of the people who you have to invite, but probably wont actually make it.

    Other idea is to have a “B” list. It sounds a little bad, but if you are careful, you can have some people that don’t get invited until later when you get some negative RSVPs back. It might not be 100% “okay” with people, but people really ought to understand that this is a big expensive event and while you’d love to invite everyone you’ve ever met…there are limitations.

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