Wedding Guest List Tips

The wedding budget will dictate how many people you can invite to your big day. It is important to lay out an estimate for a sense of framework. Creating a rough idea can really be complete chaos. Should you invite your closest friend from work? Are your younger cousins under 18 invited if you weren’t considering inviting children? Are your parents closest friends allowed to come? I can almost guarantee that these questions WILL come up.

Here are five tips to stick with when creating your rough draft of the guest list:

1) Invite people who are important to your fiancé and you

Remember this day is about the two of you- not your mother-in-law playing out her fantasies of having a do-over of her wedding day. This is a special day and in that day you should surround yourself with the people who are the most near and dear to you. If that means inviting your third cousin on your Dad’s side because you two are very close, but not your cousin on your Mom’s side- then so be it.

2) Don’t let your parents or in-laws dictate your entire guest list (even if they are footing some or most of the bill)

In continuation of the statement above, remember this day is about the couple getting married. Even if your in-laws and parents are assisting with paying for the wedding that does not give them free reign to go buck wild and invite their long-lost coworker. Respectfully tell them that they cannot invite people without checking with either of you first.

3) Create “A Team” and “B Team” lists

If your wedding venue requires a minimum food and beverage amount it helps to have a back-up list of people so you can hit the minimum. Let’s say you want 200 people to attend. On average, statistics say that 10 to 20 percent of guests do not show. If you are counting on 200 people, it’s nice to have a back-up list to work from.

4) Divvy the list evenly between both sides

This should be self-explanatory. It’s not exactly fair if you have 124 people on your list, and your fiancé only has 76.

5) Skip your co-workers. If you don’t hang with your colleagues outside of the office, leave them off the list. If you can though, invite your boss or assistant.

My rule of thumb is if you have worked anywhere less than one year, you can disregard the rule about your boss or assistant.

This is isn’t the last time you will look or revise your list, but it’s a start. Hopefully these five tips will save you your sanity!