Why the Size of Your Wedding Guest List Matters
Your guest list determines so many other details, and the more guests you add to your list, the more everything costs. Making sure your head count includes everyone important, without contradicting your budget, can be a balancing act. If your wedding guest list and budget could use some trimming, consider these tips (without hurting feelings or experiencing guilt.)
Tips To Trim Your Wedding Guest List
Prioritize Your Guests
Begin building your guest list by creating three columns: Immediate family, close friends, and acquaintances.
Talk with Immediate Family
Each person on your guest list will cost you an average of $100. Before you remove family members, you might want to discuss it with your parents or anyone contributing to the cost. Explain that your wedding budget allows for a certain number of people. If your family wants to extend additional invitations, perhaps they can cover the cost.
Be Firm About Plus Ones
You are not required to allow single friends to bring a date to your wedding reception, and this can be a simple way to trim your wedding guest list. It is your choice to decide where to draw the line. To avoid offending someone, you may want to consider allowing guests in long term relationships to bring their significant other. When making your seating arrangements, single guests will likely appreciate being placed at a table with other singles.
Consider Skipping These People
If you haven’t talked since high school, college, you moved, etc., consider inviting someone you speak to more often or extended family first. dJust because someone invited you to their wedding, it doesn’t mean an automatic invitation to yours. You shouldn’t feel like you “owe” them an invite to your wedding—it’s your day, and you should be surrounded by friends and family that you really want to be there.
One of the most contentious discussions about wedding guests lists often centers on invitations to children. To avoid hurt feelings you might want to adopt a kids rule. You can invite children, have an adult only reception or include immediate family.
Consider Travel
On average, 30 percent of those invited will be unable to attend. This will depend greatly on the date, location and how many guests would be required to travel. If your guest list is too big, consider removing those that are highly unlikely to travel.
Coworkers or No Coworkers
Even if you’re close to your colleagues, you might consider cutting them from the list if you’re in a pinch. The easiest way to avoid a headache is not to invite any coworkers at all. But if you’re close to some of your coworkers (you socialize outside the office and regularly text or call them) and everyone knows it, it’s fine to invite them. Just don’t hand them their invites at work or make a big deal out of it. When it comes to co-workers it can get trickier.
Mike Staff is the founder and CEO of Mike Staff Productions, Metro Detroit’s most awarded wedding entertainment and media company. Since founding Mike Staff Productions in 1996, Mike has led a team that has served over 25,000 couples across Oakland, Macomb, Wayne, and Washtenaw counties — providing wedding DJ, photography, and videography services at hundreds of Metro Detroit venues. Under his leadership, Mike Staff Productions has earned recognition as one of the top wedding companies in the country, with consistent five-star ratings on The Knot, WeddingWire, and Google. Mike pioneered the Team Approach model — coordinating DJ, photo, and video under one contract — to eliminate the stress and coordination gaps couples face when booking vendors separately.
