A guest list can be challenging to come up with. There’s a lot to consider before you actually and come up with the right guest list that will make your wedding very memorable without breaking your bank account. In this article, I will share a few tips on how to end up with the right guest list for your wedding.

Know Your Budget

It is important that you know how many people you will invite to your wedding, because you will pay for all the expenses per head. All your expenses for your wedding will depend on your total headcount. The biggest contributor here is food. So your decision making with the total number of guests you are inviting to your wedding will be based on your budget. For example if you have 8 people sitting per table and decide to invite 8 more people to the wedding, you know have to times this by 8 utensils, 8 meals, 8 plates, 8 chairs, and 1 more table. All of these additions might break the bank. That is the reason why inviting the right guests matters.

Divide and Conquer

It is important that both bride and groom really talk about this. They can split your guest invites according to their family size or number of friends. It can be both 50% each, or if the groom or bride is not inviting that many friends or family members, then they can go 60%/40% or 70%/30%. This is something both the groom and bride should agree on for the guest list.

Priority List

It is important that you could identify the important family members or friends in your life that you will invite to your wedding. Since they are someone special to you, then they should be at the top of your mind on your guest list. These are the people who you can’t afford to miss your wedding day.

Talk to Your Parents

If your parents are paying for your wedding, then proper communication with them when it comes to your guest list is very important. They may have family members or friends that they want to invite to your wedding, which is something you all should agree on. It really depends on who’s going to pay for the wedding. 

Plus One

Some of your friends or family members have their own spouse or partner. Usually the rule of thumb is to invite the plus one of your friend or family member if they should be dating for at least 6 months. But again, you still have the say if you will invite them or not.

Kids Policy

You may choose not to invite kids to your wedding. You may base it on age brackets. At the end of the day, you are on a budget, and it is your wedding day, so you have the right to decide on that. One of the ways to lower down the cost even if you invite kids, is to have a kiddie menu. It is a lot more affordable compared to the regular one. Again, this is something to communicate about.

Remember Reciprocity

Were you recently invited to a wedding? Do you feel like you need to invite them as well? If you are close to that person, and you have common friends, then you may absolutely consider inviting them to your wedding. But if it was just a random invite, and you don’t really have a relationship with the person, then you are not obligated to invite them. Remember you are paying this whole wedding per person.

Set A Deadline

If you have the final guest list already, you must give a deadline for them to respond if they are coming or not. This is important because again, you are paying per head, and you want to watch that budget. In this way, you can alter the guest count. You are giving yourself enough time to adjust everything for your wedding day. I would give yourself 3 weeks at minimum and if not even sooner at a month prior. And give the headcount to your vendor team no later than 2 weeks before the wedding. But this all depends on that their contracts states, so read those accordingly. 

That’s all the guest list tips I have for today! I hope this will help you with your wedding planning when it comes to making that decision of who to invite to your special day! If you loved this blog, please check out some of my other amazing tips and tricks here.