How To Make A Wedding Guest List Wedding preparation is already a tiresome task; however, most harrowing of all is creating a guest list. There are so many factors to be considered before sending invites to the guests. Of course, you cannot just invite everybody to your wedding; that doesn’t make any sense. Also, it will take a toll on your pocket, which is not wise.
You really need to craft your wedding guest list very carefully without stirring up any tension. Admittedly, you will want to keep catering and seating costs to a minimum, but at the same time, you do not wish to upset your father or your mother-in-law by nixing some of their closest people. So, the question is how to craft a wedding guest list without an issue in the family. If you are also wondering the same, then this post is for you.
Here we are sharing with you the best 14 tips to create a wedding guest list. Take a look….
1. Create The List With Both Sets Of Parents And Your Partner
Do not create your wedding guest list alone. It is essential to involve your parents, in-laws, and your partner to-be in the process. Their involvement is very important. If you try to create the list on your own, you will later keep updating the list, which is not wise. Decide when all of you are available, sit in one place, and let each one give their inputs. This is specifically important when your parents or in-laws take care of wedding expenses or a part of it.
2. Divvy Up
Of course, it’s not feasible to invite all your colleagues, friends, your parent’s co-workers, friends, relatives to your wedding. You will have to come up with a rule while you create the list. And the golden rule is to decide the total guest count, then divvy it up among you, your parents, and your in-laws. So, the best is to keep 50% of the total as a couple and assign 25% to each set of parents. And if the wedding is taken care of by you completely, you can have the major share, maybe 65% or more. It is absolutely up to you, how do you do. Buy Divvying helps a lot when you create your wedding guest list.
3. Make Two Lists
It is always good to create two lists – List A & List B. Jot down all the most important guests in list A and the ones you can invite but not sure about in the list B. You can send invites to people in list B according to the cancellations in List A.
4. Plus-one Policy
You will need to create a plus-one policy for all your friends. All your friends will be in different stages of relationships; you will need to make clear rules for their partners. For instance, if your friend and his partner are dating for quite a long time, send an invite. If your friend just started to date, you don’t necessarily need to invite his/her partner because barely you know the person. This is just an idea; make your own rule and stick to it.
You may not be a kid-friendly person; in that case, it is good to have a kid policy. You can make a rule for kid guests as well. Like you can go with an age cutoff, like only children above 12 years are invited, or you can say only one kid is invited, anything that suits you the best. Having a kid policy is essential to minimize your expenses. Otherwise, you will end up spending more on the kids’ zone at your wedding so that your kid guests can enjoy their time and their parents can enjoy your wedding.
6. Return Favor
If your friend invited you to her/his wedding recently, then it becomes mandatory to invite him/her to your wedding too. However, if your wedding is an intimate affair, then you can explain your situation to your friend, he/she may surely understand.
7. Colleagues and Work Friends
Your work friends and colleagues would ask you for a wedding invitation, but again, you need to ask yourself – do you want them to make your guest list? Of course, eating lunch together or sharing the same floor doesn’t mean you have to invite them to the wedding.
Of course, you would want to have people with whom you gel really well. Having someone who does not go well with you is not the point. You would definitely want to have people who cheer your mood up, not the ones you find difficult to stand with. If you have somebody, like your cousin or relative, who you do not talk to, simply chuck the person. It would be best if you had people with whom you can enjoy.
9. Cut The Ones You Haven’t Heard From In Year
You may want to invite many people to your wedding, but what is the point in inviting the ones you haven’t heard from in years. The idea of inviting guests to the wedding is not to have too many people, but to have those who care. And the ones with whom you have been in touch always.
10. Ignore Those Who Never Sees You
A wedding is a celebration where you would want to have people who stand by your side in your thick and thin. Having people for the sake of having is no good idea. This way, you will only add to your cost and nothing else. The best idea is to chuck all those who you haven’t seen for a long time.
Your parents would want to have everybody and anybody to your wedding. But you have to be very clear about your wedding budget and other arrangements. Don’t hesitate to tell your parents that they can only invite those you know at a personal level. Your parents will be excited to invite all their friends from around the world, but you have to be clear. Otherwise, you will end up making extra arrangements and spending extra money. And the same goes for your future in-laws as well.
12. Your Relatives
Call only those who are really close to you. You don’t need to feel obligated to invite your aunt’s brother-in-law if you hardly know them or have never met them. You may find yourself pressured by your parents to invite such relatives, but you have to stick to the rule.
13. Your Neighbors
Invite only the ones with whom you are super friendly. Living in the same society doesn’t mean they should make your list. Especially when you are hosting a small wedding celebration. If you feel awkward about it, you can always tell them that you are hosting an intimate wedding.
14. Your Loved Ones & Close Friends
Your wedding is a special occasion for you and your loved ones and your friends. They should be your priority on your wedding guest list. So, make sure you add them to your List A. They are the ones who have been waiting for this moment for a long time. So, do not miss to invite your closest people to your wedding, the ones you think your wedding would be incomplete without.
Final Thought
Use these 14 tips to create your wedding guest list. Not only are these tips helpful, but also very easy to follow. These tips will make the procedure of creating a wedding guest list relatively easy and convenient.
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