Here are some great tips on figuring out how many guests to have at your wedding and how you should tailor the guest list to fit your needs!
Reprinted From: Yahoo! Contributor Network/Yahoo voices/Jennifer Drake
As anyone who has been involved in the planning of a wedding surely knows, there are countless decisions to be made about that special day. One of the most important decisions to be made about your wedding is its size, or how many guests you will invite. The size of your wedding affects so many other factors that this must be figured out in the early stages of planning.
Consider what type of feeling or mood you want present at your wedding ceremony as size is an essential part of creating this. A few hundred guests automatically creates a different atmosphere than standing in front of thirty family members. Do you want a very formal, traditional ceremony, a large party atmosphere, or an intimate celebration of your love? How have you imagined you wedding in your mind? A smaller guest list may make it easier to personalize the wedding ceremony to reflect your relationship and unique personalities. It may also simplify the planning process and lead to a less stressed couple on wedding day to have a smaller size wedding. However, a gregarious and outgoing couple may love the idea of having a huge crowd and being the center of attention.
Do you already have a location picked out? If so, this may provide you with some limitations as to how many guests you are able to invite to your wedding. Decide whether the guest list or the venue is more important. If you want a destination wedding, you probably won't be able to fly three hundred of your closest friends to a Caribbean beach or a chateau in France. You simply may not be able to fit that many people into a beautiful but small local church, either. Likewise, it would seem silly to rent a huge space for your wedding, then only fill it with twenty guests. In other words, if you already have a favorite location picked out, you may have plan your guest list and wedding size according to those surroundings. This can be used as a great excuse if someone is pressuring you to invite more people: "I'm sorry, we're set on having the wedding ceremony here, and they just won't fit."
Another important consideration when deciding on the size of your wedding is the budget. More guests means more invitations, more favors, more food, and possibly a more expensive location. If you feel bad about not inviting a distant relative or old friend, keep in mind that you probably wouldn't care if someone you barely knew didn't invite you to their small wedding. Focusing on the people who matter most to you now, at you present stage in life, will help you have a joyful wedding ceremony without stressing as much about the budget. When money is the issue, one method is to start by writing your dream guest list of everyone you wish you could invite to your wedding. Once you figure out how much it will cost per person for food, etc., begin cutting people out until you are within budget. If someone else is paying for the wedding, it is only fair that you take into consideration their wishes for the size of the wedding. Traditionally, the bride's parents controlled the budget and told the groom's family how many guests they could invite. However, if the bride and groom are paying, they should have complete control of the guest list.
Compromise: invite only a small number of guests to your wedding ceremony, but plan a large reception afterward. This can be a great solution to the wedding size issue for many people. It's a good option if you have a long guest list but are on a tight budget, or the bride and groom disagree about an ideal wedding size. If you are planning a destination wedding, you can have a big party with your extended family and friends when you return home. Also, families with small children on your guest list may appreciate the option to be part of you wedding day without having to sit through the actual ceremony. Simply send everyone on your guest list an invitation to the reception, and enclose another card for those you want to invite to the wedding ceremony.
Like the rest of your wedding planning, try not to make decisions about your guest list or ceremony size based on what will please others. If you strongly want an intimate wedding with just the two of you present, everyone else may have to deal with just attending the reception. Don't get carried away with size and break your budget by inviting everyone from old high school friends to third cousins you've never met, if that's not what you really want. More than anything, the size of your ceremony should reflect your personality so that you are comfortable with your guest list on the big day.
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