Ah Polka Dot Hot Spot, the day of the month where we sit around a campfire singing Kumbayah, or maybe just have a chat with an imaginary glass of wine.
Today I want to know about your guest list. Families and friends can be tricky subjects when it comes to drawing up your guest list and there is often so much conflict between what you as a couple want, what your budget allows and what family and friends expect. How did you draw a line that worked for you? Did you invite work colleagues? What about long lost cousins?
How did you figure our your guest list for the wedding you want?
We’re lucky, our minimum spend is so high that it gives us a lot of flexibility with our numbers. Looks like we’re going to be able to invite everyone we want, without too much stress 🙂
Nice one Carly! What was your sweet spot with numbers?
From memory our venue is about $145 pp, but the minimum spend is a whopping $22,000 (eep) which basically means we’re going to have to add extras to the menu & wine list to make the minimum. At the moment our guest list is at about 110, but we know there are some people we’re inviting who are unlikely to make it. I reckon we’ll end up with about 100 once we add a few and subtract a few 🙂 It’s nice not to have a lot of pressure.
Eeek! That is a high minimum! I always agree with the line of thought about upping your food and beverage quality though!
We’re currently tossing up work friends or no work friends. Originally I wanted our guest list to be about 60 but realised when we just looked at family and close friends, we were already well above this number so we had to relax that a little. We’re lucky that our venue is free (a backyard reception) and we’re not limited by space so the only additional cost is food and beverages. I read some advice from a real wedding recently – you won’t ever regret inviting someone to your wedding, but you may regret NOT inviting them… I think this answers our dilemma.
Hi MissBingham- so totally true!
I think there’s a few schools of thoughts to add to that- inviting people who you want to be part of your future is one. Also thinking that although the wedding event happens on one day the lead up (so your talk about it!) and the days afterwards are also worth taking into consideration So if it is for instance going to make things too awkward, or completely upset a friendship by not inviting someone then it might be worth doing it for the longer outcome.
Due to our budget restrictions we have to keep the guest list between 80-90. At first I thought this would be easy but quickly discovered how fast the numbers creep up! So we decided to only invite aunts and uncles on both sides and no cousins or children. Most of the family have understood this and if they don’t then I have come to realise it’s not worth stressing about! I’m also not inviting current work colleagues as I am not very close with them.
I like the idea of having the one guideline you’ve set yourself for family Amy! It’s so true that numbers add up FAST!
Oh, the guest list is a tough one but something that’s so critical to your budget and the feel of the day.
We started by drawing up a list of the people we couldn’t have the day without (mainly family and close friends) then moved on to those who we’d like to have there if we have the space. We let guests who live overseas know of the date earlier than others, so that if they couldn’t attend we’d know early enough to be able to invite others in their place.
Ultimately, it comes down to communication. We’ve told people all along that we’d love to have as many friends there as possible but that it will end up being predominantly family due to venue size and our budget. We have also been careful not to talk too much ‘wedding stuff’ around others in case they assume it means an invitation.
Really interesting (and useful!) to read your own approach Koren!