guest list

[emilina22]

whats the average size of your guest lists?? i know were not engaged yet and wont be for another year but we did start on our list becasue of how many people we know and our parents and the size of our family and it seems like were hitting close to 250 for family and close close family like friends....so heres my question how big is your list getting and what is the expected guest list for your weddings?

 

[lehcarm]

We will be inviting around 320 people. FI''s mom has 13 brothers and sisters so that means he has like 40 first cousins. She would feel really bad if we don''t invite them all. I guess at past family weddings, only the cousins that are close in age come. I also have about 20 relatives that live out of state and we are pretty sure they won''t make the trip. We are expecting a total somewhere around 275, but who knows. We are lucky in that our venue will hold up to 375, so space won''t be an issue, only money.

 

[janinegirly]

i suppose this is really a subjective ques..depends what you''re going for. We wanted a small and intimate wedding with the budget under control. So we''re inviting about 120-130, but really only expect around 90..

 

[snuga]

like janine said, it totally depends on what you want.... we are inviting approx 125-150 people, but probably only 75 will make it becuase the wedding is international. My sister is also getting married and is inviting only about 20 people. Just do what you feel is best for you on your big day!

 

[AmberWaves]

Well, we''re expecting 150 people, to get the room we wanted, that was the minimum!

I hate guest lists. It''s an problem for me.

 

[musey]

check out my recent poll:
https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/how-many-guests.57956/

ETA: but to answer your question, we're struggling to keep the invite list under 100. If both of us had our way, there would probably be no more than 15 people there... we're not exactly exhibitionistic, especially not about our relationship! I really would prefer not to have anyone there that I wouldn't have the urge to announce our engagement to--those are the people that I want to include in the most important moments of my life. Everyone else is just looking for free food and wine

But then again, maybe I'm just getting incredibly jaded as I'm in the throes of wedding planning on what I thought was a hugely generous budget, but apparently is not...


ETAagain:

Date: 3/28/2007 10:59:51 AM
Author: AmberWaves
Well, we're expecting 150 people, to get the room we wanted, that was the minimum!

I hate guest lists. It's an problem for me.

I HATE those minimums!! I found the perfect venue, within budget for everything, only to discover it required a 150p head count! grrrr...

 

[basil]

We''re inviting about 85-90, so we''ll probably end up with 65-70 or so.

It''s the perfect size for us, but not for most venues. Which either have room for 50 people max, or have room for 150 people. Which I''m afraid we''ll be swimming in!

 

[anchor31]

We have big families as well (our parents have 29 siblings in total, all married with kids), so if we invited our aunts/uncles and cousins we'd end up with over 300 people, but we don't want it and can't afford it. So, we're inviting our parents, siblings, grandparents, aunts/uncles and close friends. I'm at 90 right now and I refuse to add any more! The FMIL is pissed that J is not inviting his cousins, but she's not paying for it, so we couldn't care less.

ETA: I'm expecting 70 people to show up since we have a lot of OOT guests, and that would be perfect for us.

 

[jcrow]

we had over 200 but only 100 showed up. we expected that though. we estimated 100 coming from the beginning.

 

[janinegirly]

basil/anchor,
im also going with the smaller wedding (prob 90).
and i agree on the venues dilemma..the smaller room at my reception site can''t fit more than 70 and the bigger one holds 150 comfortably. we went with the bigger one, but of course i worry that''ll it''ll feel cold and empty.

how''d you guys deal with venues for smaller parties? i''m at the point in my wedding planning though, where i''m starting to not care so much. it''s just one day, i''ll make it as nice as possible but hopefully people won''t be noticing things like the room''s got some extra space, etc etc.

 

[staceybelle]

We''re inviting 250, expecting around 200, but the wedding''s still over a year off so I''m sure it''ll get bigger or smaller (but probably bigger) before then.

I never realized how many people my fiance and I were close to until we started making a guest list. It was a little bit shocking.

 

[firebirdgold]

ah yes, the joys of the guest list... topping the list of reasons why we ran off to a DW with only 8 other people! (1 set married parents and 1 set married sister each)

 

[anchor31]

Date: 3/28/2007 4:34:02 PM
Author: janinegirly
basil/anchor,
im also going with the smaller wedding (prob 90).
and i agree on the venues dilemma..the smaller room at my reception site can''t fit more than 70 and the bigger one holds 150 comfortably. we went with the bigger one, but of course i worry that''ll it''ll feel cold and empty.

how''d you guys deal with venues for smaller parties? i''m at the point in my wedding planning though, where i''m starting to not care so much. it''s just one day, i''ll make it as nice as possible but hopefully people won''t be noticing things like the room''s got some extra space, etc etc.

The venue manager said the hall holds 120... 15 tables of 8 people. The way I see it, they''re probably pretty cramped in there when there are so many people! I''m sure we''ll be fine even if only 70 people out of 90 show up (76 with us and our day-of vendors). More room for walking around, and more room for dancing! The hall has a very warm and homey feel to it, so I''m not worried about it feeling empty or cold.

 

[basil]

Date: 3/28/2007 4:34:02 PM
Author: janinegirly
basil/anchor,
im also going with the smaller wedding (prob 90).
and i agree on the venues dilemma..the smaller room at my reception site can''t fit more than 70 and the bigger one holds 150 comfortably. we went with the bigger one, but of course i worry that''ll it''ll feel cold and empty.

how''d you guys deal with venues for smaller parties? i''m at the point in my wedding planning though, where i''m starting to not care so much. it''s just one day, i''ll make it as nice as possible but hopefully people won''t be noticing things like the room''s got some extra space, etc etc.

The venue we''re considering can hold 125 comfortably, and 150 if crammed. The coordinator there suggested using the standard 5'' round tables to seat 8 instead of 10 to sort of fill out the space. I guess we''ll probably have a large-ish dance space (the whole room has hardwood floors) and kind of spread out with a cake table, place card table, etc. I think it''ll be OK because it''s kind of a cozy room - and old carriage house with fireplace, stone walls, exposed beams.

 

[zoebartlett]

Date: 3/28/2007 5:29:00 PM
Author: basil

Date: 3/28/2007 4:34:02 PM
Author: janinegirly
basil/anchor,
im also going with the smaller wedding (prob 90).
and i agree on the venues dilemma..the smaller room at my reception site can''t fit more than 70 and the bigger one holds 150 comfortably. we went with the bigger one, but of course i worry that''ll it''ll feel cold and empty.

how''d you guys deal with venues for smaller parties? i''m at the point in my wedding planning though, where i''m starting to not care so much. it''s just one day, i''ll make it as nice as possible but hopefully people won''t be noticing things like the room''s got some extra space, etc etc.

The venue we''re considering can hold 125 comfortably, and 150 if crammed. The coordinator there suggested using the standard 5'' round tables to seat 8 instead of 10 to sort of fill out the space. I guess we''ll probably have a large-ish dance space (the whole room has hardwood floors) and kind of spread out with a cake table, place card table, etc. I think it''ll be OK because it''s kind of a cozy room - and old carriage house with fireplace, stone walls, exposed beams.

Sorry to threadjack, but Basil, where are you getting married? It sounds perfect!

 

[mrsotob]

I initially heard that roughly 20% of those that you invite won''t make it, so I decided to have a list of 120 to get 90. Then I heard that it''s not good to count those who won''t make it b/c chances are, THEY WILL. So, we''re just iniviting the 90 that we want, and if anyone can''t make it, we''ll call the last three weeks or so and add others via phone.