Wedding Percentage acceptances?

[Krissie]

We invited 329 people to the wedding, and it looks like we will have 175 to 180 actually attend. This seems so low to me, and while I''m a bit happy that it''s a much more manageable size for us (and ::cough:: cheaper), I''m feeling like a reject

The 329 figure was to accommodate my HUGE family (some of whom are far-flung) and we knew that some wouldn''t able to attend - but there have been more declines from my family than we had imagined there would be. Also, we knew that 75% of D''s family could not attend because the wedding is out of their home country, but we still wanted to invite them.

I think what''s pushed the number below our expectations is that a lot of our colleagues whom we''d hoped would attend are not coming. Also, a lot of people for whom we invited their significant others plus children are just coming by themselves. That''s a big surprise and probably accounts for 25-30 fewer bodies.

Anyway, just wanted to get your thoughts on this. I know 175 will still seem like a large wedding -- just less large than we were expecting, by about 50!

 

[musey]

I had to go through and calculate it...

Out of 115 invited (67 invitations):
64 accepted
51 declined

To be fair, all but 15 are OOT by plane flight. We had a 100% acceptance rate for in-town guests.


I feel pretty dumb because we booked a 75-person minimum venue

and still have to pay the $1080 for our non-existant final 9 guests.

 

[galvana]

everyone tells me that approx. 20% will say no -

 

[goldenstar]

Gosh, I''m hoping that happens for us too. We wanted a wedding of 120 guests and we started with a list of 150 invitees. Now its ballooned to 190 to 200 (thanks mom!). Maybe 50 of the total are overseas or out of state. It feels a little bit wrong to hope that people can''t make it. I really wanted a smaller wedding so I''m conflicted...

 

[crystalheart1]

We are having a small ( second marriage ) and wanted to keep it around 50-55. We invited 65.

We just received our first decline,, and FI keeps asking how many extra invitations I have ? He wants to invite people he talks to once a year

I want to keep costs down

I know, I take it personal when we get a decline. That is how I am.

 

[Krissie]

Date: 9/10/2008 4:08:15 PM
Author: galvana
everyone tells me that approx. 20% will say no -

I think that if his family were here in the US, we probably would have been closer to a 70% acceptance rate. But 20% seems kind of low - I think I had always heard it was approx 30% will decline?

What''s interesting is we did manage to estimate correctly on some things -- all but 8 of those we invited to attend the rehearsal dinner are attending; and our entire room block at the hotel got taken up!

 

[Krissie]

Date: 9/10/2008 4:13:13 PM
Author: goldenstar
Gosh, I''m hoping that happens for us too. We wanted a wedding of 120 guests and we started with a list of 150 invitees. Now its ballooned to 190 to 200 (thanks mom!). Maybe 50 of the total are overseas or out of state. It feels a little bit wrong to hope that people can''t make it. I really wanted a smaller wedding so I''m conflicted...

I hear you - I feel conflicted, too! Around 40% of our guest list was for out-of-country and out-of-state guests. And I moaned about how unmanageable it would be if 225+ showed up. Even just yesterday I was wishing I had a super small, intimate wedding. But the reality of the numbers has just hit me in a strange way.

 

[galvana]

Date: 9/10/2008 4:14:33 PM
Author: Krissie

Date: 9/10/2008 4:08:15 PM
Author: galvana
everyone tells me that approx. 20% will say no -

I think that if his family were here in the US, we probably would have been closer to a 70% acceptance rate. But 20% seems kind of low - I think I had always heard it was approx 30% will decline?

What''s interesting is we did manage to estimate correctly on some things -- all but 8 of those we invited to attend the rehearsal dinner are attending; and our entire room block at the hotel got taken up!

Isn''t it crazy HOW MANY DETAILS THERE ARE? and things to think of? Im 6 months into planning and i can''t believe it.
lists and rsvp''s and blocking rooms and programs and flowers and favors and welcome baskets and and and and AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

LOL

 

[musey]

Date: 9/10/2008 4:06:40 PM
Author: musey
Out of 115 invited (67 invitations):
64 accepted
51 declined

I was just thinking about this more... It seems like the guest list drops in chunks. Kinda obvious, but it affects smaller weddings in a bigger way.

For example, of our 51 'declines', 12 were 'no's because one of my cousins is due 2 days before the wedding, so all her sisters (my cousins), their kids, and her parents (my aunt & uncle) will be waiting for the baby to arrive. If she hadn't been pregnant, they'd all go--and we'd have a 33% decline-rate instead of 44% (and we'd meet our minimum

).

We also have had a lot of declines because of the economy and the airline troubles... people simply can't afford the flight. Pretty much everyone has a really valid reason for not attending, we don't have any people who just didn't feel like it (that we know of

).

 

[hopefulheidi]

I''ve been obsessively keeping track of our RSVP percentages and although our RSVP date was 8/30/08 we still have stragglers. Our venue would only allow 190 max due to the fire code and we invited over 200 so I was anxiously awaiting the day when we received enough NO''s to ensure that we''d be under that point. Once that happened, I relaxed a bit and was surprised as the number kept going down and down (venue is 3.5 hour drive for Nate''s family and about an hour for most of mine). The last couple of weeks however, the people that hadn''t RSVP''d and whom I did not expect to see at the wedding, are suddenly sending us Yeses and meal choices. Just when I had made peace with a nice, manageable number, the unexpected start creeping in.


Total RSVPS Received: 184
Total Outstanding RSVPS: 22
Total % responded: 89.32

~72% YES rate...wow.

-Heidi

 

[Gwyn]

We sent out 25 invitations for a total of 49 people.

Only one couple declined and we have a total of 44 people coming.

 

[CaliCushion]

Honestly, I feel like this is such a hard question to answer. You have to take into consideration the percentage of out of towners versus locals, the percentage of people who will be very pregnant or may not want to leave infants at home, the percentage of very elderly guests etc. You know your guests better than anyone else. I made a list and checked everyone off as "Definetly yes" "Probably" "Probably not" and "Definetly not". I know for a fact that some guests will not be coming. For example, two couples my parents are friends with also have children getting married the same day. So while I am inviting them, I''m not including them in the percentage of acceptances. I''m not going overboard on the invites though, because you never know who will surprise you and show up.