All you destination wedding gals...

My guest list was 120 people and I have 66 people coming to my DW in 9 days. Theres factors to consider. How far is a destination wedding? What time of year? Are kids in school or around a holiday? Is it a far drive or a must for a flight? All these factors play a role in peoples abilities to come. Also think about family events you've had. My dads side of the family has been here for everything (all major birthdays and get together) so I knew I could count on them being there but my moms side doesn't travel to see us ever.

I think it depends on how far people are traveling & cost & time of year. We invited 225 to our Denver wedding. More than half the guest list was out of state, and the 100 that were in state were still 1-2 hours away. We had a total of 125 attend our wedding (we anticipated 150 so we weren't super far off).

Thank you! We started planning in August of 2018 so i get the anxiousness of the wait. Honestly if you can afford a certain number thats what I would invite. I wouldn't risk having more show. My parents want to throw us a party in november for there friends to celebrate, it would just be open bar for an hour or so at the local VFW but nothing is set for it. Our wedding is a DW for pretty much everyone. All my family is from NY and NH so even if we did a reception again later down the road they wouldn't come because TN is closer for them and they would rather watch the ceremony too. I would be realistic and think about each persons scenarios you are inviting... I'm one of 6. One sister passed away in January so obviously unfortunately she wont be there. Of my 4 other siblings they all have kids. 2 are bringing their kids because they are younger (so missing school isn't a huge deal plus my son will be there so fun cousin time) the other two are not because their kids are older and can't miss the school so they will be staying with their grandmother (not my mom these are my siblings with the same dad but different mom). My moms side of the family never travels for things shes one of 11 and when my sister passed 2 aunts showed up thats it so I knew none of her family would come besides MAYBE those two aunts (1 of which is coming). Then surprisingly because of costs of flighst a lot of people opted to come themselves instead of plus ones or SO's. FH has a few cousins that are coming but not bringing their spouses because of money constraints. We also have wedding party members that opted to not bring their SO's because of costs as well. Ultimately though our 120 invited guest we COULD afford to host if they did decide to come.

I don't know if it's proper etiquette or not, but I'm getting "feels" as I call up friends and family to mail save the dates. Some of my friends are pregnant and won't be able to travel with a newborn, while others will be out of the country for various things. There are extended family members who haven't come to any other family weddings or events, so I'm betting that they don't come for my wedding either. With that said, I used weddingwire's "lists" to create a list of people I would like to invite if our numbers drop. Friends from high school and people who I went to their wedding but we're not that close. So as friends and family fall from my guest list as I contact them for their addresses for the save the dates, I'm adding back up friends and family to the list to try and keep our target number. In the end, I have no idea what demographic is most likely to come to our wedding.