Rethinking the guest list

We just kept it immediate family and closest friends. We didn't invite aunts, uncles, cousins, etc. Our total list was 40 guests. I loved it.

No that would be fine! We went to a wedding a month before ours and didn’t invite that couple. They invited lots of people we didn’t.

Don't feel obligated to invite anyone. It's better to stay within your budget and invite the most important people than to stretch yourself thin to accomodate those who you don't truly want there.

Invite in circles. The only thing that you need to do when you invite is to include any romantic partner/relationship by name. If you are able to host better by having a smaller wedding that doesn't include aunts/uncles and cousins then do that! You don't need to cause yourself undue stress just because you were invited to someone elses wedding in the past.

Nope! You're on the right track to start with the immediate circle and then work your way out if budget. Immediate family and your closest friends will be so much fun! We had 15 guests at our destination wedding (family + a few friends) and it felt like one big & festive dinner party! With a small guest list we could splurge on the venue, food & drinks.

Were doing the same thing! Immediate family only, and a few of our closest friends. It would be nice to have aunts/uncles/cousins/etc but honestly between the two of us that would put us at nearly 400 people! And it’s a destination wedding for most people because we both moved away from our hometowns where our families are. We’re keeping it at 50.

Everything is for you. You have to do what makes you happy! You have to make sure the decisions you make wont hurt you. There is nothing wrong with inviting immediate family only.

I would go bankrupt if I invited my cousins. Seriously, it’s insane how many first cousins I have. I think I’ve been invited to most of their weddings but I’m not reciprocating because while I care for them we aren’t super close. My fiancé has a lot of cousins too. We are inviting our plethora of aunts and uncles but we would have another 40ish attendees if we included all of our cousins and their spouses/partners on top of other family and our close friends. As-is we are looking at about 125 people we are inviting. That’s a lot.

So, no, I don’t think you have an obligation to invite them.

I see nothing wrong with keeping your list to the immediate family. I'm not inviting my cousins because it gets ridiculous with the numbers...I totally get you on that. Like Dr. Seuss says, those that matter won't care (as in they'll understand), and those that care won't matter!

We invited aunts and uncles but not cousins. That would have been to much. We had around 50

We are only inviting immediate family and friends. We didn’t want tons of family members that we never see there. We only want people who we feel comfortable around and who we are close to. Our guest list is around 40-50.

We actually had the same debate but backwards. We started out small with just immediate family, grandparents and close friends (about 40 people). We later decided to invite aunts/uncles but not cousins which brought us to 60. It’s still a manageable number but adding the cousins would have been way too much. I don’t think my cousins will care but I know I’d be somewhat upset if I didn’t get invited to my nephew’s wedding.

That's the easiest way to start small and work your way out! You could always have a small party with extended family at a later date. We would never be able to not invite our aunts/uncles/cousins as we both have big families and they would be super offended. We never thought of it any other way though, we want them there and will afford it.

If we invited all of our aunts, uncles and cousins our wedding would have been HUGE. I didn't want a huge wedding that we couldn't afford so we did a DW and invited parents, siblings close friends. His mom brought his aunt as her plus one and I invited one aunt/uncle since they were really there for me when I became a single mom and my MOH was my cousin who happens to be the daughter of the aunt/uncle I invited. My mom was really ticked I didn't invite all of her siblings but she has so many of them and I'm not close with them at all...which is her fault lol.

I don't think so, especially if it's a small intimate wedding. If you don't feel close with your aunts & uncles & cousins and just want a smaller wedding, that's fine!

We kept it small. Invited 40, 38 were able to make it. We did not invite aunts, uncles, cousins, etc. We simply did not have the room. I did invite one cousin whom I am close to. My mom was so upset that I did not invite her sisters. She got over it. She wasn't paying, so she didn't get a say.