Guest List and Offended

There are a small handful of people we wish we had invited but didn't due to budget constraints. (Our guest list was mostly family.) We are fine with that and our relationships with the uninvited friends/extended family members remain intact despite that. When asked "no invite?" we simply said "We're keeping it small. We have a tight budget." I've found that most people get over not being invited to your wedding pretty quickly, once the festivities are over and done.

It still baffles me the nerve of some people, like this woman who works in the same company me and my dad do, who "offered" his son to be our RB when we don't even hang out AT work and when we DO talk there is only about work related stuff. Both FH and I debated a lot about how we'll be making our guest list (both of us come from large families that we see pretty regularly) and every single guest means something to us, to our relationship, we've left out some relatives because we wanted to invite some friends that are much closer to us than some relatives, people who've been there for each of us as individuals AND as a couple. For instance, there's this couple (and their twins) who are more friends with my parents than us, but when FH's mom passed, were amongst the firsts to be there for us and supported us, and when my dad had surgery were there until the doctor came out and said it went well and they were starting to let him wake up (surgery lasted from 7 pm to 4 am)... so obviously we prefer for them to be there, sharing with us our happiest day, just like they did on our worsts ones, better than some relatives we only talk with a few times a year

We made our lists and then used one of those handy tools from Pinterest to filter. I still have some on the fence but we agreed to finalize the list by July

I hear you! This can be so difficult. FH and I decide that we would invite family and only those that we are currently in relationships with.... So if I haven't talked to someone in a 6 months or a year, and don't see them as an active part of my future they couldn't be invited. This was difficult, but due to budget and venue we have HAD to make that cut.

I ran across someone in the store the other day I used to see and talk to every week, but haven't seen or talked to since last fall and I felt sad that I hadn't been able to invite her... but we simply could not afford to invite everyone so I try to be positive about it!

I just tell people "We wanted to invite so many more people, but the venue limited our space. Family and close friends we see and talk to often had to come first."

When I point out the "see and talk to often" part, the non-invited person usually gets it. Like, cool I'm glad I'm talking to you for the first time in 2 years, but no you aren't invited to the wedding. I like you though.

Unless you hang out socially and grab lunch/dinner a few times a year or see each other on a regular basis then they shouldn't be offended. A wedding is not a reunion.