Guest list: Closest people vs everyone you know?

I wanted a much smaller guest list aha so in the end we expanded ours because our venue was based on minimum and that was kind of the only way to reach it

We just came up with a list of people we wanted to attend. Aside from my bridesmaids, all my guests are family while the majority of the people he invited are friends. We also live in a different state than where we grew up which allowed us to keep the guest list small. We never planned on going over 75.

We just went down family and friends we wanted to invite. Every name we could think of. Once we got the guest count from that list, we trimmed it down based on who we would rather invite over others due to last time we talked or something like that.

We only invited close family and friends who we regularly speak with and interact with. We both know lots of people. But there was no way we’d invite any “just because” guests to share in something this special.

We are somewhere in between that with 80 guests. We are both 1 of five children, so just our immediate family members & their spouses and children and living parents (My Mom, his Dad) would be about 40. Add in a few cousins and friends on each side with their spouses or date and Wala - = 80.

It's really a matter of personal choice. I'd originally thought 30 people...obviously I hadn't actually done a head count. Depends on your budget also. I will say I have quite a few business relationships where they seem curious who is on the guest list (since they know they're not!! ) so you'd be surprised how many folks will be real possibilities who'd like to come. But, at some point it's about the 2 of you, your families, and who you feel most comfortable with. Best of luck in your decision.

Start with your closest, and if you can afford more, you expand.

A general rule of thumb is: if you haven't spoken to them in more than a year, don't invite.