Guest List Help Please

View Quoted Comment Yes I would suggest that. You could even reach out to those you're close with earlier to see if they think they'll be able to make it or not. Goodluck with everything!

If you can find a way to work it with seating and buffet dinner, invite the 116. No one is going to be standing at the door counting the guests. Plus if some are younger children, they never sit in their seat anyway.

View Quoted Comment It’s not an issue with the food/reception. My reception venue holds 150 people so I’m good there. Ooops maybe that’s a confusion on my post and that’s why people are freaking out. It’s an issue with the ceremony venue because their church pews only hold 100 people. I was able to cut it down to 107. And I think I’ll stick with the 107. We can always pull in 7 chairs if there’s a 100% attendance. Everyone will still be fed.

Never invite more than your venue holds.

View Quoted Comment Is the concern the food/reception? Because I’m talking about the ceremony venue here. My reception holds 150 people. I’ve narrowed it down to 107. It’s a destination wedding for everyone, but my fiancé and I. It requires people to fly into an expensive airport, rent a car, and drive an hour. I think how hard it gets to and the fact that I’m not allowing toddlers/infants is going to drop that number below 107. I’m expecting far from 100% acceptance here.

View Quoted Comment You’d be surprised how many people have 100% acceptance. As long as you’re prepared to potentially tell 7 people they can’t come to the ceremony, that’s fine. I get the chance is low but it definitely happens.

View Quoted Comment I’ll take my chances. It’s really highly unlikely in my situation and location. I can see that being more likely if I was having in a more accessible city especially where most of my guests live. Also, I’ll probably just get 7 chairs, tie some pretty tulle and ribbon on it and call it a day in the unlikely event all 107 decide to come.

I'll go against the grain here and say it depends on who you think will come. I know people say not to invite more than your venue can hold but I did. Our site can have 100 and I invited about 120 since my family is so big. I actually think we'll end up with 80 or so, because so many of our guests live out of town and even in another country (Mexico). I also have a cousin getting married the week before me and our other cousin 2 weeks after (both in Mexico), so I imagine they and their families will be busy with that. It's not ideal to invite more but if you know a decent number won't come then it could work.

View Quoted Comment

I'm in the same boat. I have family in the Philippines and Canada and our location is a destination wedding for everyone else even for those that live in the US. It is actually not that easy to get to either. Fly into a somewhat expensive airport, rent a car, then drive 1.5 hours. We are also not inviting toddlers and infants to our wedding so that's probably going to cause some people not to come. I was able to cut it down to 107, but I'm really not all too worried about the 7 people even if I get 100% acceptance, which is VERY highly unlikely. Plus, this is just a limitation on the CEREMONY venue so everyone would still be covered at our reception (Max 150). In the very unlikely event that I get a 100% acceptance, I'll just get 7 folding chairs and put some pretty tulle and ribbon on them and call it a day.

It's highly unlikely all 116 guests will show, however I would not recommend inviting more than you have the capacity to hold. I would rank/categorize guests, and only send invitations to 100, then extend invitations to the remaining 16 as "no" RSVPs come in.

In the end, it is your wedding and you can choose which route you go. Some will say invite everyone because there is no way they will all RSVP yes, others will say you can't invite more than the venue can hold. Some will say its horrible to A list and B list and others say its practical.

You seem to think there is no way you can whittle your list down further so you pretty much just have to choose between two unpopular options - over invite and home some don't come or have an A list and B list, and be willing to deal with the consequences if those options end up unfavorable to your guests or don't work out as you plan. Its your choice to make.

Honestly, very few people get a 100% yes RSVP rate. Declines are typically about 15%-20% when the wedding and all guests are local and more like 30-50% with destination weddings or many guests traveling. We barely hit 50% because we had our wedding celebration this June, and despite the venue being just 25 minutes from our home and most guests living within a couple hours of us, few felt comfortable traveling or staying in hotels at all (thanks Covid) so we expanded our original guest list by A LOT adding some local friends so that our venue wouldn't feel empty. We didn't over invite at all and still ended up going to a B list. You just gotta make a choice and stick with it!

Thank you! You're right. I've also already made up my mind and just invite the 107 people. It is a destination for everyone except for my fiancé and I. It's a hard to get to: fly into a higher than average priced airport, rent a car, and drive 1.5 hours. I'm also not inviting toddlers and infants so those two things alone is probably going to cause a lot of people not to come and I'll be well under a 100 if I had to guess. According to my coordinator, she expects maybe 70-80 people to show up and that was being generous. In the VERY unlikely event that I get a 100% acceptance rate, I only have this issue for my CEREMONY venue so I'll probably just grab 7 white folding chairs, wrap them in tulle and ribbon, and call it a day. My Reception venue thankfully holds 150 people.