Guests attended

What percent of our original invite list or what percent of those that RSVPd yes? We had probably about 18-20% declines and only one couple RSVPd yes and didn't show up.

I've been to many weddings and used to work for a wedding caterer. Also, after reading many of these forums, the attendance rate of those who RSVP yes is closer to 90-95%. 99-100% attendance of those who RSVP yes is very rare. (I think I've only seen a couple people who said 100% of the guests who RSVP'ed yes showed up on the day of.) Of those invited to those who actually attend (i.e. the number you invite v. the number who RSVP yes, v. the number who actually attend), the actual attendance rate is about 70-80% for an in-town wedding, and closer to 50% for an out-of-town wedding. (We invited about 130, had 76 RSVP yes, and 4 drop out the week of.) All of this was before Covid-19 and I think Covid-19 is reducing the acceptance rate significantly. Also, a larger wedding of 100+ people has a lower response/attendance rate than a smaller 20-50 person wedding. Of course, you should only invite the number you can afford, but you can expect at least 10% declines and a few more to drop-out/no show.

Daughter's wedding was pre-Covid. They invited 127 and had 101 accept (we had expected 100 to attend, so they were exactly where we hoped to be); they had an 80% acceptance rate. They had zero no-shows, but one couple left after the salad course "because they had another commitment".... Those were super expensive salads, but at least everyone else showed up so it could have been much worse. About 30-40% of the guests were out of state or international, and 24/26 of the declines were mostly older out-of-state guests or international cousins for whom the trip was too expensive or difficult.

I maybe had a handful not show up

I don't know why but I am 39 days out and out of 120 invited (75 max at venue) and I have gotten less than 50 RSVPs back, and out of that 50ish 9 of them are our parents and siblings. So personally, I have no idea if people are going to show up or not. I do live across the country from the majority of invitees so probably not but I mean I haven't even gotten a "hey just got your invite, thanks for thinking of us!" text.