How many no-shows did you have?

I had two people show up who said they were absolutely not coming, and I think I had 5 people not show who said they would def be there. Honestly though, we were having such a great time that I hardly noticed until people asked me "where's so-and-so?"

A wedding I went to a few weeks ago had about 2 tables worth of people not there. Which was a shame, because there were tons of food and the couple saved for a long time to throw the wedding they wanted. I'm sure they still paid for those plates. On the other hand, my cousin's wedding 4 years ago had no empty seats whatsoever. I think it just comes down to who you are inviting- the people closest to you will move heaven and earth to be there if they RSVP'd yes.

Yes, i'm thinking of the cost per plate loss. I'm really weary of inviting most of FH guests I have a gut feeling they'd say yes because in theory they would love to be there but,I doubt they'd make it. (long story)

Okay, I'll say this - I do not agree with only inviting the people who you actually think will come. That leads to hurt feelings and some of your guests may surprise you.

That is a tough situation. You obviously can't just exclude FH's guests because of this fear, but maybe talk to your FH and see if he can call them and verify that they are coming for sure right before your final head count? It's not great etiquette, but if this is a legit fear and it could cost you more than a couple hundred dollars, I would have him do that. Are they just notoriously flakey?

Technically none, but we had 7 people that had to last minute RSVP "no" after our final catering payment was due. Most of them had legit reasons including terminal cancer and death of a business partner. It was really sad

Wow I couldn't imagine people not communicating thing like that ahead of time!

@Lady Monk wow,sorry to hear that. Those are legit reasons@Springbride I know, I'm hoping I'm wrong about them but I don't think so.

FHs family members are not close at all and that's both sides.Its not a big family to begin with but, the little they have are dysfunctional to say the least. His Aunt wants to come but has asked his mother to pay her travel expenses which we know she can't. His dad was very absent most/all of his life,the last time he saw him was when he was 13(He'll be 30 in December) He tries to extend the olive branch,he's calls him but his dad is just not interested. He did 2tours in Iraq, at the height of the war, he left when he was 19 and returned when he was 21.The other day I asked did his father at least call him when he returned and he said no,not even a glad you made it home alive son.I immediately took his name off.We're needing to cut the list as it is and that's not a person who cares about him, even if he is his'dad'. FH was ok with that and said he was just being the bigger person (I'm tired of him being the bigger person, we will be petty patty that day)...Oh and his dad was recently married and he didn't find out until he saw a post on FB.(father of the year). He has Aunts and cousins he wants to invite but, he hasn't seen them since he was 13.They speak every now and again and said they would like to attend but I really don't see it happening (they hate his mom) FH has friends that are more family than his actual family all together there are 22 guest on his side I am highly unsure about. I know they would probably love to be there because they are family but, I don't think it would be a priority for them in the long run and at $45 a plate that's not something I'm willing to take a chance on.

I think we had about 10 no-shows out of 70, but since I didn't make a seating chart, I really couldn't say. As others have said, I didn't give anyone who wasn't there. I was having too much fun with those who were!

10-15 out of 130ish. Most didn't call before or after, either. Luckily we didn't pay per plate, so we lost no money.

@Zoe @Erica those are not bad numbers.

We had about 6 out of 120

We had a couple last minute back outs for legit reasons too.

We had 3 out of about 90 "yes" RSVPs. We also had a "surprise" guest, so it all worked out. I was actually super psyched, because I would rather have had 86 year old Agnes over my husband's brother's drunk friends (who bailed) any day. True story.

Our final guest count is 64. I am scared that 4 of those will not show up. The tables would still be pretty well balanced without those 4.