how many people should i invite to my wedding?

That should say "going over our cap"

You do not invite anymore people than you can afford to host (and are willing to host). There is no safe way to assume X number of people will decline the invite. There are so many factors involved--how many people have to travel, whether your family is big into weddings, time of year, etc. Some websites will say 20-30% of your invitations will decline, but I've seen brides on here invite over capacity and then get a 95% acceptance rate. You just never know.

If you want 75, you invite 75. If your cap is 100, do not invite a single person more than that (remember to include you, your FH, and all vendors too!).

Agree with Lori. Also, be prepared for people to not RSVP or RSVP no and then show up anyway. At my cousin's wedding, they had 12 people who RSVP'd no show up anyway. For my brother's wedding, a family of 6 just didn't show up.

Agree, you can't invite more than you can host in your venue or afford. We have a list of about 20 work friends/parents friends that may get added to the list at a later point, but right now we have to wait to see how much of FH's massive family is coming. My venue cap is 115, and I sent STD to 100.

On another note, for each wedding I've been a BM in, about 10% of invited guests couldnt make it.

Our venue allows 150 people max. We only invited 150 people.

I struggled with this myself, but I agree with all previous ladies' comments.

Our number with the venue is 75, we've invited 85. If all 85 come, not a huge deal. We know for a fact that some won't be coming (out of the country, new baby right before the wedding, etc).

As far as people saying no and showing up, how do you handle that?! Thanks for the advice, ladies. Much appreciated!

Like PP said never invite more people than you can afford or fit, what if everyone says yes. We can afford up to about 100 people, would prefer to only have about 80. We are inviting 99 with a few people that we already know can't come. Aim for a number of guests within a range, but make sure you can afford the top of the range.

This was tough for us. We wanted 100-120 to keep it small. I too was told not to send invites if you're not prepared to get 100% acceptance rate. family alone was 100 so we had to do the B and C list. We sent invites out really early to all the family since most were out of town, and gave an early rsvp deadline. after that we were able to send to our entire B list. at the end of the day we had 100 exactly at the wedding. I wish I could have predicted our low acceptance rate due to at least 50% of people being out of state. There were people I would have liked to invite but couldn't have given them enough notice to actually invite them. it sucks. literally ranking your friends.

You invite the max aount of people you can afford and fit to host. If your venue holds 75, invite 75, prepare for 100% acceptance.

It's never really safe unless you have a LOT of way out of town guests....

You invite who you can afford to host, and your venue will fit, if every single one of them showed up. Which they might!

I am not sure what to do, my family and friends are little shady at times it could be the moment of season, I would like a 100 but I am inviting 112 with a hopefully 10% decline.

Tough question that a lot of couples struggle with! A few things to consider -

- the more people you invite, the more your wedding will cost (more invitations, more tables, more centerpieces, more food and drink to buy...). Cutting your guest list down is one of the easiest ways to save budget

- we don't recommend inviting more people than will fit in your venue at max capacity. Sure, most couples receive some declines, but on the off chance you don't, that could cause you some awful logistical headaches.

- this guide here breaks down the most common reasons guests decline an invitation The 7 Reasons Why Guests Aren't Coming to Your Wedding

Here's more info to help you out:

The Wedding Guest List: Who Makes the Cut?

How to Make a Wedding Guest List

Wedding Guest List Etiquette