How many won't show?

I've heard of people having 100% show up, sometimes more (uninvited plus-ones). Of course it is unlikely that everyone will RSVP yes - I think the average (not necessarily typical) attrition rate is about 15-20%. Consider that it's easier for local invitees to come; people who have to travel and/or get hotels may be less likely to come. But you should be prepared to cover everyone you invite, because they could all show up.

It all depends. i would say something to the people who have "pluses" that depending on how many people RSVP their plus ones might not be able to make it. im afraid im going to be in the same kind of situation but i dont have to do invites until march so i have ahwile before the stress lol

I have heard that 15% of people that RSVP do not show, but I come from a Hispanic family for which we prepare for the extra guests at all times. Most of the time friends and relatives show up with uninvited guests. If I were you I would make sure to invite your father's side, you will probably get more satisfaction of seeing him represented in your wedding....even if its by distant cousins

This is a loaded question. I have heard that up to 25% will not be able to attend, but personal experience (from my daughters wedding) proved that to be wrong. She invited around 146 people and 138 RSVP'd yes. There was only one no-show.

Would you really want to plan for fewer guests than you have room for? If you do, you know everyone is gonna rsvp yes.

Lol, at least that is what my luck is like.

Exactly Dani. My luck as well... that's what I'm afraid of. We do have some that are pretty definite "no-shows" like all my friends from Virginia.... I don't expect they'll make the trip. I just don't think I have the budget for another $700-$800. I'm scraping as it is.

I'm still working it out. Just wanted to get some advice. I've had a lot of people tell me 20% won't make it. We are having a Friday wedding, so that will effect some of the out-of-towners as well.

hm..... Thanks for the insight all of you. I appreciate it.

Are your friends in that number? Id give them a call and just say, hey i know its far and Im sending you an invite of course, but just wondering if you thought youd be able to come or wont be able to make it. then you may at least get some definite nos to count on.

Have there been many family weddings in the last few years? do these cousins typically go to them? or not? especially one that might require travel. I know for us, based on the wedding attendance of my brother and sister (married 5 and 8 yrs before me), we could pretty well anticipate who from family may or may not come...and we were right within just a few people

Has anyone just invited friends and not allowed them a "guest"? That would free up some spaces for actual family. And of those friends, they will KNOW a ton of people there so it's not like we'd be asking them to come all alone to something with a bunch of strangers. lol.

There have been a few family weddings (on my dad's side) where the one set of cousins I have have had - and we've always been invited. That's why I kind of feel I should invite them. On the other hand, I haven't seen them for years, they've never met my fiance - and they just aren't a part of our lives....so in that respect I do feel like if I leave them out it's okay because we want to share the day with people who are a part of our lives.

I'm adding in all the "guests" in my ww planner now....so we'll see what I come up with! LOL

Oh, and the family on my mom's side...all of us go to everything. Unless there are work conflicts they will be there (and some might not make the ceremony, but will come to the reception). There are only a few out of town that are questionable.

Good idea bluedaisy..I think I am going to have to contact a handful of them and see if there's ANY chance they are coming.

You most likely won't have everyone RSVP yes, but you can't count on it. Don't send out more invites than you can afford and can fit in your space! My FH's parents had every single person invited come to their wedding. We've already had a few people say no, but invites have been out for 3 weeks and we don't even have 1/3 of the responses yet. Also, don't count on being able to invite your Bs... I know of some people right now that "probably can't come" because they're so far away but it's been 3 weeks and I haven't heard back. (What I did was I kept back some invites if people they knew were being invited as Bs so that people in the same group would get invites around the same time... oh, and I took down my facebook wall so no one could post "got my invite today!")

I invited friends and asked them not to bring a guest- we still have yet to see if they do.... I did however have some invites go out that were addressed to one person only and they responded with plus 1. This could be a problem!

Our venue has a max of 100 and I invited 130ish. thinking not everyone would show, but if friends are adding plus ones this shoots the numbers up. If they do reach over our max I'll have to personally call these people and explain again Id love to have them but I cant have their plus one. A stress I dont want or need!

I know, right?! We're doing all our RSVPing online - so if I add a "plus guest" on their household then at least we'll KNOW...otherwise I'm afraid if I just invite the single person they may misinterpret and show up with a "plus 1" that we have no chair for and no food for!

Geeze. This is starting to get stressful. I just talked with my mom about it and if I get another few freelance jobs lined up I'll be able to cover for the extras and expand the room...so there's only about 14-15 "plus ones" that are wildcards. She said she can probably pitch in and help me if we have to pay for the additional people / larger room. The venue is cool with whatever we do as long as we pay the final balance of the room and the # of guests by their deadline.

ahhhh!

We are doing our rsvping online as well- they can send you notes when they rsvp and thats how i found out about the plus 1s. Just remember its one day- actually only a few hours and is that extra money really worth all that stress to you? Its hours of labor on your part (and your moms) and just a couple of hours for the guests to enjoy.

I have to guarantee 175 and I have 210 so far on my guest list... I hope that some of them don't come. =)

I know... I'm going with the flow. The final list is 202 (including the band, and our friend who's the officiant and his wife). 14 "plus ones" that could go either way... and 9 from VA who most likely won't come. I've contacted all of my WAY out of town friends (just to see if there's a chance they will make the trip).

That knocks us down to 179...so I think we'll be okay. Also, some of those are children and I already know of some of my friends who plan on getting sitters that night (even though we are welcoming kids).....

If we have to extend the room, so be it. With those numbers and just the probability of some of the other family who live far away we should *hopefully* make it under the 175 cap.

Guess I'll just wait and see.

My FI and I are sort of having the same dilemma. We decided (just to make it less stressful) that we will keep our original reservation for 128 guests at our venue, and will tell the venue coordinators last minute how many will be able to attend since our guest list has grown to over 140...eek...and it's always easier to add more guests than to try and lower the guest count. We are just going to invite the 140+ people, and whoever RSVPs no, we are going to leave their space empty rather than trying to fill our guest list (no point in wasting money if you ask me. If they weren't invited in the first set of invites, then I don't think it would be more polite to invite them last minute, especially if they are to find out that they were "b-listers"). I'm assuming that at least the original 128 will attend...