How to figure guest count? Please help!

You have to plan your wedding and your budget as if ALL your guests will attend. So if you can only budget and afford 125, invite only 125. You should never, ever invite more people than you can afford. No one can predict exactly how many people will attend, as various factors come into play as to how many people can come. If you want to keep on budget, do it that way.

If it still doesn't quite make sense. Say you invite 250, the 'projected' 125 RSVP yes. And then you have some late rsvp-ers, 75 of which are coming, 50 said no. You now have 200 guests coming on a budget that is set for 125 guests.

FMS is absolutely right. inviting more than you can afford is a sure fire way to have a financial disaster! what you can do is have a B list; and send out invites a little earlier than you normally would..If you get a NO from the A list (that you send out first), then and only then do you send an invite to someone on the B list..although I realy don't like the idea of dividing my guests into two lists and am not quite sure how that prevents someone from getting an invite in really short notice, but maybe someone can explain that better than I. :-)

Thanks, ladies! I just don't want to end up with more guests than seats. I also don't want to end up with a bunch of empty seats. Whatever number we tell them is what we pay for even if they don't all show up. We are having a hard time as it is narrowing down the guest list. How do you tell someone they aren't invited to your wedding?!

How many people is your guest list up to?

If you are inviting 200 people and are putting $7,000 aside for food and drinks, then you need to find a place that does a deal at $35 per plate.

Adjust that equation as it pertains to you.

You either need to up your budget, cut your guest list, find a different vendor, or cut the open bar if you are not finding things within the dollar amount you can/want to spend.

You need to get the following steps down pat:
-When encountering someone who isn't invited, and they ask you about the wedding. Avoid talking about it like it's the plague. Just say you haven't figured it out yet, or you haven't decided, etc.
-When asked who is invited, if they're invited, etc. Just say that the wedding is going to be small and intimate. Doesn't matter if your guest list is 50 people or 500, it's 'small and intimate, close friends and family only' when you're talking to anyone that's not invited.

You tell the vendor your invite amount now... I'm inviting 200 people. They will quote you the price for 200 people and many make you put down a deposit ___% of the total bill if all attend. Then a week or 2 before the wedding you tell them the Final Guest count - how many "YES" you got. That is when they tell you what the new balance is, and how much you will owe them for food. You will also drop off your table seating chart at that time so they know how many tables to set and how many chairs. You shouldn't end up with too many empty chairs.

Some places have a minimum count for rooms. You invited 200, but the room has a minimum of 175... so even if you get 160 Yes, you still need to pay for 175 people. That is something to consider too if your place has min. guest counts.

Our guest list is at 200. Probably 30 of them are out of state family that have (for the most part) said they would be unable to attend. The meal we picked is $12 per plate with children under 5 free. We are buying a keg of beer but other than that it is a $3 cash bar. It is $20 per hour for the bartenders and we have to have 2 since it is over 100 guests. We decided not to open it until after dinner right before we cut the cake.

I invited 172 guests and 120 RSVP'd yes, but a few of those people were no shows.

http://genevieveswedding.blogspot.com/2011/01/rsvp-statistics.html

For my venue/caterer I said 100 people b/c you had to guarantee 80% of that number. So we were sure 80 people would come.

My final count was due two weeks before so I had my RSVP deadline a month before the wedding so I could track down people who didn't RSVP.

Thanks! This has probably been the hardest part in the planning process for me.

We found a place we loved, had them price it for our top and bottom projected number of guests, and when after seeing we could still (barely) afford to feed and entertain our max number we signed for a minimum slightly above our min, but below our max. We hoped to hit the sweet spot, but if we are below we get upgrades and if we are over, we still know what to expect since we had them show us all the numbers.

Every group is different… In general, if you invite 250 you'll get 200… invite 140 and you'll be closers to 125. BUT I had one couple who invited 150 with the hopes of getting it down but ended up at 200. They were not too excited about making that last payment~ Keep your guest list in check. Only invite what you can afford & make sure you have a handle on the plus one's. Our list is at 82 right now, and I've budgeted for 85. If the RSVP's are lower then that just means I get to upgrade my centerpieces or add more appetizers later.

My room holds 128 people (seats) and I invited about 150 - FH keeps adding and inviting people without telling me first. So, I'm hoping I'll get some No's... and I still have a B list. It's also driving me insane. I'm really not too worried about too much of a cost as we are doing finger foods and open bar anyway but I'm worried about seats. I know it'll all end up well in the end but for now (42 days out) I"m pulling out my hair... Good luck!

Split your guest list into "must-haves" (A list) - "want-to-haves" (B list) - and "people-who-probably-won't-come" (C list)

Send invites to the A list first, send them an extra month early!! and make their RSVP date be early too! Then as they start to decline, send out the B list invites to fill those spots.

It's not perfect because sometimes people who said they can't come, are suddenly showing up anyway... sigh. But it'll help you manage your guest list without breaking the bank

Good luck, Susan! I hope it all goes well.

Thanks for all the help girls, I really appreciate it.

I was wondering what you guys thought of this...

I have around 30 people from out of town and I am not entirely sure if any of them are going to be able to make it. My wedding is 9-10-11 so if I sent theirs out on 7-10-11 and asked for maybe a 2 weeks response that would give me some play room with my numbers assuming they all responded. Then I could divide into A and B and send A out say 7-25 and ask for a 2 week response. Then figure out list B from the responses I get from list A and send those out at the beginning of August and ask for a 2 week response time. My final count has to be in 2 weeks before the wedding.

Does that make sense? I just made my head hurt. LOL

Sounds like a plan ^_^ lol and yeah... planning a wedding and figuring out logistics makes Everyone's head hurt.

Well you have to be caferful with your guest list and catering. Sometimes if you give a count then that number becomes your minimum. My caterer doesn't do that, but some of them do. Also, you don't have to invite people just because they are family. The general rule is if you don't really have a relationship with that person then you don't have to invite them. This is my own personal rule: If we don't hang out without me having to foot the bill, then you won't hang out with me at my expense. So that generally cut most of my cousins.

I was always told that the rule of thumb was to expect only 75% of the people that you invite to show up. When I reserved our venue it was for 110 ppl. However, I have up until five days before the wedding to give the final count. Hopefully, by then I'll have all my rsvp's in by then. Hypothetically if only 75 ppl rsvp, I'll have my final count at 80 for the straglers. It's your wedding, so do whatever makes you comfortable.