Please let me know if this is a silly idea! Giving the venue a smaller headcount???

You run the risk of not having a seat for everyone. Always assume everyone will come.

Very bad idea to do that. What happens if 100 respond yes and 100 show up and the caterer has food for 96 #youjustFupyourwedding it is just bad hosting.

We will give the correct count when due. I believe our venue plans for 3% more than the count. I don't plan on giving them a lower count to make up for those that don't show, as there very well may be a few folks that bring a plus-one & not RSVP as such.

I wouldn't risk guest not having dinner by giving a lower count.

I don't think you should do this. If they all show up then they will have nowhere to sit. Saving a few hundred dollars would not be worth it for me.

Are you talking about final headcount or for planning purposes?

If you're planning to invite 100 people, I would think you would tell the vendors all to expect 100 until told otherwise. Then, when the final count is due you would tell them how many people will actually be attending.

Thanks ladies, just a thought! We are doing buffet style as it was the same price as a sit down and we like having more options....i did not think about seating of course. It would be set for the amount given. Makes sense. :-)

No, you should never do this. You should always assume that all guest who rsvp to you will show up, and give your venue the headcount after you receive all of your rsvp's. What if everyone who rsvp'ed show up and you don't have a seat for them?

Sounds like a disaster waiting to happen.

Are you speaking about your venue in particular, or are you assuming that venues work this way in general? If it's such an easy fix to save money, why hasn't the venue figured it out?

My advice is to give the right head count to the venue. Sure, they may say that you can pay for extra people on the day of your wedding, until it happens and Jim the Event Manager says "no, that can't be done" or "yes, we can do that, for an extra charge". Is this the day you really want to start arguing about what Sam, your venue representative, told you months earlier? Are you going to have seats and place settings added to tables at the last minute? Are you going to have those extra people (those you know are coming) listed on a seating chart or on escort cards?

No shows happen, and they happen to everyone. Consider it the cost of doing business. But please, don't try to figure out ways to save the cost of a few potential no-show plates by throwing in a last minute monkey wrench at the venue.

Thank you ladies! Good advice!

Depends on when you're giving them the headcount! When we reserved our venue (almost a year out) we had to guarantee a certain number of attendees. We had only roughed out our guest list, and hadn't sent STDs! Out current guest list is probably about 70 or so, but we told the venue 40. We are required to pay for at least that, no matter what! When invites go out in November/December, and we get RSVPs back in January, THEN we will get a better idea. 3 weeks prior, we have to give a final headcount to the venue. At that time, if there is more than 40, it will be added to our final bill. If it's less than 40, we'll still owe for 40.

Very bad idea. Every single guest who rsvp'd yes came and was on time at our wedding. That's been the case with the many weddings my circle has had.

Assume everyone is coming.

Wouldn't they be suss to it when you give them your seating chart and drop off placecards?

Mine is similar. Give head count and they charge that as minimum. If more show up, they will add more place settings.

My problem is that is is assigned tables and I would not want to say have a table with 6 RSVPs with only 5 settings because I lowered the number. Don't want to offend anyone since we have escort cards etc.

And these are my relatives so to me it's not worth it.

Give them a correct count based on your RSVP's.

I agree with PP, don't set yourself up for problems!

It's a bad idea. We had zero no-shows. Everyone who responded "yes" showed up. You can't assume this will happen to you just because you've heard about it from other brides.

Also, in the grand scheme of a wedding budget, a few people will not break the bank if you DO have no-shows. Just accept that it may happen and don't worry about it.

Dont do that please...

My venue asked for an estimated number so we gave them the number of people we were inviting (in your case 100). They didn't ask for a head count until about 8 weeks out (this is technically a DW) but we can change that number and get a credit up to 14 days before our wedding