Who do you regret inviting or not inviting to your wedding/reception?

We only did immediate family and close friends. In FH's culture everyone is family so we had to put our foot down or we'd have 400 people (we limited out guest list to 40). We didn't invite acquaintances and we let other people know that this was a small intimate wedding and everyone has understood so far. We are not inviting anyone just because we were friends at one point ... if that was the case our guest list would ballon again. I would rather have a nice intimate wedding with people I love and whose I actually can hold a conversation with.

No regrets. Our families were both reasonable, we were both reasonable. We had 2 no-shows (2 we expected to no show, though), and 2 crashers. It evened out so we were great!

I could probably bump up my guest list with old friends, who aren't so close to me anymore or people who could cause drama, but I didn't. My only regret is that my one close friend, probably won't come because I pissed her off, but I'm hoping she'll forgive me between now and then.

My minimum is 90. right now the guest list is at roughly 145. I already know at least 30-40 wont be able to come. I hope it stays below 110 though.

as for people coming. I'm inviting people i KNOW. theres family i dont know so they arent invited. there wont be plus ones unless i know the person.

My uncles who I havent seen in 10 years. Why did i feel i had to invite them? Because theyre family

A lot of people from my dad's side of the family. Some of them decided it was ok to have other family members take their spots and they showed up empty handed (4 of them). My aunt called me a day before the wedding saying they couldn't go and that "she called me ahead of time so we could find replacements." Really, a day before my wedding? Thanks for calling me "ahead of time." Plus they are all strict Christians so we pretty much paid for all our guests to have an open bar and only about 25 people out of 100 took advantage of the boose and tge dancing. Seriously they were all sitting with a pouty face the whole time. The 4 people from DH side didn't show up, and they had been bugging us about attending. Ugh. My cousin and his baby momma didn't show, but I forgive them because there was a fire that had them stuck on the freeway.

So invite your close friends and family who you can depend on and you will have more fun. Just because they're family doesn't mean they have to be invited.

I regret inviting all of FHs family from out of town who Ive never met and knew wouldnt come but his parents insisted....none showed and bc they also didnt RSVP we didnt have proper time to ask our B list (unfortuantely a lot of our friends).

I regret not inviting my brothers best friend. I've known the guy for 26 years but because hubby and I both have large families he was cut. With how many people didn't come I kinda wish I had invited him. And he made it very clear how upset he was on Fourth of July (days after my wedding) when he picked me up and threw me in the lake at my brothers party (I was not in a swimsuit)

I really appreciate the comments everyone! I think I have a good idea what to do from here. It looks like most people are frustrated with the A'Holes who RSVP'd but no-showed.... that's BS!!! I think sticking with the close friends/family who actually talk to me is the way to go... B/C most of these people who will no-show would probably be people who I rarely speak too.

On a side question: If someone doesn't RSVP, do you just assume they are not coming and not reserve a seat for them?

Call them, email them or Fb them

Tell them that you need to know if they're attending or not. If they don't have an answer tell them you will put them down for a no and that if they show up there will 1. Be no seat for them and 2. There will be no food for them.

That's just what I told people, you don't have to be as mean as I was.

I'm having regrets that I sent Save the Date Cards to HS friends that I haven't seen 20+ yrs. Now I'm committed to sending the formal invite. It would be rude not to send right? since I sent SAVE the date card?? LOL! We are having small destination wedding in Key West so we are limited how many guests. I should have thought about it more. But I'm not going to worry If they come it will probably be awesome & wonderful to catch up & I know I won't regret it.!! Just nervous about the head count.

We sent out 75 Save the Date magnets, but ordered 85 invitations. We would rather add to the guest list, than subtract from it, which we can't do if the magnet is on their fridge.

It's probably a help that my sister had a large (225 person) wedding last year. No one, in our immediate family, wanted to do a big wedding, again. The venue we fell In love with has a maximum of 112 guests, so that worked out.

We somewhat based our list from those who attended my sister's wedding. We're in our early 30s and it's much more important to have our friends there, than distant relatives we've seen 3 times in 10 years. And the only guests under 25 will be the 4 in the wedding party, including his niece/nephew (12 & 15) and my honorary little brother and sister (15 & 18).