August 2013 Weddings

Anyone Else Hoping Half of Guest List Declines?

So our venue can accomodate up to 200 guests no problem. When we first booked, we were expecting about 150, so that is what we have paid for (150 guests) so far. Well, in total (including kids) there are 225 people on our guest list. I just put our invites together this past weekend and there are 126 invitations going out total. I am starting to get a little panicky that more than 150 guests will attend. This worries me because I can't remember the exact logistics, but if we go over 150 guests we start to pay an additional fee per head. :/

 

Anyone else in this predicament?

Wedding Countdown Ticker

Re: Anyone Else Hoping Half of Guest List Declines?

  • Sorry you are in this predicament.  We limited our guest list and only invited as many as our venue could hold and we could afford.  However our venue did say the decline rate can be as high as 30% in August, since that is when a lot of families take vacation.  30% would put you right around 150, so hopefully you have a slightly higher decline rate.
  • YES! Me!!

    My Wedding is destination and each head is well over $100 ea.  We are hoping for a 75% decline rate, wish me luck!! Haha

    My fiance and I laugh becuse for each decline response we get, we will give each other a "high five"!!

    It would be interesting to see what our outcomes are.  When is your requested final reply date? Mine is 6/30/13. We shall see....

    Good luck!

    Wedding Countdown Ticker
  • Yes, I hope so! Our RSVP date is August 3rd, so we've still got plenty of time. We are local, not destination, so it probably wouldn't be $100 ea for us, but definitely not free! 

    Wedding Countdown Ticker
  • Me!! We have room for 120 MAX, and when we were planning in the beginning we were only expecting 100. My mother went on an inviting spree, and now we need 30 people to decline. STRESS!!
    Visit LasVegas.Weddings.com Wedding Countdown Ticker
    March siggy:THE DRESS
    photo practically_perfect_2_zpsb1ba38c6.jpg
  • We have room for everyone we are inviting, and we could afford everyone but it would be pretty much all of our money. Our guest list is at just over 200 and I'd prefer it be at 150. I have a lot of OOT family that I'm not expecting to come, so I have my fingers crossed!
    image
  • lol meeeeeeeeeeeeeee hahah
    Anniversary


    TTC starting 8/2014 :)
    image
    My Ovulation Chart

  • Our original idea was to have no more then 150. Then once we priced it out we said 125 would be a more comfortable number. But we had already sent out the save the dates to 165 people...so I'm hoping we'll be somewhere between 125 and 150!!
    Wedding Countdown Ticker August 2013 March Siggy Challenge: The Dress! Image and video hosting by TinyPic
  • Mee!! We need to guarantee 115 people and we're inviting 145(which includes people with guests). We hope only 115 will come because anything over may cost us another 2,000 which we really can't afford :(
  • I surely wouldnt be mad! lol
    <a href="http://www.theknot.com/?utm_source=ticker&utm_medium=HTML&utm_campaign=tickers" title="Weddings"><img src="http://global.theknot.com/tickers/tt17d917.aspx" alt="Wedding Countdown Ticker" border="0"  /></a>
     

     

     

     

     

     

  • Hahah I feel bad saying it but yes! Our minimum is 140 and I think we have 153 on our list right now. I already know of 1 person who can't make it (which bums me out bc it's my friend) but I don't want to pay over our contract price!
    Wedding Countdown Ticker
  • /facepalm

    This is why you make lists and stick to them.

    If you can't afford them, don't invite them.

    If they won't fit, don't invite them.

    Always plan on 100%, just in case, no matter what people tell you the "average decline rate" is.
  • /facepalm

    This is why you make lists and stick to them.

    If you can't afford them, don't invite them.

    If they won't fit, don't invite them.

    Always plan on 100%, just in case, no matter what people tell you the "average decline rate" is.
    True but.... I can afford all that is coming, I wouldnt be mad if we had some declines bc then thats just money I don't have to spend. But we plan on 100% although we have had 3 ppl let us know they can't come before invites. 
    Anniversary


    TTC starting 8/2014 :)
    image
    My Ovulation Chart

  • We planned for, can afford, and are inviting 150. We wouldn't mind the bonus funds if we end up more around 120. At the same time, except for a couple of our parents' invites who we don't know well, our guest list is all people we really to be there. I guess we'll see how it goes. We've already had a number of pre-declines, but we are definitely still sending them invitations.
  • /facepalm

    This is why you make lists and stick to them.

    If you can't afford them, don't invite them.

    If they won't fit, don't invite them.

    Always plan on 100%, just in case, no matter what people tell you the "average decline rate" is.
    True but.... I can afford all that is coming, I wouldnt be mad if we had some declines bc then thats just money I don't have to spend. But we plan on 100% although we have had 3 ppl let us know they can't come before invites. 

    100% means everyone responds.  If you've had 3 declines already there is no mathematical way to have 100% attendance anymore.

    The only way to do this is add a B list, which I hope you are not doing.  They are incredibly rude.  What would you think if someone was having a party tonight, asked you, and then told you they only had room because the original person declined?  Not cool.


    photo bridalparty.jpg
    Daisypath Anniversary tickers
  • I don't think she meant she wants to b-list, just keep budgeting for those three people in case their plans change. Most of us haven't sent invites yet, so wouldn't have official declines. I'm still sending an invite to everyone who doesn't think they can make it in case plans change, and my understanding is that this is proper etiquette. Nothing about what keyshkeysh wrote says b-list to me.
  • We are hoping for 75 guests or less including the BP.   The plan is to send out 50 invites with a guest lit count of 100.  We are hoping for at least 25% in declines.  



    Love is the ultimate superpower.   
    It can make you weak and strong simultaneously.  



  • rel1988rel1988 member
    5 Love Its First Answer First Comment First Anniversary
    Yes we have almost the exact same numbers as you libby! We want to keep it at 150, but our guest list is about 217 right now. The space isn't an issue for us but we wouldn't mind saving a little money!
    Wedding Countdown Ticker
  • Yes I feel so bad for being happy when people decline or say they probably won't make it lol! What kills us is that we invited 70 people but that's not including guest. Since we are both Hispanic with big families and everyone has kids we are putting on the invitation ADULTS ONLY. Some people might say it's rude, but we can't afford everyone and there kids. Only one guest said they don't think that's cool, uh they have 3 kids. I say then don't come if you don't like it.  Anyhow I'm rooting for declines hahaha!!! Oh yeah another guest said his partner wasn't coming and asked if he could bring someone else that I don't know. I said no u can not bring anyone else. You will be put at a table with 5 people u know and love so no. I have no shame with some people that I care for! They will get over it if they love me! :)
  • suzie211 said:
    /facepalm

    This is why you make lists and stick to them.

    If you can't afford them, don't invite them.

    If they won't fit, don't invite them.

    Always plan on 100%, just in case, no matter what people tell you the "average decline rate" is.
    True but.... I can afford all that is coming, I wouldnt be mad if we had some declines bc then thats just money I don't have to spend. But we plan on 100% although we have had 3 ppl let us know they can't come before invites. 

    100% means everyone responds.  If you've had 3 declines already there is no mathematical way to have 100% attendance anymore.

    The only way to do this is add a B list, which I hope you are not doing.  They are incredibly rude.  What would you think if someone was having a party tonight, asked you, and then told you they only had room because the original person declined?  Not cool.


    Well seeing as i do know math I expect 100% to show from the invitations we send out... which havent even gone out yet we only had the 3 ppl let us know from the save the dates we sent therefore we arent sending them an invitation. I don't really care what ppl say with the I should still send out the invitation bc thats just DUMB *(and they let us know so we wouldn't send them an invite). I don't plan on having a B list but thanks for your schooling on them!
    Anniversary


    TTC starting 8/2014 :)
    image
    My Ovulation Chart

  • I don't think she meant she wants to b-list, just keep budgeting for those three people in case their plans change. Most of us haven't sent invites yet, so wouldn't have official declines. I'm still sending an invite to everyone who doesn't think they can make it in case plans change, and my understanding is that this is proper etiquette. Nothing about what keyshkeysh wrote says b-list to me.
    Thank you I didn't think I did either, but I  noticed on here ppl like to jump to their own conclusions. our declines have another wedding and the other have no more PTO *out of state* and specifically wanted us to save the money and stamps from their invites
    Anniversary


    TTC starting 8/2014 :)
    image
    My Ovulation Chart

  • No problem, the b-list lecture was super random to me! Sounds like not sending the extra invites makes sense in your case...several of our pre-declines actually requested getting one anyway!
  • @rel - YES! we will obviously be able to accomodate if everyone ends up coming, but it would be nice to be right at 150 or a little under to save some cash. :)

    Wedding Countdown Ticker
  • I'm in the same boat. My reception venue will seat 125 comfortably, but since we were planning on 150 guests, we rented the attached courtyard so we can spread everyone out and have a nice sized dance floor inside.

    My FH has a lot of aunts and uncles (15), plus all the cousins, spouses, etc. Our families like to receive an invite even if they aren't able to make it.  For his sister's wedding, they had close to 300 peope invited and 135 were able to attend.  We have invited 226 so I'm hoping for less than 150 guests.  We have the room for and can afford the extra guests if we go over 150.  But part of me hopes for less.  My idea of a "big wedding" is 75 people, but this is what happens when you marry into a big family. :)
  • My fiancé is!!!  He actually (jokingly) asked if there was room on the invite to put "no obligation"

    Were having a DW so we only have 25 confirmed people anyway.  We invited almost 100.

    As others stated, around 25-30% of your invites will be declined so don't panic!

  • Just got another "we can't make it, some unexpected expenses came up" response yesterday...woo hoo keep those declines coming!!  We already have enough guests fully booked!

    I really love that I did my DW now.  It was the best idea ever to minimize the list and the cost ends up less than most weddings in town!! 

    I am a very happy Bride right now!

     

    Wedding Countdown Ticker
  • When we booked our reception venue they told us it holds 200. Since I just went by that our list was at 206 (I know you should plan for 100% attendance, but I was pretty comfortable counting on 6 nos based on our guest list). Well when I recently asked for a floorplan I found out that is with 10 people at 60" tables and 2 tables on the dance floor! So really we are talking 160 or 144 if we don't want the tables to take up part of the dance floor. We still haven't gotten the list down to exactly where we need it, we are at about 180 after the first round of cuts and everyone else seems to think it's fine, but I'm nervous. Not to mention our original caterer closed and our new one costs more! So yes, definitely wanting some nos!
    Image and video hosting by TinyPic

This discussion has been closed.
Choose Another Board
Search Boards