Decline rate?

sarahufl

We invited 260 people, which was giving me a heart attack. We had space for 100% attendance, but it would have required us to use the outdoor space, which we did not want to have to rely on. That said, we were confident that 100% would not attend due to some travel/family illnesses.

We planned for (and estimated with our vendors) for 200 guests and it looks like we will have 160. This was a little surprising, we thought there would be more people, but we are happy for those who can attend. I feel bad because most of the declines came from FMILs family. They all live in the northeast and our wedding is in north Florida. I know it is out of my control, but most of them would have come had we gotten married in the NY area.

FI told me not to feel bad- we did not pick our location to be inconvenient, it was just really important to me to get married in my hometown. But I do wish more people had been able to make it from FMILs family.

Now we have to meet the catering minimum of 200- maybe we can add or upgrade some of the food since we had budgeted for the full 200?

Anyway, what do your numbers look like? Or what did you have, if you have already gotten married?

Maggie0829

We invited 135 and 130 came.

I would definitely upgrade your food or add an extra app to meet that 200 minimum.

penguin44

We invited about 150, expected around 120, and have 78 that have RSVPed yes. I am surprised by some of the people that said no.

A lot of my family that wanted to travel to where I am now, are now saying the 4 hour drive is too far. I understand. I could have had my wedding at home. But it's interesting to see who was excited to come vs. who is actually coming.

sarahufl

penguin44 said:

We invited about 150, expected around 120, and have 78 that have RSVPed yes. I am surprised by some of the people that said no.

A lot of my family that wanted to travel to where I am now, are now saying the 4 hour drive is too far. I understand. I could have had my wedding at home. But it's interesting to see who was excited to come vs. who is actually coming.

That is what we are noticing. There was a lot of "yay! can't wait!" but then declines. I totally get it and absolutely do not take it personally. I know it is expensive/difficult for a lot of people. But there were some surprising declines.

vk2204

We invited over 300 people - but that was EVERYONE having a guest. Roughly 240 ended up coming. Most single people did not bring a guest.

beachyone15

We are inviting 150 and expecting 130. We'll see what happens!

melbelleup

We invited 274, 172 said they'd come, 165 showed up.

wandajune6

We invited 206 (6 new relationships since we put together our list) and were expecting 140 based on numbers from recent family weddings. We've only sent STDs but, so far, not a single person has told us that they won't be attending. In fact, everyone that my parents said wouldn't come has told my parents that they're planning their travel.

Senecaf

I'm really anxious for my RSVPs to come back. I have a feeling I'll be tracking down a lot of people their reply. I'm expecting quite a few family declines because a cousin of mine is getting married in another state 3 weekes before I am and our guest lists heavily overlap.

Peaseblossom55

We invited 131 had 91 say yes, we upgraded our dessert portion to include cordials and a banana fosters station to meet the venue minimum spend amount. 

ShallowSeas

We invited 135 and are expecting 100-110. A lot of my family are out of state and probably won't attend. The minimum requirement we have to pay is 100 people. We sent out our invitations last week with an RSVP date of 8/9 so we'll see

csuave

We invited 163 and had 108 attend (+2 lower priced vendor meals).  I suspected that we would have a high decline rate as most invitations were to OOT guests (in fact we had 100% local attendance).  I also knew at least 2-3 wouldn't come due to health reasons.  We negotiated the minimum down to around 120, which was low for the venue considering where it started.  I thought 120 was achievable. 

To make up the difference and reach the minimum we didn't have to do very much since we were pretty close.  We extended the bar by 30 minutes, added some berries to the stationary appetizers and added an amuse-bouche as a sort of fifth course.

We also added cookie traying service for our cookie bar at a cost of $125.  We planned to do it anyway but instead of paying extra it kind of became a savings because it ended up going toward the minimum instead of over it.

Lurkers: always plan on 100% attendance but if you have a good idea that you will have declines then do the math in case you want to negotiate the minimum based on how many people you think will actually attend.

JaniV123

My response is bogus but we are likely inviting 150-160 and after talking to some people who have told me the wont be able to come or it will depend, I am calculating that around 130-135 will be in attendance. I am still a very long time away but yeah

Cookie Pusher

Based on our responses, we have a roughly 40% decline rate. Higher than the "norm" that gets passed around, but not outside the realm of expected for a holiday weekend wedding. We are already aware that there may be a guest or two who now will not be able to make it due to health reasons, but we'll know in about 44 hours how many actually show up.

huskypuppy14

Cookie Pusher said:

Based on our responses, we have a roughly 40% decline rate. Higher than the "norm" that gets passed around, but not outside the realm of expected for a holiday weekend wedding. We are already aware that there may be a guest or two who now will not be able to make it due to health reasons, but we'll know in about 44 hours how many actually show up.

Someone has to be higher than the average, just like some people have 100% attendance or close to it. That's why it's an average.

We had a 30% decline rate by people (we invited just under 160 and had 112 say yes.   But we had a 24% decline rate by invitations. Because, some people didn't bring a plus one, or didn't bring their significant other.  Honestly, I'm so glad 150 people didn't come, that would have been much more expensive, and more exhausting. I feel like we had a really good number.

There are so many variables when it comes to decline rate, that what other people had, won't really tell you what you will have.

theartistformerlyknownas

Can I threadjack this a tiny bit and ask if more declines came at the beginning or toward the deadline, or if it was spread out evenly? The analyst in me wants to project out my decline rate after a week of responses.

penguin44

lolo883 said:

Can I threadjack this a tiny bit and ask if more declines came at the beginning or toward the deadline, or if it was spread out evenly? The analyst in me wants to project out my decline rate after a week of responses.

STB

Most of my declines did not send their response card. We had to contact them. My mom is still getting "no" responses a week after the deadline. We had no declines at the beginning. 

theartistformerlyknownas

penguin44 said:

lolo883 said:

Can I threadjack this a tiny bit and ask if more declines came at the beginning or toward the deadline, or if it was spread out evenly? The analyst in me wants to project out my decline rate after a week of responses.

STB

Most of my declines did not send their response card. We had to contact them. My mom is still getting "no" responses a week after the deadline. We had no declines at the beginning. 

Ewwww

mysticl

We invited about 200 and had around 70 attend. We invited kids so the decline of one invite could end up being as many as 6 people not attending. We also had a couple of last minute no shows because of stuff that came up. Our minimum was 100 and we had to pay for 100 meals, even if we had upgraded the package we still would have had to pay for 100 meals. They didn't have the option of adding "extras". However, they did let kid's meals count towards the 100. And we had plenty of food.

KytchynWitche

We're inviting 48, I think. But we know FI's family in the US won't come out for it, and we're fairly certain that my grandparents won't come because of the travel. Also, given that we're getting married on a Friday, we are expecting that certain people will have trouble getting leave. We're expecting the final numbers to be in the 30-36 range.

sarahufl

lolo883 said:

Can I threadjack this a tiny bit and ask if more declines came at the beginning or toward the deadline, or if it was spread out evenly? The analyst in me wants to project out my decline rate after a week of responses.

We got a lot of our declines right away. But they were mixed.

izza2

We invited ~150 (including children, though; it's about 100 adults/50 or so couples) people. So far everyone's said they're coming. We have one person on my side who hasn't RSVPd who likely won't come because she's all the way across country, and there are five or so people on FI's side who haven't RSVPd that we're unsure of.

RosieC18

We invited 182 and had 105 attend. 108 had RSVP'd yes, but we had the usual last-minute no-shows for health, flights etc. We were surprised, Because we'd estimated 150 (but we're prepared for all182!). We were sad about the individuals who couldn't make it but we're actually really happy with the size. We also didn't have a minimum so it saved us a few grand.l which was great.