How Many to Invite?

AshleyLR06

Our reception venue holds 150 people. Right now, our guest list is at 163... and that's just aunts, uncles, first cousins and their kids, and about 30 close friends. We "know" about 10 people who won't be able to make it (people with mobility problems and out-of-state families with several kids). Our parents are urging us to just send out the 163 invitations, but it makes me a little nervous. Even if 152 come, then that puts us in a bind with the venue.

I'm sure this is a pretty common problem. Any suggestions??

fallbride1109

If your venue holds 150, my advice is to invite 150.  Trust me, you will be sweating every RSVP that comes in the mail.  I would try and trim the list if you can and if not, cap it now and not invite one more person.  We had some people end up coming from OOT that we also "knew" wouldn't come.

danieliza1127

I really would count on 100% attendance.  It does happen and remember, just because your venue CAN hold 150 doesn't mean it will hold them comfortably.  I would cut your list where you can. 

mbcdefg

Send out 150 invites a couple weeks earlier than you normally would. If you get enough declines, then invite the extra 13 people. (This would require ordering two sets of reply cards with different dates on them.)

We had fewer people come to the wedding than we thought we would (and a few no-shows on the day of), but some of the people who replied either yes or no surprised us. You never know what will happen.

aerinpegadrak

The very first RSVP we got was for the aunt and uncle that DH and MIL swore up and down would never come.  Guess who said yes?

Invite no more than 150.  If your parents make a fuss, tell them that they get to be the ones to explain to the fire marshall how they didn't think it would be a problem when he comes to shut down your wedding reception.  Venues have capacity limits for a reason.  (And yes, that does happen.)

cutypie953

We did 2 batches because we were in the exact same situation.  Venue held 150, we had 170 on the list.  We sent out the family ones about 2 weeks before the original date we wanted to send them, then, fore every decline we recieved, we added someone to the list for the 2nd batch.  We ended up being able to invite those extra 20 and then some and still stayed within the limit. 

One big peice of advise about 2 batches:  don't send one to a person in batch 2 that knows people in batch 1!  What ends up happening is batch 1 person goes to that person and says "hey did you get the invite for so and so's wesddng?" and of course the answer is "no!"  so that person assumes they aren't invited.  Then they get the invite weeks later with a different date so person in batch 2 either thinks they were forgotten about or worse, a 2nd rate friend because they weren't good enough to get an "original" invitation.

trix1223

Ditto the others.  Plan for 100% when determining budget AND seating.  If you must A and B list (which I don't care for), then do that.  But don't invite more than your venue can seat.

chosen175

You may be able to get away with sending the invites a few weeks earlier if the guests are OOT and will have to make travel arrangements.  I'd send those first and then the second batch a few weeks later.  This would work especially well if you didn't send out any STD's.

cooperbo

Normally you loose 20% of the total invited guests list.  You should be fine.

Bob
Special Events Director