So Many Questions! How many and where!?

megss088

Hello fellow brides! I am the first of my friends to get engaged, so I haven't been to many weddings in my time, leaving me with many questions! I have two major questions. First, I have currently decided on 9 bridesmaids, including my maid of honor. Going through a quick guest count, my fiance and I already have 170 guests, and that is without our parents guest lists. With a wedding that will probably have 250 guests, is 9 bridesmaids too many?
Secondly, I have fallen in love with Stonebrook Manor for my venue, but I feel like it may be too small for the amount of guests we have. Does anyone have any comments on Stonebrook or have any great recommendations for venues in the Denver area that would be good for that many guests?

Thank you for your help! (:

ridgebackbride

Hi,

Sounds like you have a good start.

First thing is to decide you budget and your guest list. You need to know how many guests you have so you know the size of venue you need. If you fall in love with a place that holds 100, and you have 300 guests, then something needs to give.

After you have the above two pieces decided, you can move on to the rest of the planning. The tools on The Knot are good, but they include a bunch of stuff that is nice, but not needed. You don't have to have favors. No one remembers a lot of stuff that brides stress over. Good food, good cake, good music. That is about it.

Good luck and happy planning.

twotimemob

You have to figure out what is most important - either find a venue that fits the guest count and budget, or cut your list to fit the venue and budget. 

We started out with 103 names on our list alone - that didn't include groom's parents or bride/groom's list (I'm the MOB).  I know with our budget there is no way we could afford 300+ guests.  So we started trimming the count - determining who HAD to be invited and who we'd like to invite, and started cutting there.  But of course if you have unlimited funds you can invite as many as you want.

We checked Stonebrook as that was my daughter's first choice.  While beautiful, it was out of our budget, unless we REALLY trimmed the guest list down to bare bones.

triberoots

I think that you could also take a look at Granby Ranch (also known as Sol Vista), about 1 1/2 hours from Denver. I had a friend married there, and it was just breathtaking taking the chair lift to the top of the mountain! Good luck!