guests

Heidilynnd

Did any of you girls have problems with your guests like rsvping to your wedding and then last minute deciding they cant go?  It hasnt happened to me yet but that my fear.  How far in advance did you send out invites etc.?  The only problem ive had was i asked one of my friends to be a bridesmaid and she said yes, then we havent talked much over the past few months and yesterday i asked her if she was def going because we would be looking for bridesmaid dresses soon and she said she wouldnt be able to go, sucks but ast least i have plenty of time for bridesmaid dresses etc. Any insight?!

kaesha

That's the downside of a DW! When we started out, about 80% of our guests said they were going to come. And, by the end, we had about 35% - which is about what I thought it would be and what we'd budgeted for.

Tanq&Tonic

We didn't have a huge drop off, but we had 2 couples out of 25 initially say yes and then drop out, and another 2 initially say no and then RSVP yes with formal invitations.  I think that's pretty unusual -- most get a higher response after the STDs and a much lower response when the time comes, just as Alyson mentions above.  It's really hard for people to be able to commit to things a year in advance, or even 6 months.  Life and circumstances change unexpectedly so you just have to be flexible.

This is also why we generally recommend not to send invitations too far in advance, and not to request RSVPs more than 4-6 weeks before the event -- the responses are just too unreliable at that time to commit money to vendors.

I will make the caveat that you should budget to accommodate everyone you invite JUST IN CASE.  Our AHR had 500 invitees, expecting about 250 to attend since so many would be from out of town.  We had 450 attend.  So...you really just never know.

AKWinterBride

I actually had the opposite - people said no and then at the last minute (after we had given final numbers) found that they could come.  It was super frustrating, as I assumed that when people said 'no' to something they meant it.  That is the key with RSVP I think, never trust your numbers. 

maui2011

For us...it was pretty consistent..everyone who said they could not make it rsvp'd no or not at all...all the yeses...with the exception of one...made their travel arrangements 3 to 5 months out. Only one couple had to back out after her father became gravely ill...enough time was given as not to affect our numbers with the caterer. HTH! J. :-)