Guest List Stress

maggieevans1

Hi! I am doing a "destination" wedding at The Rose Garden in Metairie, LA. I live on the MS Gulf Coast, my family is from southcentral MS, and all of my fiance's family and friends are in TX and GA. We signed the contract for a minimum of 100 guests, but the venue room can accommodate up to 150 (we will just have to pay extra per person). When my mom and I finally put together our guest lists, we have about 200 people if everyone brings a guest. Can anyone offer me reassurance that half of the guests... or at least 50 people... won't come?? I sent save-the-dates to almost everyone, but we decided to do A-list, B-list formal invites (send out a first batch of invites, see who RSVP's, then send out a seond batch depending on that #). What do y'all think?

TrulydPrincess

Your fine!!!  Don't increase your  guest count...also know that most people don't rsvp, but trust me, your reserved guest # is fine.  I'm in the early/mid stages of planning...who are your vendors, if you don't mind.  thanks and congrats!!

maggieevans1

Congrats to you, too! We are having the ceremony and reception at the Rose Garden in Metairie. They have a certain chef that they use for reception food. I am using Swiss Confectionary, Inc. for the cakes the one we tasted was delicious! We visited Villerie's and Ambrose for flowers, but both proposals were very expensive, so we are looking at other options. Are you from Nola? Do you have any hair salon recommendations?

tlc35

You sent STD to 200 people and your venue only holds 200? Oh boy. You have put yourself in a bad position. Everyone that gets a STD should get an invitation so etiquette says you should invite them and you should expect 100percent attendance. What are you going to do if 160 people RSVP yes? If you hadn't sent out STD I would recommend cutting your guest list but since you have you may need to find a new venue. Eta. Truly single guests do not need a plus 1. Does that get you down to 150? If so I would do that.

TrulydPrincess

Awesome!  Yep, I'm from NOLA!  I have three really great (I mean, totally awesome) recommendations for make up.  Okay, first is Bridget...she does airbrush, comes to you and it is only $50!  She works through Bella Brides:Bella Brides ... <a href="http://bellabride.webs.com/apps/photos/" rel="nofollow">http://bellabride.webs.com/apps/photos/</a> .  The next one is Ashley Herbert.  She is at Stardust salon and she is amazing with hair and make up.  Here is her number (you can call her directly): <a href="tel:504-344-3578" rel="nofollow"><u><font color="#0066cc">504-344-3578</font></u></a>.  The last one is Ashley Merrit with the make up lab.  Her number is 504-666-3795.  As for vendors, who is your photographer?  Who is doing  your flowers?  Video?  I was thinking of going with Renaissance Photo NOLA (good price, nice people, awesome pics and has a free bridal and/or boudoir session giveaway going on now...I haven't booked them yet, but you don't need to book them to win the giveaway, so I entered), Meade Wenzel for flowers (really sweet, good prices, nice stuff) and Chad Dyle Films (good looking products!).  In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/local-wedding-boards_louisiana-new-orleans_guest-list-stress?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Local Wedding BoardsForum:84Discussion:b5fb4e1a-6349-4626-a3bc-c230c4a47d22Post:3a93ffae-dd10-4b85-be60-4452687be244">Re:Guest List Stress</a>:
[QUOTE]Congrats to you, too! We are having the ceremony and reception at the Rose Garden in Metairie. They have a certain chef that they use for reception food. I am using Swiss Confectionary, Inc. for the cakes the one we tasted was delicious! We visited Villerie's and Ambrose for flowers, but both proposals were very expensive, so we are looking at other options. Are you from Nola? Do you have any hair salon recommendations?
Posted by maggieevans1[/QUOTE]

TrulydPrincess

Really, don't worry about the guest count!  My friend is a wedding planner and she told me that you should account for 20% of your people not coming.  In addition to that, the number goes up higher of folks who will not attend when you have lots of out of town guests AND not everyone will bring a date, so you will be fine.  You want a full house at your reception and you will get it!! 

louisianablue

I'm confused.  Did you send save the dates to 200 people and plan to A/B list them for the invitation?  The one thing my planner told me is not to underestimate the number of people who want to go to a wedding in New Orleans. We had a pretty good response rate, so I wouldn't plan on 50% of your guests declining, especially since it is so close to Mississippi.  They could easily attend and go back in the same day. 

I agree with others that not all single guests need a plus one, so I would cut the fat there. 

maggieevans1

Thanks!! Like I said, we looked at Villerie's and Ambrose for flowers, but we are looking at DIY flower options to cut budget. My photographer/videographer is Bobby Harvison from Laurel, MS.

maggieevans1

In Response to Re:Guest List Stress:[QUOTE]You sent STD to 200 people and your venue only holds 200? Oh boy. You have put yourself in a bad position. Everyone that gets a STD should get an invitation so etiquette says you should invite them and you should expect 100percent attendance. What are you going to do if 160 people RSVP yes? If you hadn't sent out STD I would recommend cutting your guest list but since you have you may need to find a new venue.
Eta. Truly single guests do not need a plus 1. Does that get you down to 150? If so I would do that. Posted by tlc35[/QUOTE]

I only sent 100 STD, and you're right, some won't bring guests.

ZeroOrchestra

No one can guarantee you that your guests won't come. You should have made your guest list before picking a venue. You do need to invite all who received STDs, and truly single people don't need dates, though since its a destination it would be awfully nice to give them the option. A and B listing is considered very rude. You should either cut the list from those who did not get sent STDs or change your venue to be the safest. It just hope and pray at least 50 peoe decline.

maggieevans1

I looked at it some more, and counted at least 30 people who are 99.9 sure not coming, so that's 170 people at the most, and there are still several friends that I doubt will make it. Our venue can accommodate, we just may end up paying a bit more than we planned! Thanks for all of your feedback!

jterra2

Definitely need to invite everyone that received a save the date. There's nothing wrong with having an A list and B list as long as all the save the dates were on the a list. Just send out your invites around 8 weeks and have response cards due back and send out b list invites around 6 weeks, that way the b list guests won't even realize because it's a normal time to get an invite!

derksenriley

B listing is rude, and makes people feel bad.  If they're important enough to you that you want them at your wedding, invite them.  Either invite all 200 and be prepared to move to a larger venue if you get a 75% or higher response rate (the Rose Garden's website says they have a room that holds 150-600 btw, so maybe look into its availability), or just invite the 100 you've sent STDs to and a maximum of 50 more.  Don't forget to include yourselves in your count. 

I had about a 50% decline rate, but my guests were from much further away (New Mexico, Arizona, California) and our wedding was on a Sunday right after the holidays.  We did invite over our venue's max capacity but we'd spoken to them in advance and knew that a larger reception venue would be available if we needed to book it (and we were prepared to cut down in other areas to afford to host all of our invited guests).

ashleyhebert

<div>Congrats to you on your wedding!  My name is Ashley Hebert and I am a hairstylist and make up artist at Stardust Salon in New Orleans.  A friend of mine told me that I was recommended on the site to you.  Please call me at 504-344-3578 and I would love to talk to you about in salon and on site wedding options for hair and make up.  Thank you so much!!</div><div>Ashley Hebert</div><div>
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</div>In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/local-wedding-boards_louisiana-new-orleans_guest-list-stress?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Local%20Wedding%20BoardsForum:84Discussion:b5fb4e1a-6349-4626-a3bc-c230c4a47d22Post:77a95a1b-7ef3-4875-b820-fe74c6e0952e">Guest List Stress</a>:
[QUOTE]Hi! I am doing a "destination" wedding at The Rose Garden in Metairie, LA. I live on the MS Gulf Coast, my family is from southcentral MS, and all of my fiance's family and friends are in TX and GA. We signed the contract for a minimum of 100 guests, but the venue room can accommodate up to 150 (we will just have to pay extra per person). When my mom and I finally put together our guest lists, we have about 200 people if everyone brings a guest. Can anyone offer me reassurance that half of the guests... or at least 50 people... won't come?? I sent save-the-dates to almost everyone, but we decided to do A-list, B-list formal invites (send out a first batch of invites, see who RSVP's, then send out a seond batch depending on that #). What do y'all think?
Posted by maggieevans1[/QUOTE]