Responses

lupna85

I invited 167 people (including myself and my FI) and I planned on around 150 guests. So far I have received more than half of the responses and only had 1 person say they couldn't make it. I'm up to 98 people coming. I'm nervous that I'll go over the 150 that I budgeted for. I do have some wiggle room in the budget so it won't put me out but I wasn't sure if this was common? I had read to plan on 10% of your guest not making it which would be exactly 150.
Has anyone else heard that?

JessAndTrav

You can't plan for guests to not attend. If you budgeted for 150, then you only should've invited 150.

laurenclaire1386

There's no surefire way to tell how many people will come. 100% attendance has happened before according to Knot lore, but I've never seen anyone say firsthand it happened to them. Hope you have the resources to accomodate everyone if they all show up.

Nebb

Hahaha sucker. You should have asked us this before sending the invites.

janedoe1113a

You shouldn't invite more people than  you budgeted for.  That was a bad idea.

BecW2be

Jesus Nebb. I just snorted, and I never snort!

ashmy211

All of our initial responses were yes's - however we got a lot of no's towards the end of our RSVP date, and did not receive a lot of responses which are turning out to be mostly no's. I'm sure it varies for every person, but that's how it has worked out for us. Also, I agree with Jess in that you should not have counted on people not coming and should not have invited more than you could afford.

pumpkinpumpkin

Good freaking god. It's like idiocy around here today.

lupna85

i did add additional funds for miscellaneous expenses ( more than 150) I just wasn't sure if it was common to have close to 100% attendance. I would have never asked someone to come if I couldn't pay for it.

sapphirebaby926

I've heard about it but I think it's a bad way to plan your guest list. You really should've only invited the amount of people you can afford to attend.

ohwhynot

I think it's highly unusual to have 100% attendance, but it can certainly happen.  The chances are greater if you have more of a hand-picked list of people you really want to be there and whom you think will really want to be there as opposed to a guest list that has more "obligatory" invitations such as extended relatives who aren't as likely to put high priority on attending your wedding. 

Although we would have told you not to do it, inviting 17 people over your 150 comfort zone wasn't the dumbest thing in the world.  You'll probably get a few more declines and, since you said your budget can handle it, I wouldn't fret. 

lupna85

 thanks for all the helpful words of wisdom

ExpatPumpkin

What's done is done, and the good news is that 167 will fit your venue (I assume) and that you can afford it if they all show.  More likely than not, however, they're not all going to show...  

So I honestly wouldn't stress out about it.  There's nothing you can do now anyway

Nebb

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_etiquette_responses?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20BoardsForum:9Discussion:94f947d2-3f5b-46a8-9bcb-fe5f70f3bf36Post:078c9d29-5dfb-456e-9435-9e3a8ed87155">Re: Responses</a>:
[QUOTE]Jesus Nebb. I just snorted, and I never snort!
Posted by BecW2be[/QUOTE]
<3

tracy_k

I don't think it's stupid to invite more people than you're hoping to have, so long as you're prepared to have them all actually come and you're not creating a situation where your venue would actually be overbooked if they all came.

We wanted 125 guests. We invited ~140 guests. We had 120 guests. However, we absolutely could have accomodated all the guests we invited... our venue could easily hold them and there was no set number.

We were just glad they didn't all come, as it gave us a little wiggle room.

FutureMrsDudley55

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_etiquette_responses?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20BoardsForum:9Discussion:94f947d2-3f5b-46a8-9bcb-fe5f70f3bf36Post:4d4c0ee0-0f64-428b-a975-297eabb87c31">Re: Responses</a>:
[QUOTE]Good freaking god. It's like idiocy around here today.
Posted by pumpkinpumpkin[/QUOTE]

This.

tenofcups4me

Odds are good that the no's are going to roll in later so don't worry too much yet.

There's really no way to tell how many people will show and no percentage estimate that's going to work for everyone. But if you know your guests, you can sometimes make a pretty good guess. The first time I got married, we invited 160 (which inclduded plus ones for all singles). Our best guess was that we'd end up with 140. We ended with 130, which was in the ballpark. (And yes we were prepared for all 160 if necessary.)

squirrly

We got mostly "NO"s at first, and all the last minute ones have been YES.  But we have several non-responders that I'll be calling starting on Monday, and I expect that a fair number of those are NOs.

Lauren620

When my sister got married all kinds of people showed up that my mom swore wouldn't come.  They didn't have 100% attendance but it was close!  I have definitely learned from her experience and am not inviting more than we can accommodate just in case they all show up.