% that shows up.. (and vent)

bstengler

so after sending out to many invitations, im having a little bit of a panic attack about the numbers of "Yes" we will get back. the problem is my reception room holds up to 300. i didnt want 300, i had about 220-230 in mind. but my mother and future mother inlaw came up with a huge list and i hit 320. before i could even speak on the topic (i was just so speechless) it felt like the invites were already out and off to the USPS.

now my question is on average, what percentage says no? i know ive seen anything from 15% to 30%. thats a huge gap.

has anyone seen anything anywhere on this subject?? or any ideas??

rachel801231

I heard somewhere that maybe 25% of your guests don't come.  I really do think that percentage is high.  You ALWAYS want to plan for the exact number of guests invited.  You're really treading thin ice by having a venue which holds less people than you invited.  You're either going to have to hope for the best or turn guests away, unless you change venue.  It's really not a good situation to be in and you should have really stood your ground when filling out the guest list.  Almost all of the weddings I have been to, most people showed up.  With being only  20 over you may get lucky and 20 not show up but you really need to have a plan incase they do. 

w+c3

I think my venue told me 15-20%

My venue will hold all of my guests but I'm really only hoping for 200 out of 250....so I need 50 people to cancel!! I'm 20 in and hoping for more lol

LoverBean27

I've heard that the best statistic to go by is to plan for 80% to show up... So 20% will be no.... I too am in the same boat with additional ppl added and the guest list just huge. my venue only holds 180....so you can imagine how freaked out i am that 80% yes is 218 ppl. Luckily I have 24 ppl up front, including us, but still doesn't help the reception...

ashley925

One of my recently married friends told me that if you take the number you invited, multiply it by 2 and divide it by 3 it's supposed to be a decent estimate? No clue if this theory holds any credibility...but I kind of hope so because 136 guests would be just fine by me (not the 200 I invited lol...is that selfish?! Ha.)

Rachmarie23

It depends on a lot of factors.  Thus far, 30% have declined for our wedding.  But the vast majority of my FI's family which is all 3000 miles away hasn't RSVP'd.  I'm sort of guessing that most will not make it.  So likely it will be 30% or more declining.  My fiance also isn't close to much of his family.  (Much of his family is his step moms family, but he hasn't had the ability to be close to them due to living far away.)  

If you have a lot of out of town guests you may have a higher proportion of people declining.     

elidellio

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-club-boards_march-2012-weddings_shows-up-vent?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20Club%20BoardsForum:955e4823-0be1-44ef-9ee7-99a63794e103Discussion:3fdef169-a93a-4d2b-bc32-a15f8b9a837bPost:3082937b-9c46-4af3-890f-ef4787141e14">Re: % that shows up.. (and vent)</a>:
[QUOTE] <strong>If you have a lot of out of town guests you may have a higher proportion of people declining.     </strong>
Posted by Rachmarie23[/QUOTE]

<div>I totally agree. I think it depends a lot on who you invited. I heard that the smaller your list is the smaller the percentage of people who don't come will be. That's assuming that if you have a smaller guest list it's all close friends and family who will definitely be there. By the same token, if you have a realy large list, the number who will decline probably increases because they're not as close to you.</div>

rebeccaa12

Yea, I was told 20% by my coordinator. I also have a good portion of family out of town though. I'd say at least 30% are OOT, because both of my parents are from Laredo, so most of their siblings are there, too.
 
On a small side note, we got a decline from my FI's coworker and he went a little groomzilla. It was funny!  Even though there was a small explanation inside the card, he was like, Oh yea? Last time YOU ever get invited anywhere!! I was cracking up.

amh04

I can't see who posted about the OOT guests - but I agree.

This is where I am at right now: We sent out approximately 40 OOT invites. The only one's who have even told us they are coming - including the unofficial 'no' RSVP are - 12 of those 40. 5 of that is immediate family - moms and dads, brothers and sisters, and 2 more are grandparent. 1 Uncle and 2 WP people. making for 1 actual unrelated OOT guest, who happen to be my BM's parents.

As sad as it is - most OOT guests don't really come, or try to - family or not. Travel is expensive. So - I agree, if you have a large portion who are OOT guests than I would guess maybe half would actually come.

kamarks08

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-club-boards_march-2012-weddings_shows-up-vent?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20Club%20BoardsForum:955e4823-0be1-44ef-9ee7-99a63794e103Discussion:3fdef169-a93a-4d2b-bc32-a15f8b9a837bPost:7a8330b7-a111-4bc9-b50e-af5e8290435e">Re: % that shows up.. (and vent)</a>:
[QUOTE]I've heard that the best statistic to go by is to plan for 80% to show up... So 20% will be no.... I too am in the same boat with additional ppl added and the guest list just huge. my venue only holds 180....so you can imagine how freaked out i am that 80% yes is 218 ppl. Luckily I have 24 ppl up front, including us, but still doesn't help the reception...
Posted by LoverBean27[/QUOTE]<div>
</div><div>This is what I've always heard. Given the circumstances, of course.</div><div>
</div><div>For instance, I'm having a DW. I'm only planning on about 50-60% showing up. (and <strong>hopefully </strong>because my venue can hold 300, at most, and there's over 500 invited) Woops. </div><div>
</div><div>But I would think you're fine, honestly. Schedules are going to clash, people won't be able to make it and your numbers will probably end up fine. GL!

</div>

LoverBean27

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-club-boards_march-2012-weddings_shows-up-vent?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20Club%20BoardsForum:955e4823-0be1-44ef-9ee7-99a63794e103Discussion:3fdef169-a93a-4d2b-bc32-a15f8b9a837bPost:e8960fe8-8f2d-48eb-a401-68fa530276f1">Re: % that shows up.. (and vent)</a>:
[QUOTE]In Response to Re: % that shows up.. (and vent) : This is what I've always heard. Given the circumstances, of course. For instance, I'm having a DW. I'm only planning on about 50-60% showing up. (and hopefully because my venue can hold 300, at most, and there's over 500 invited) Woops.  But I would think you're fine, honestly. <strong>Schedules are going to clash, people won't be able to make it and your numbers will probably end up fine. GL!</strong>
Posted by kamarks08[/QUOTE]

Totally agree :) I also agree about the OOT, I forgot to add that into the factor.

bdgrl73

In everything I've read and even my caterer said the same thing..plan for ALL the people you've invited..but you will likely get about 80% who will accept..due to schedule issues or other issues...Good Luck!!

cu97tiger

I'm with other posters that said for budgeting and planning purposes, you have to assume 100%, but with that large of a wedding, I've never heard of a 93% response rate, so I'm guessing you'll be fine.

For ours, we invited 202 people, 160 of which are OOT. We are expecting 125, or a 62% response rate.

Good luck!

brittandjp

I definitely think you should only plan for what you can accommodate space and budget wise. That being said, I totally agree about hoping not everyone says yes. However, I think it can completely depend on the location, date, day of the week, and number of OOTs. Out of the 207 on our guest list, we have only had 4 say no and 115 said yes. Maybe 20-25 people at most are OOTs. So, we're expecting a pretty high turnout. Although I can't help but admit that we're secretly hoping for 175 or so.