how many invites actually attended your wedding?

artsyjess84

 
My fiance's mother is telling us that if we invite 200 people to our wedding, only about 100 will actually come, but I'm not sure if you can count on that. We need a good idea of the guest list before we get RSVP's back, because if everyone we invites attends we may need a larger reception location. We are getting married in my fiance's hometown where about 75% of the guest list live. (Almost all guests live within an hour's drive.)

Any advice or experiences will be appreciated. Thank you!

SarahPLiz

ALWAYS count on 100% attendance. Make sure your reception location can hold all the people you invite.

How would you feel if you were sent an invitation and then found out that the reception location was changed to accomodate all the people who RSVP'd. I'd feel like the B&G were just inviting me to get a gift and not really wanting me to be there.

If its in his hometown and most people live there, I don't see you having many No repsonses...

banana468

ALWAYS plan that 100% will attend.  Yes, in many circumstances people decline but knotties and moms here have reported high attendance where well over 90% of guests attended.

We had approximately 75% attend but we budgeted for all 220 guests to be there.

artsyjess84

That's what I was thinking. I always feel you should be prepared. Thank you!

aerinpegadrak

Definitely be prepared for 100%, unless you know absolutely for certain without a doubt that the person won't attend.  My grandparents don't travel and haven't in years, so I'm absolutely certain that they won't come.  FI assures me that his aunt and uncle won't go for various reasons, but because he can't be 100% sure, we didn't add them to the list until we were sure that we could accommodate them if they decide come.

I would see if you can find a flexible venue; for instance, a lot of hotels have multiple rooms, and you can simply move to a larger or smaller room as your final headcount dictates.

janedoe1113a

Always count on 100% attendance.  You can never judge who all is going to show up.

kristinanddan

Like others have said, even people you think will never ever come will sometimes surprise you. We had guests from California fly to NY for our wedding, even though they were coming back to NY for Thanksgiving a few weeks later.

We invited about 185 people and had 125 show up to our Friday night wedding.

mwhitson14

Wow kristin, that's a great attendance!

weddingbells2010

Agreed with all pps.... I've been told that, typically, about 10-15% of invites will decline.  However, you need to prepare for 100% to show up.

tb583

Definitely prepare for 100% attendance.  We sent out invites last week (220 sent out) and have already received RSVP's from 40 people- only two have RSVP'd no.  Our wedding is in early March- not much going on around here at that time and all but 5 are within an hours drive.