Wedding Invitations & Paper

What percentage of invited guests will attend? On average?

So, we invited 113 guests.  Our target guest count (for budgeting reasons) was 85-95.  If 113 guests come, our parents said they will help cover the cost of those over 95.  But I'm just wondering how many to expect for other budgeting and planning reasons, ie flowers, tables, accomodation, decor, candles, etc.  

I read somewhere that about 20 - 25 percent of the people you invite won't come.  I think that seems very high.  I think maybe 10- 15 percent decline rate seems more likely. Also, we are getting married in South Africa (where we live) during the December holiday- when a huge portion of people all over the country go on vacation (since it is summer and a work vacation).  

Any educated guesses on how many people I can expect? 

Re: What percentage of invited guests will attend? On average?

  • It really all depends. But plan for all the invited guests to attend.
  • My DD had 96% attend.
  • You should plan and budget for 100% attendance. I was in a wedding last year that had 100% attendance. It was a small wedding, only about 40 people, but yeah, it's a good thing she planned for everyone to go. From what I've seen, the larger the wedding, the more likely it is that you will not have 100% attendance.

    We had around 85% of our guests attend.
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  • Only about 50% of our guest list attended, but that was because so many were international.  98% of our local invitees attended.

    There's really no way to know, and there's no point trying to guess.  Plan for 100% and have options for a low turn out.
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