Massachusetts-Boston

Final Head Count to Venue??

I need to give our venue a final head count October 6th for my October 9th wedding. My family was talking to us about how there will be some last minute emergencies and some of our guests would not be able to attend our reception. They suggested we account for that when we give the final head count to our venue. So for the 166 people who RSVPed yes, to give the venue a count of 160.

I know emergencies come up and there is a good chance some people will not show up/ cancel last minute. But I still think I should account for the 166 people who RSVPed yes.

For all you married ladies- what are your thoughts? How many people did you have cancel last minute/ not attend?

Re: Final Head Count to Venue??

  • edited December 2011
    I'm not married yet but I think you should definitely account for all 166.   At one of my sisters weddings everyone showed up and at the other sisters wedding only one person didn't show. 

    Goodluck!!
    Wedding Countdown Ticker
  • edited December 2011
    Ask your venue.. most likely they will say to count the 166, which would be a good thing because you want to make sure there is enough of everything, including chairs, colored napkins if you're using them, food, etc.

    With  my venue, I was having a similar problem with two people, not knowing if they would come. They told me to give the count I had, and since it was only one or two people, they could add them in last minute.
  • megandjaymegandjay member
    First Comment
    edited December 2011
    I had 4 people not show up (2 got sick the night before). However, I would have felt terrible if I did not have seats for them if they came!

    ETA: One of my friends had a couple of last minute cancellations, and so she just asked a couple of her work friends (who were not invited originally) to come and they did. Obviously this would only work for some people and depends on the relationship.
  • edited December 2011
    We only had one person have to back out after our head count was due (too ill to fly) and no flat-out no-shows.  The one person was actually made up by a last-minute addition when one of our wedding party members had a glitch with child care arrangements so we told him to bring his daughter to the reception rather than miss it himself. 

    I would *never* intentionally give a lower headcount counting on no-shows.  The savings just aren't worth potentially not having a seat or enough food for someone who had RSVPed that they were coming.  Also, I had to give my seating chart/escort cards at the same time we finalized the count and I gave them the final payment -- I don't think the venue would have gone for it if I'd said we had 160 people but I gave them 166 escort cards.
  • edited December 2011
    I would say ask your venue. I'm sure they've dealt with this before. I would think that you should give htem the 166 so they're prepared for the max. I'm betting it's easier to take away than add.
    BabyFruit Ticker
  • edited December 2011

    Give them the 166 count. I think in situations like this, you can't be overprepared in terms of making sure that there are adequate seats and meals. FWIW, I had maybe 1 or 2 no-shows.

  • cdlnmfcdlnmf member
    First Comment
    edited December 2011
    Well, at my venue they allowed me to add more people right up until the morning of the wedding, but I couldn't subtract people. So I gave them a number 5 less than our RSVP count, and then just added in the extra few the day of. It didn't really matter, because I still had 3 people not show up! Haha. I would say don't give them a number less than 166 unless you'll be able to add on after. Just in case!
  • edited December 2011
    My venue said that if we gave a number less than those who rsvp, we can just add their meals the morning of.

    FMIL said she thinks we should give a smaller number so we're not throwing money away. It makes me nervous though...
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  • edited December 2011
    We had 3 people back out the day of- all three had the flu (all related and all live together and all over the age of 80 ). So we paid for three extra meals and had three empty seats.. Imagine if you short your count by 6 and have 6 people with no seats?

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