My big, fat Greek wedding

smartlypretty · January 2012

I FINALLY finished my guest list today! Annnnnnd approximately 30% of my guest list are Greeks! I need to send out my save the dates that just came- they are magnets

- so I was in a rush to get it finalized. My mom/dad sent me a ton of addresses and my FMIL just emailed me hers.

Now I'm wondering what's going to happen at this wedding. The last one I went to they: rushed the bar*, smashed plates, and danced with shots of ouzo on their heads. I wish I was kidding.

*"Just give me the whole bottle- and four glasses!"

So, how I got to wondering how many people are coming to YOUR wedding! And are your families as crazy as mine?

Right now, there's 123 on my list. We originally wanted around 110, but I have a side list of 14 people that I'm pretty sure won't be able to make it although they will get invitations. Some are first cousins that live across the country, one is a husband of my best friend who is stationed in South Korea, a couple are cousins' children that will most likely be away at schools that are not close. Although, they could surprise me and show up!

morenachica110 · January 2012

Hmm... I think we're around 80 people, but I'm sure some of them can't come. One of my cousins goes to school in Utah and said she's not sure (I live in SC). We were thinking around 60 or so... we weren't too far off.

npott044 · January 2012

Right now we have 215 people on the guest list. My goal was to get it to less then 200 but I am having a tough time with it. I wanted to cut out kids which brought us 190 but my FI said there is no way we are having an adults only wedding. He said its rude and he will have no part in it. He actually got pretty offended when I suggested we do adults only.

Our families are pretty chill so I am not worried about that. I am more worried about all of friends and how that will turn out.

wineo929 · January 2012

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-club-boards_september-2012-weddings_big-fat-greek-wedding?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20Club%20BoardsForum:a464c18c-2e4d-469b-8eae-3865079cb9cfDiscussion:e2c3890f-4507-4cd7-bc25-86a97886d27dPost:27cf9e92-09e2-4bb6-b688-b76fc71826c9">My big, fat Greek wedding</a>:
[QUOTE] The last one I went to they: rushed the bar*, smashed plates, and danced with shots of ouzo on their heads. I wish I was kidding. *"Just give me the whole bottle- and four glasses!"
Posted by smartlypretty[/QUOTE]

<div>
</div><div>We're having 75 people (well 79 on the guest list) and knowing my family this will be happening at mine lol When I graduated with my Bachelors my then 83 year old grandmother sipped a shot of vodka (from a shot glass...) while my mom and aunt took shots... and I stared in horror haha Should be fun though. </div><div>
</div><div>I love my crazy, out of control family... FI's family is very conservative so it should be interesting!</div>

BMcLeodTeam · January 2012

Right around 300 invited, although will likely see a higher decline rate as we are having a DW. This is mostly FI's large Yugoslavian wedding, who btw party like you described the Greeks lol

smartlypretty · January 2012

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-club-boards_september-2012-weddings_big-fat-greek-wedding?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20Club%20BoardsForum:a464c18c-2e4d-469b-8eae-3865079cb9cfDiscussion:e2c3890f-4507-4cd7-bc25-86a97886d27dPost:aed4a56e-ed9d-496d-81d3-336690c00b9e">Re: My big, fat Greek wedding</a>:
[QUOTE]Right around 300 invited, although will likely see a higher decline rate as we are having a DW. This is mostly FI's large Yugoslavian wedding, who btw party like you described the Greeks lol
Posted by BMcLeodTeam[/QUOTE]

<div>Boy that's a crowd! That could seriously get out of control if they all decide to come. I've even seen a Baptism party turn into a sh*t show.The easern european crowd knows how to have a good time. </div>

smartlypretty · January 2012

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-club-boards_september-2012-weddings_big-fat-greek-wedding?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20Club%20BoardsForum:a464c18c-2e4d-469b-8eae-3865079cb9cfDiscussion:e2c3890f-4507-4cd7-bc25-86a97886d27dPost:dac078af-03e5-43d6-afc1-92393586eb54">Re: My big, fat Greek wedding</a>:
[QUOTE]Right now we have 215 people on the guest list. My goal was to get it to less then 200 but I am having a tough time with it. I wanted to cut out kids which brought us 190 but my FI said there is no way we are having an adults only wedding. He said its rude and he will have no part in it. He actually got pretty offended when I suggested we do adults only. Our families are pretty chill so I am not worried about that. I am more worried about all of friends and how that will turn out.
Posted by npott044[/QUOTE]<div>
</div><div>Yeah, we had a hard time with the kids. I don't have too many- none on my mom's side (all my first and second cousins are my age and I see them socially) so they are all my dad's family. FI's side only has 3 but they are his first cousins and were always on the definite list. This left about 5 kids on my dad's side (all second cousins that I don't really know). We decided to just invite them- keep the peace since there weren't too many. I'm going to call the hall and see if I can get some kind of discount for them. They are too old for kid's meals (9-15 range) but maybe we can pay less since no open bar for them.</div><div>
</div><div>How many kids did you need to invite?
</div>

morenachica110 · January 2012

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-club-boards_september-2012-weddings_big-fat-greek-wedding?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20Club%20BoardsForum:a464c18c-2e4d-469b-8eae-3865079cb9cfDiscussion:e2c3890f-4507-4cd7-bc25-86a97886d27dPost:dac078af-03e5-43d6-afc1-92393586eb54">Re: My big, fat Greek wedding</a>:
[QUOTE]Right now we have 215 people on the guest list. My goal was to get it to less then 200 but I am having a tough time with it. I wanted to cut out kids which brought us 190 but my FI said there is no way we are having an adults only wedding. He said its rude and he will have no part in it. He actually got pretty offended when I suggested we do adults only. Our families are pretty chill so I am not worried about that. I am more worried about all of friends and how that will turn out.
Posted by npott044[/QUOTE]

<div>Yeah. We're not having kids. It's an expense and bigger headache we just don't want or need. Thankfully that's excluding only a handful of kids so it shouldn't be too big of a problem. </div>

npott044 · January 2012

smartlypretty- about 25 but I am hoping some parents decided to take the night off and not bring them! I know that's terrible but sorry!

jessa1228 · January 2012

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-club-boards_september-2012-weddings_big-fat-greek-wedding?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20Club%20BoardsForum:a464c18c-2e4d-469b-8eae-3865079cb9cfDiscussion:e2c3890f-4507-4cd7-bc25-86a97886d27dPost:27cf9e92-09e2-4bb6-b688-b76fc71826c9">My big, fat Greek wedding</a>:
[QUOTE]Now I'm wondering what's going to happen at this wedding. The last one I went to they: rushed the bar*, smashed plates, and danced with shots of ouzo on their heads. I wish I was kidding. *"Just give me the whole bottle- and four glasses!" So, how I got to wondering how many people are coming to YOUR wedding!
Posted by smartlypretty[/QUOTE]

<div>This made me laugh trying to imagine this :-)</div><div>
</div><div>Our list is currently at 128, but that doesn't include most of FI's friends because he's not sure which he wants to invite yet. Also, a good portion of the list is FI's OOT family and I honestly don't know if most of them will come. Our venue's minimum is 100, so if we have a large number of declines we can always allocate the money towards something else (food upgrades, bar upgrades, etc).</div>

MrsReynolds12 · January 2012

Our guest list is around 150 people right now I think only about 120 will show. I really don't know what to expect FI's family gets a bit wild but most of my relatives are older and conservative.

bridalmomma · January 2012

Guest list is 152, but we are only expecting about 120 to be able to make it. Most of the guests have grown children or no kids yet! There will only be about 7 kids total.... and 3 of them are in the wedding party!

DeadUtopia · January 2012

My guest list makes me want to crawl into a corner and cry.

It's not huge, just more than I originally wanted. I wanted a complete maximum of 120. I think it's about 138 at the moment, and it has been cut as short as possible. It's not too bad, but corralling the addresses from my FMIL is like pulling teeth.

DirtyWater · January 2012

We are WELL over 250! We just worked on the final guest list today and had to make the cut off age 13 and older. Had to cut a bunch of people. If we did under 13 we'd be over 300 and to be perfectly honest I didn't want anyone under 18 invited. I LOVE kids, I taught pre-K and K for a few years as well as ran an after school program, but I hate kids at a wedding. It sounds awful, I know. To answer your question, MY family sounds exactly like yours! I can't even wait. It will be ridiculously insane party. I just hope FI's family doesn't think less of us afterwards. Lol. The term party animals doesn't even do them justice.

BMcLeodTeam · January 2012

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-club-boards_september-2012-weddings_big-fat-greek-wedding?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20Club%20BoardsForum:a464c18c-2e4d-469b-8eae-3865079cb9cfDiscussion:e2c3890f-4507-4cd7-bc25-86a97886d27dPost:9ff996f5-35e7-49e0-9d6a-4e57c2a59757">Re: My big, fat Greek wedding</a>:
[QUOTE]In Response to Re: My big, fat Greek wedding : Boy that's a crowd! That could seriously get out of control if they all decide to come. I've even seen a Baptism party turn into a sh*t show.The easern european crowd knows how to have a good time.
Posted by smartlypretty[/QUOTE]<div>
</div><div>That they do hahaha! I know its going to be interesting regardless lol </div><div>The nice thing is our reception venue is in a giant permanent tent type structure, away from the actual resort, so if things do get a little too loud, its on the golf side of the resort, and the golf course itself, although it offers night golfing, apparently is pretty much dead at that point, so we won't really be bothering anyone lol

</div>

Sarah&Eric2012 · January 2012

Hahaha I'm totally picturing the reception from the movie right now. That would be awesome to see in person.

We have almost 190 on our guest list. I wanted 130, FMIL wanted 450, this is our compromise.

FI's family is Portuguese so if the alcohol starts flowing the DJ will have to turn up the music not to be drowned out by loud Portuguese men yelling at each other over a game of Seuka. Should be interesting.

DirtyWater · January 2012

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-club-boards_september-2012-weddings_big-fat-greek-wedding?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding Club BoardsForum:a464c18c-2e4d-469b-8eae-3865079cb9cfDiscussion:e2c3890f-4507-4cd7-bc25-86a97886d27dPost:9dba19cb-c190-4244-a0c9-df1a6810b9df">Re: My big, fat Greek wedding</a>:
[QUOTE]Hahaha I'm totally picturing the reception from the movie right now. That would be awesome to see in person. We have almost 190 on our guest list. I wanted 130, FMIL wanted 450, this is our compromise. FI's family is Portuguese so if the alcohol starts flowing the DJ will have to turn up the music not to be drowned out by loud Portuguese men yelling at each other over a game of Seuka. Should be interesting.
Posted by Sarah&Eric2012[/QUOTE]

Oh my goodness, I totally just snorted tea from laughing. That sounds like my Portuguese/Italian family!

I was at an all Portugese, party today. 11am and the alcohol was flowing like a river. By the time the Pats came on i dont think they could stand. The neighbors were not very happy. They can turn stubbing your toe into a party. Lol.

smartlypretty · January 2012

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-club-boards_september-2012-weddings_big-fat-greek-wedding?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding Club BoardsForum:a464c18c-2e4d-469b-8eae-3865079cb9cfDiscussion:e2c3890f-4507-4cd7-bc25-86a97886d27dPost:9dba19cb-c190-4244-a0c9-df1a6810b9df">Re: My big, fat Greek wedding</a>:
[QUOTE]Hahaha I'm totally picturing the reception from the movie right now. That would be awesome to see in person..
Posted by Sarah&Eric2012[/QUOTE]

For the few of us that live in the Philly area, my mom wanted me to get married at Adelphias. It's a very pretty place, but let's face it, it looks like Aphrodite's palace.

meagandal · January 2012

This could be my wedding. We are at about 260 people right now, i wanted to be under 250, I think ultimately 275ish will be invited and all I know is we can have 250 for our room so we better come in under that. Fi and I both have very large families.

Mine is Irish, his is Irish Italian and Danish. Pretty much everyone drinks, a lot. Last family wedding my parents beat me and FI- I had to be put to bed at 3 am, passed out before room service showed up. I know my parents were both going strong at that point, we tend to kind of take over wherever we are. The bar at the Castle shuts down at 2 am, but we have a couple houses on the premises rented as well so I sure it will be an all night affair again..

My father is a natural Host, he loves to entertain- the bar in his basement is always fully stocked and he puts out a spread for just about anything, I am the only girl and in the last 10 years about 20 cousins have married, so this is my family's 1st and kind of only chance to be the host and show everyone a good time. He's had to be put on a leash-he gets more excited about stuff than I do at times-its really very sweet.

romamor4 · January 2012

We're inviting about 110. Our venue only allows 100. We've struggled with the kid thing too - a lot of our friends have kids. We just can't afford it though, and we don't want our guest spots to be taken up by children. I was considering hiring a nanny to watch the children in another room or something and ordering them a pizza...I've seen others do that at weddings. I'm just not sure about it. Some of my friends have just assumed they can bring their children. I don't know how I'm going to deal with that, especially when they're in my wedding party...

Sarah&Eric2012 · January 2012

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-club-boards_september-2012-weddings_big-fat-greek-wedding?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20Club%20BoardsForum:a464c18c-2e4d-469b-8eae-3865079cb9cfDiscussion:e2c3890f-4507-4cd7-bc25-86a97886d27dPost:9a191bea-a639-4816-9243-bb9861940d29">Re: My big, fat Greek wedding</a>:
[QUOTE]In Response to Re: My big, fat Greek wedding : Oh my goodness, I totally just snorted tea from laughing. That sounds like my Portuguese/Italian family! I was at an all Portugese, party today. 11am and the alcohol was flowing like a river. By the time the Pats came on i dont think they could stand. The neighbors were not very happy. They can turn stubbing your toe into a party. Lol.
Posted by DirtyWater[/QUOTE]

The really funny part is that my side of the family is Irish/Italian so it will be quite the mix of cultures. Then throw in my mom's side who don't even touch alcohol at all. I can't wait to see the looks on their faces when they meet my new in-laws. My FFIL and his BIL killed off a Carlo Rossi sized jug of wine on Christmas Eve, they were both stumbling out of the house at 1am (their wives drove home). I'm making it a point to stay sober so I can watch all of this unfold.

SheaCC · January 2012

I think we're just about done with our guest list and we're at between 120 and 130. I originally wanted fewer people than that but...that's just not how it worked out, haha. At the moment it's a bit lopsided with 60 something from my side and 40 something from his side and 20 or so mutual friends, but I don't think it really matters. My side is definitely increased by the people my mom wants to invite...

The thing we're still trying to figure out, though, is the whole plus one deal. Anyone else struggling with that?

jessa1228 · January 2012

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-club-boards_september-2012-weddings_big-fat-greek-wedding?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20Club%20BoardsForum:a464c18c-2e4d-469b-8eae-3865079cb9cfDiscussion:e2c3890f-4507-4cd7-bc25-86a97886d27dPost:920c3e3f-5941-4799-87e4-0d3acaadef38">Re: My big, fat Greek wedding</a>:
[QUOTE]The thing we're still trying to figure out, though, is the whole plus one deal. Anyone else struggling with that?
Posted by SheaCC[/QUOTE]<div>
</div><div>What exactly are you struggling with? If you can afford to let everyone have a plus one, or the etiquette behind it?</div><div>
</div><div>Me personally, I'm allowing every single guest 18 and older a plus one. When I said earlier that my guest list is at 128, that's INCLUDING everyone's plus one.

</div>

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