Hey Everyone, I've been having a tough time with something, and I'm hoping some of you have words of wisdom or maybe have gone through something similar and can relate.
We're having an unusually high decline rate for our wedding. We invited about 180 people. It looks like less than half of them will actually be attending. Our "declines" also include people who have verbally told my fiance and me in the past few months that they are making plans to come. Then, they ended up sending the card and marking decline.
It has come to the point where every time I get a new decline, it is really upsetting to me and I feel personally rejected and bitter. Plus, our venue requires we pay for at least 100 people, so I'll have to end up paying for imaginary people (which brings up the humiliation all over again).
Logically, I know people have other things going on in their lives aside from my wedding, we will still have many wonderful friends and family members there, and the important thing is that my fiance and I show up. But that doesn't take away the feeling that I'm being punched in the stomach every time I get a decline. Any advice?