How do i know how many to prepare for?

WedReMix13 · October 2013

Here is the breakdown:

25 people are coming (including ourselves)

4 invites have declined

100 people (or 31 invites) havent said anything

----

So for reception food, what do i do about those 100 people who havent said anything?

manateehugger · October 2013

Uhh...when do you need to get your caterer your final count?

I'm REALLY hoping you set your RSVP date before you need to tell your caterer. If it's after your RSVP date, you need to start making phone calls to those people.

WedReMix13 · October 2013

i dont have a Caterer, we are providing the food ourselves. Its just desserts but still.

WedReMix13 · October 2013

I started, so we will see how it goes.

Emmy1493 · October 2013

I'd say call the people who haven't RSVP'd or said anything and see if they are able to make it. This happens in every wedding. I know it'll happen in my own. If you are making your own food, I would say preparing a little extra might not hurt. However, if you have people show up who have not gotten back to you about their attendance, and there isn't enough food- I guess they wont eat. It's harsh, but then again if you have done your part on contacting them then that's their issue-not yours. You can only really do so much at that point.

ETA: I hope it goes well. GL!

WedReMix13 · October 2013

141 people are estimated to have been invited, so i had figured 50-100 to the reception....but its looking more like maybe 35-50 for the ceremony/reception. Im having a dessert reception so i want to make sure everyone gets a little but we were also going to have an after party if anyone was really still dying for dinner.

cowgirl8238 · October 2013

When it comes to dessert I don't think you can have too much. Especailly if it is the kind that keeps well, like cookies, you can just send extra home with all your guests. Since you are under three weeks out I would say give any remaining stragglers a cut off date of this friday/saturday and then work out your desserts (plus some extras cause ya know its dessert!) for the number you have. GL!

WedReMix13 · October 2013

cowgirl8238 I did, I gave the cut off as Oct 31. After that I will just assume those people arent coming. I will make a few extras but i wont go out of my way. Right now we have 26 YES so if i dont hear anything else, i will likely go with 50 (just because most desserts come in 12-24), maybe a little less.

Maggie0829 · October 2013

Time out. So you invited 141 people and were only figuring on 50-100 attending. You know you should always plan for 100% attendance right? And the deadline to RSVP is Oct 31st so I am confused as to why you are trying to plan for how much dessert to get right now? Shouldn't you do that after you get all RSVPs back? Or has the RSVP date already past and the new deadline is the absolute final time they can let you know if they are or aren't coming?

Either way, since you are only doing desserts then it isn't like you can start making things or buying things now for your vow renewal happening in 2.5 weeks because the items would be bad by your event. I would just relax for right now and wait until the 31st to see how many people you have coming. Then make/buy the desserts accordingly with some extras just in case.

LiLe422 · October 2013

WedReMix13 said:

cowgirl8238 I did, I gave the cut off as Oct 31. After that I will just assume those people arent coming. I will make a few extras but i wont go out of my way. Right now we have 26 YES so if i dont hear anything else, i will likely go with 50 (just because most desserts come in 12-24), maybe a little less.

You know what happens when assume, don't you? You need to pick up the phone and call these people for a definitive yes or no answer.

WedReMix13 said:

141 people are estimated to have been invited, so i had figured 50-100 to the reception....but its looking more like maybe 35-50 for the ceremony/reception. Im having a dessert reception so i want to make sure everyone gets a little but we were also going to have an after party if anyone was really still dying for dinner.

Estimated?? So, you are not even sure how many people you invited?
No wonder you are having difficulty figuring out how much food you will need.

WedReMix13 · October 2013

141 is estimated because i invited a community housing of friends and i sent them 10 invites but i dont know exactly how many people live in each house because i dont know every single person inside every single house.

Ethey are really the biggest part of the RSVP/Invites, the rest are friends/family from MOPS and life.

southernbelle0915 · October 2013

You're kind of in a pickle because of lax planning/inviting/tracking. Forget food - you can always go up to the grocery store and buy pre-made desserts - how are you going to know how many chairs/tables to have? I had open seating and a strolling dinner, but I still needed a head count to accommodate people.

Here's what I'd do if I were you:

- start calling people on November 1st (since your wedding is 11/8, you don't have the luxury of giving people extra days to respond)

- If people give you wishy washy answers, you have to plan on them coming. It's better to have extra chairs/food/tables than not enough.

- Have an extra table with chairs and extra food in case you have people show up who RSVPd no (it happens - happened at my wedding).

WedReMix13 · October 2013

The place we are having the reception has coffee shop style seating and they also have extra tables and chairs (fold up type). I know we will have plenty for that.

I will just call people at this point, its so frustrating.

Maggie0829 · October 2013

WedReMix13 said:

141 is estimated because i invited a community housing of friends and i sent them 10 invites but i dont know exactly how many people live in each house because i dont know every single person inside every single house.

Ethey are really the biggest part of the RSVP/Invites, the rest are friends/family from MOPS and life.

So people that you and your FI don't even know could potentially come to your wedding? What in the world were you thinking? No wonder you are frustrated. You never just send random invites off and then guess on how many people will come when you have no idea how many people actually live in the houses.

You need to start calling ASAP to try and get as good of a number as possible. It would be horrible if you just assumed 50 were coming and then the day of comes and 100 people show up.

WedReMix13 · October 2013

I have been getting confirmations and declines now. Thanks for the help everyone. Looks like we are looking at 35 so far with about 10 more invites to still contact me.

Viczaesar · October 2013

WedReMix13 said:

The place we are having the reception has coffee shop style seating and they also have extra tables and chairs (fold up type). I know we will have plenty for that.

I will just call people at this point, its so frustrating.

You're too early to call people; your RSVP date hasn't even passed yet! Wait until the Monday after your Thursday RSVP date for the stragglers to come in, then start calling everyone who didn't respond. When is your actual wedding?

How do i know how many to prepare for?

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