Hey everyone,
So I've been searching through the boards here trying to find an answer, but I guess I just can't find one that fits my particular situation.
My FI and I have been engaged for about a month and a half and are in the early stages of planning our wedding. We sat down and worked out a guest list, decided who we wanted in our wedding party, picked a date we liked, started searching for venues, etc. all while keeping both sets of parents in the loop. We settled on a guest list of 80 people (we wanted to keep it relatively small, but my mother is one of 6 siblings, and we're a pretty close-knit family). After touring several, we decided on a nice venue that offered a very affordable package deal for up to 80 people. It was a perfect fit and FI and I were both very excited. We were pretty sure before we went that this was our venue, because we'd been in touch with the management and knew about the package, but didn't want put money down sight unseen. Well, on the drive home, FI called his mom to tell her the good news. She then throws out that, "Well, it would really be nice if you invited so-n-so, and these family members." This bumps our list of invited guests up from a perfect fit of 80, to between 85-90. Literally right after we book a venue with a guest limit.
I realize that not everyone that gets an invitation will be able to attend, especially since our families live in different states and most guests will have to travel in excess of 8 hours to come to the wedding, but I'm really not comfortable relying on that. When I asked FI if he actually wanted to invite the people his mom suggested, and why he hadn't mentioned them before, he said that he just hadn't thought about it but would like to have them there, which I do completely understand. I spoke to my mom about it to see what she thought the proper protocol was, and she said to just wing it. Everyone gets an invite because she's almost positive at least 5-10 people won't be able to make it. She's probably right about several people not being able to make it, but it just doesn't sit right with me. Is there a rule for this? A right way to handle having guests added to the list after a venue with a limit is booked?
Thank you all in advance for your help!