Guest List

mikenberger · April 2015

Knottie42669964 said:
For those of you who already had your wedding or have all your RSVPs, how many people did you invite and how many actually showed up? We have a limit of 200 people but of course we invited much more. We have already cut out some people but a lot of them are dear friends and family. I just wondered how many usually show up. I've heard 70% but I wasn't sure.

You have a limit of 200 but you invited more than 200? Well that wasn't very smart. Why would you invite more people than you can seat and feed? And I got 85% response to come to the wedding. Many of the brides on here get 80+% RSVP yes to attend.

aliwis000 · April 2015

The advice you will see most often on here is "Plan for 100% attendance." This is because the turn out for your wedding is going to depend on too many factors to calculate.

If you do a bit of searching on this site you will find lots of brides with posts that basically say "HELP! I invited 200 people and can only pay for/host/fit 175. What do I do?" Unfortunately the best answer is crank up the ol' time machine and go back and fix your guest list before you sent invites.

You never know how many people are going to come and if you do not plan you can end up in a big pickle.

That said from your post it is hard to tell if you have invited people already or not. You say that you invited (past tense) much more than 200, but then say you already cut people. So did you actually invite people and then call them up and say "Sorry. Never mind, you cannot come." or did you just have them on the list and make cuts that way?

If you have already sent invites and are un-asking people to attend that is pretty rude. If someone did that to me they would never have to worry about asking me to attend another function with/for them ever again, friendship over.

If invites have been sent you need a game plan if you reach over 200. Is there another area at the venue you can rent to get more space? Is there a different venue you need to move to all together to fit your crowd? Yes those might seem like crazy ideas and could be overwhelmingly expensive between losing deposits and just spending more for space but you have backed yourself into this corner if invites are out. If this is the case I would start planning now. I guess your other option is to roll the dice and wait for RSVPs and pray only 200 come.

Also aditional information would help - can you hold 200 and invited
205? That is one thing. Or can you hold 200 and you invited 250. From
your post and the reference to 70% I am thinking it is closer to the
second option.

mikenberger · April 2015

haha, nice try on the DD, but I quoted you.

BOOM. CAN'T DELETE THAT.

But seriously. Just silly.

Maggie0829 · April 2015

I kind of want to know how much you over invited.

southernbelle0915 · April 2015

Did you actually send out invitations, or are you just thinking about doing this? If you haven't already done it, DON'T!!!

You can find a bunch of threads where people did this and a week before the wedding they are scrambling to come up with the money and space because they exceeded their limit. They're cutting favors, returning stuff, canceling honeymoon stuff, dipping into savings, maxing out credit cards, etc. Not a pretty picture.

We had a wedding that was OOT for the vast majority of guests (including us) with people coming from all over the country and we had WAY higher than 70% attendance. Always plan for 100% - there are people who get it (or very close to it).

aliwis000 · April 2015

Maggie0829 said:
I kind of want to know how much you over invited.

Me too!

Plus these always are so odd to me. Like, if you can only fit 5 people in your car would you invite 8 to carpool with you to work tomorrow morning?

When we are talking about weddings why do some people think that the laws of physics no longer apply and they can somehow fit 300 people in a space meant for 200?

What in the world are you thinking?

TrixieJess · April 2015

Why would you over invite? Every wedding I've been to has had 90-100% show-up.

Thanks for the Bat Signal

redoryx · April 2015

Damn, OP is just deleting shit left and right around here, isn't she?

lovegood90 · April 2015

DD-ing is the internet equivalent of a child putting their hands over their ears going "lalalala I can't hear you!" when they get advice they don't like. Grow up OP and realize you made a mistake.

flantastic · April 2015

How much do we want to bet that OP asked someone to be a guest book attendant?

OP, why would you ask this question after sending invites? At that point, it doesn't matter what the answer is. Your RSVPs "yes" are what they are, because you can't rescind invites, and if they're higher than 200 you are SOL.

MesmrEwe · April 2015

I don't even want to know how many were on our original invite list because 1) we could afford to have everyone we wanted there, and 2) We had the expandable space to accommodate.

Agree with the others - plan on 100% attendance to anyone getting a STD or Invite!!! Everyone will forever give you the side-eye when you have to call and make the "we booked a space for 200 but invited 450 and have to uninvite some people because 400 RSVP'd they'd attend, congrats you're one of them who can't come!"...

kmmssg · April 2015

mikenberger said:

Knottie42669964 said:
For those of you who already had your wedding or have all your RSVPs, how many people did you invite and how many actually showed up? We have a limit of 200 people but of course we invited much more. We have already cut out some people but a lot of them are dear friends and family. I just wondered how many usually show up. I've heard 70% but I wasn't sure.

SITB
Knottie42669964 this could really bite you in the butt. My oldest DD had 96% attendance at her wedding. What are you going to do when more than 200 say they can come?

sophhabobopha · April 2015

Damn. That was anticlimatic.

AddieCake · April 2015

I'm troubled by the "of course" in your statement, as if NOT doing it would be absurd. Joke will be on you if everyone you invited RSVPs with a yes.

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