Nevada-Las Vegas

Guest Count

I know that best practice says expect everyone you invite to come, but honestly what percentage are you expecting or did you have attend? Everyone is going to be from out of town so I know a lot of times that increases the number of people who can't make it. I fear that my wedding may end up being a little larger than I was hoping due to courtesy invites.

Re: Guest Count

  • We did not invite people family or otherwise, that could be considered a courtesy invite. We only invited people we really wanted to share our day with and didn't mind paying for. We instead paid to have our ceremony webcasted and sent announcements with viewing instructions. This way our ceremony and reception were exactly what we wanted and didn't have to break our budget. It also covered our butts with certain family members, who thought that even though they in no way we're paying for our day, they could invite 30 extra people I have never even met. We invited 39 people and had 19 attend including us. We sent out probably 50-60 announcements. I hope it's helpful.
    Wedding Countdown Ticker
  • edited November 2015
    I second @catherine21083-- I wouldn't even think about "courtesy invites" at a destination wedding. Heck, if they don't know you that well, they might even be annoyed thinking that you actually expect them to come!

    We invited only immediate family and close friends. In the end we invited 50 and got 30, which surprised the hell out of us considering we only gave 5 months' notice! We were seriously expecting 15-20. 
  • I only wanted 20 people there. We invited 40, a few of which were family who we were pretty sure couldn't come but we wanted to extend the offer to them anyway. 26 showed up. It was plenty for me.
  • We invited 130 and only had five decline; even had a mid-80's great aunt accept, which was definitely not what we expected.

    Married in Vegas - June 2011


  • You will be surprised at guests you think who will not come. It is Vegas and it an be affordable for people. We invited 122. I thought 66 people would be able to make it, and we had 70.
  • We had 100% attendance, and we invited around 50 people. A few of those were surprises, as they usually don't attend weddings that are more than one state away, but we attributed it to the "Vegas Effect".
  • In theory I agree that courtesy invites aren't ideal. However, I had a handful of people such as my grandparents who I know can't make the trip, but it didn't seem right to leave them off the list. I'm just making my RSVPs due with plenty of time to plan for the final head count.
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