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How many invitations do I need to order

Knottie1451249778Knottie1451249778 member
First Comment
in Wedding Invitations & Paper
I currently have 284 guest that are invited. ( so much for a small wedding ) .. I'm trying decide should I order 300 invitations or should I order 142 invitations ?
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Re: How many invitations do I need to order

  • InLoveInQueensInLoveInQueens member
    First Anniversary First Comment First Answer 5 Love Its
    Neither? How many single people are you inviting, how many couples, how many families? Add it up, give yourself some buffer room of a few invitations, and order as many as you need.

    Don't order 300, you won't need 300 unless every single person you're inviting is being invited alone. Don't order 142, unless every single person you're inviting is part of a couple or family and you have literally no single guests.
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  • cowgirl8238cowgirl8238 member
    First Anniversary First Comment 5 Love Its First Answer

    Without knowing your list I cannot answer you.  Basically:

    All Social Units will receive 1 invite.  This is for any two people that consider themselves in a relationship regardless of length of time/seriousness/etc.  This invite can also include "and family" which includes any children (under 18).

    Anyone over 18 that lives at home with mom and dad should be getting their own invite.

    Single people will all need their own invite (obviously).

    So if your list of 284 is mostly couples and families with young children about 1/2 of that would be fine.  When I made my list I put the families in rows.  Example:
    John Smith     Jane Smith
    Alex Smith     Jessica Rabbit  (Child over 18 + GF)
    Mary Jo          "Plus One"
    Ruby Sue        Ralph            Kimmy        Joey   (kids under 18)

    Once the list was done I could easily count the number of rows and bam! number of invites.

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  • Knottie1451249778Knottie1451249778 member
    First Comment
    Majority of my list is married couples , people that are in relationships a few families here and there. My wedding is adult only so no kids will be there. So would it be safe to say to order 160 ?
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  • InLoveInQueensInLoveInQueens member
    First Anniversary First Comment First Answer 5 Love Its
    No one here can tell you how many to order, just how to figure out how many to order. Seriously, sit down with your guest list and do what @cowgirl8238 said, that's really good advice.
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  • charlotte989875charlotte989875 member
    First Anniversary First Comment First Answer 5 Love Its
    Knottie1451249778 said:
    Majority of my list is married couples , people that are in relationships a few families here and there. My wedding is adult only so no kids will be there. So would it be safe to say to order 160 ?
    Just count the number of social u it's your are inviting. Count up the number of married couples, the number of couples, the number of single guests, and the number of families. Add to that a few extra in case you need last minute invites and order that number of invitations. 
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  • missfrodomissfrodo member
    First Anniversary First Comment 5 Love Its Name Dropper
    cowgirl8238 said:

    Without knowing your list I cannot answer you.  Basically:

    All Social Units will receive 1 invite.  This is for any two people that consider themselves in a relationship regardless of length of time/seriousness/etc.  This invite can also include "and family" which includes any children (under 18).

    Anyone over 18 that lives at home with mom and dad should be getting their own invite.

    Single people will all need their own invite (obviously).

    So if your list of 284 is mostly couples and families with young children about 1/2 of that would be fine.  When I made my list I put the families in rows.  Example:
    John Smith     Jane Smith
    Alex Smith     Jessica Rabbit  (Child over 18 + GF)
    Mary Jo          "Plus One"
    Ruby Sue        Ralph            Kimmy        Joey   (kids under 18)

    Once the list was done I could easily count the number of rows and bam! number of invites.

    I did the same thing, using an Excel spread sheet--this makes it super easy to count, just add a row at the end of each unit with the # of invites needed for that unit (usually 1, unless there are adult children at home), and ask it to give you the total at the bottom of the page.  Super easy.  I also added a row next to each person/couple to list their address, so everything would be in one place.  It still comes in handy after, too, for issuing thank-you notes (you can even add a cell to note who got you what, so you remember what to thank them for).
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  • cowgirl8238cowgirl8238 member
    First Anniversary First Comment 5 Love Its First Answer
    missfrodo said:
    cowgirl8238 said:

    Without knowing your list I cannot answer you.  Basically:

    All Social Units will receive 1 invite.  This is for any two people that consider themselves in a relationship regardless of length of time/seriousness/etc.  This invite can also include "and family" which includes any children (under 18).

    Anyone over 18 that lives at home with mom and dad should be getting their own invite.

    Single people will all need their own invite (obviously).

    So if your list of 284 is mostly couples and families with young children about 1/2 of that would be fine.  When I made my list I put the families in rows.  Example:
    John Smith     Jane Smith
    Alex Smith     Jessica Rabbit  (Child over 18 + GF)
    Mary Jo          "Plus One"
    Ruby Sue        Ralph            Kimmy        Joey   (kids under 18)

    Once the list was done I could easily count the number of rows and bam! number of invites.

    I did the same thing, using an Excel spread sheet--this makes it super easy to count, just add a row at the end of each unit with the # of invites needed for that unit (usually 1, unless there are adult children at home), and ask it to give you the total at the bottom of the page.  Super easy.  I also added a row next to each person/couple to list their address, so everything would be in one place.  It still comes in handy after, too, for issuing thank-you notes (you can even add a cell to note who got you what, so you remember what to thank them for).


    That is exactly what I did!!!!!!  It was great. We had the following columns:
    Name 1
    Name 2
    Additional Names
    Address
    StD (y/n) basically if we sent one
    Invite (y/n) we checked these off as we addressed the envelopes
    RSVP answer
    meal choice
    gift received
    thank you notes (y/n) Again we used it like a checklist as we sent out TYs.

    It was super helpful because we could sort the list by RSVPs received, meal choices, or whatever as we went through various stages of the planning.

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  • ahoyweddingahoywedding member
    First Comment First Anniversary First Answer 5 Love Its
    Do you not already have your guest list written up with everyone's address on it? If not, you'll have to count social units like everyone else is saying. 

    IE: aunt & uncle so & so get ONE invite; cousin & spouse & their 3 children under 18 get ONE invite; single friend & her BF get ONE invite. Count that up, and then add a bit more because you will mess up writing at least a few addresses and chances are a couple will get lost in the mail or sent back so you'll have to re-send them.
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  • SP29SP29 member
    First Anniversary First Comment First Answer 5 Love Its
    When we ordered our invitations, we had to order in groups of 25, so I rounded up to the next 25. I have many left overs.

    Agreed that you actually need to count up your guest list and determine how many invitations you physically need, then order some extra from there (say 10-15?).
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