Wedding Guests

Making your guest list can be very stressful!  You may have a limit as to how many guests you can have, your mom is wanting to invite all her friends, your grandmother wants you to invite your third cousin, whom you’ve never even met.  Don’t worry, remember this is your wedding day and you have the right to choose who you want at your wedding.  Here are some tips to help you decide:

Size
Your guest list mainly depends on the size of your wedding.  Are you going to have a small, private ceremony, or are you going to have a huge, blowout wedding?  If you choose a certain wedding package with the venue site, you might end up paying more for each guest over your set limit you have chosen.  Many places do this to ensure you will have enough food and chairs for all your guests.  

Split it up
It is up to the bride and groom on how they want to divide the guest list.  You might want to go an even half and half.  You might want to give more guests to whoever’s side is covering the cost of the wedding.  If the groom’s family is much bigger than the bride’s, she might give him more guests.  

Priortize
Both the bride and groom’s immediate family should be given priority on your guest list.  Then can follow friends, parent’s friends, co-workers, etc.  Think about the people who you can even imagine getting married without them there.  These people should be near the top of your list.  Think about who you might not want at your wedding (ex-boyfriends/girlfriends, ex-husbands/wives, children, guests for single people, friends of friends, etc.).  For those who you know won’t be able to make it to your wedding, it is still nice to send them an invitation.

Cost
Keep in mind who is paying for the wedding.  You might want to talk to them about how many people you can invite.  Be realistic and think about how many people you can really afford to invite.  You might want to have more guests and some light hour’dourves, or less guests and a full course meal.