Ask anyone who’s been married – making a wedding and reception guest list is a lot harder than it sounds. There’s no other time in your life where you’ll have to make a guest list like this one. It’s not as simple as thinking of all your family and friends, since your actual guest list will be shaped by many considerations.
Influencing Factors
You and your future spouse will both have your own families and friends that don’t overlap, and if one or both sets of parents will be contributing to the event, there’s likely people that they will want to invite as well. On top of that, the venue and your budget also dictate how many people you will be able to host. Juggling these variables can pile on strife at a time when there is understandably enough stress to go around. Cut a person off the list who your loved one’s parents added can quickly put you behind the eight ball in their eyes.
To help you make a guest list that everyone is satisfied with, put the following tips into practice!
Step 1: Create a Master List
Set up a shared document or spreadsheet that everyone involved with the planning can access and edit. Delegated separate tabs for each user so you know exactly who added each person. Then, compile the tabs onto a master list so you can see the grand total when everyone is finished. This “rough draft” should contain way more people than you can invite and should be treated as a brainstorming list. Get everyone who could possibly be invited down on paper so you don’t have to think about it again.
Step 2: Make an “A” and “B” List
At this point, you are ready to start sorting out the priorities of guests. Knock out some easy ones first, putting close friends and immediate family on the A List. This list should include everyone who absolutely must be at your wedding. The B List is trickier to make and sometimes you may feel bad about putting a friend on it, but you can’t invite everyone, and you have to stay realistic!
Step 3: Set a number and stick to it
Now that you’ve thought of everyone and sorted them into groups, it’s time to figure out how many people you can invite. Start with finding out the maximum number of guests your ceremony and reception venues can hold. If your ceremony can handle 300 people, but your reception space only fits 200, then you have 2 options. You can either invite some guests to the wedding only and not the reception, or you can set the reception guest cap as your maximum guest cap. The choice is up to you, but if you opt to have some ceremony-only guests, make that crystal clear on the invitation to avoid an awkward situation when they show up at the reception with nowhere to sit.
Step 4: Send out invitations and keep track of RSVP’s
Everyone on your A List is going to get an invite, and not all of them will be able to come. So, it’s okay if your A List contains more people than your wedding can host. Once most of your A List responses are recorded, then you can see how many from your B List you can invite. Just be careful that some guests aren’t getting invitations 2 weeks before the wedding, especially if they can be touchy – they could perceive the late invitation as a sign that they barely made the cut.
Beautiful Orlando Venue
The Holy Trinity Reception Center is Orlando’s premier reception venue. Our exquisite Mediterranean-style architecture makes you feel as if you stepped out of Florida and onto a Greek island. We have 3 excellent spaces you can choose from: our large Agape Ballroom, intimate Aegean Room, and new Outdoor Pavilion. If you’d like to take a tour of the available spaces or you want to hear more about our reception services, please give us a call at 407-331-3036.
