Morgan Elizabeth Weddings We have found one of the most challenging parts of planning our wedding is deciding the right size. Keep in mind the number of guests will drastically impact your wedding spending. Everything from the number of invitations, postage, meals and favors you need (and associated costs) will all depend on the number of people on your guest list.
Establishing your budget will help you decide on the right wedding size. This is a conversation first with your fiancé and then with any others who may be contributing towards your wedding. Once you have determined your budget, you can begin to play with the numbers to see how costs might end up.
If you already have a vision or venue in mind, this will also help you. Venues will have certain capacity sizes. If there’s a venue in mind to fit your wedding vision, you can inquire what their capacity is. Also keep in mind venues might have a minimum spend amount depending on the day of the week/weekend you want to book. Be sure to check this out and double check if it is reasonable for you to hit this minimum with your wedding size.
Create a rough draft of your guest list. Ashley and Stephen each drafted a preliminary guest list of family and friends. Ashley has a larger extended family so they decided to stop after first cousins. Stephen has a smaller family but more friends so it was a good balance. Their first draft of their guest list was close to 200…they ended up inviting around 240 guests. Anticipate that your final guests list will grow from your initial one. Stephen and Ashley drafted theirs right when they got engaged so they had time to review and catch anyone they may have missed.
You can also use technology such as Postable where you send a link to friends and family to collect their addresses and emails. Talk about simplifying the process!
Plus Ones can be a big deal and add up quickly. You and your fiancé should determine a rule to follow for who receives a plus one. Stephen and Ashley did not include “guests” on save the dates. This allowed them to wait and see if relationships developed before their wedding day. Friends and family members received plus ones if we had met the significant others, or if they have been in a relationship for over 6 months, even if we haven’t had the chance to meet (thanks Covid!).
You should also decide whether to respectfully not invite children to your wedding…or maybe your family is full of little ones that you want to be part of your big day! Be sure to properly address envelopes so this is clear. You can also include a cute blurb on your wedding website so no one is confused. Ashley and Stephen’s website stated something like this…”Adult-Only Event – Don’t get us wrong, we love kids, but we figured that after spending most of 2020 with them, you might want a night off“.
You may be in a similar position as Ashley where you are getting married shortly before or after your sibling. This might be a factor to consider for the size of your wedding. Ashley’s brother is getting married a month prior to her and will be having a smaller wedding. As a family, they decided it would be too much to ask some friends and family to attend both weddings in a one-month period. They determined who would be invited to each wedding based on who they knew better and using venue capacity to guide decisions.
Bottom line is you have to do what feels right to you and your fiancé. If you need guidance on making this decision for your wedding, reach out to us. Our wedding planning packages include consultations where we work with you through this type of dilemma.
