Before you plan even the smallest detail for your wedding, you need to figure out your wedding budget, and guess what? Your wedding budget directly correlates to your guest count. Essentially, you should have a pretty good idea of your invited guest count to create an accurate wedding budget. Why? The number of invited guests will determine how much you will spend in food and beverage, the biggest expense of the wedding budget, but it also has an impact on rentals for tables, chairs, linens, flowers, etc. Having 30 tables with 30 linens, centerpieces and other table rentals will be significantly more expensive than having 20 tables with 20 linens, centerpieces and other table rentals. If your guest count goes down, you’ll have more money to spend on other wedding details. If it goes up, you can easily go over your budget.
Spend some time really thinking through your guest list, and put your guests in these three categories—who is definitely invited, who is a maybe and who is no. If you’re looking for ways to cut the guest list because it’s much larger than you expected, consider the following: Think about the five main groups who significantly impact numbers and are in the maybe/no categories—kids, coworkers, distant relatives, friends you haven’t spoken to in years and plus ones.
For kids, create a children policy, such as an age cutoff (kids age 13 and up, for example), for those who will be invited. For coworkers, you may share a cubicle or go to lunch from time to time, but they don’t need to be invited if you’re trying to keep your wedding to a smaller size. (If you feel the need to include them, plan a work happy hour to celebrate.) For distant relatives and friends you have spoken to in years, remember your wedding is not a reunion or the time to rekindle relationships—your wedding day is far too busy for that and is about celebrating you and your partner. For plus ones, this can be tricky as your guests can be in different stages of relationships. Similar to kids, create a clear rule, such as a specific amount of time the couple has been dating (couples who have been dating for 6 months or more, for example), and stick to it. Creating a guest list can be a daunting task but keep this in mind: The fastest way to cut your wedding budget (or stay within it) is to eliminate your guest count. More importantly, you want to celebrate your wedding day with your loved ones you are actually close to and who want to celebrate your relationship.
Monday, February 28, 2022
