Guide to Your Guest List

Creating a wedding guest list has been a dreaded task for couples since the beginning of weddings. However, in 2020 with the limitations venues have placed on events, making a guest list just became a little more daunting. There are some dos and donts that can be helpful to follow when you feel super overwhelmed as well as ettiquete to be mindful of.

Don’t invite everyone you’ve ever met

This might seem like a common sense don’t but it’s easy to want to invite any and everypne in your life. Think about people you want to see in photos on your mantle in years to come. If debating inviting a certain person, consider if you would go on vacation with them, if you wouldn’t think about the last time you had dinner with them. If you haven’t had intimate or personal time with someone outside of work or school, no need to invite them.

Do Include Plus Ones

This one leads to some debate. You don’t want people you don’t know at your wedding and/or you want to cut where you can. However, be careful not allowing plus ones or only allowing them for married couples. If you’re on a tighter budget or limited space and don’t want to offer “free for all” when it comes to plus ones, make it the rule for yourself to invite all known significant others. If you know a guest is seeing someone- ie facebook official or otherwise, invite them. Limiting only to married couples can cause conflict, so at least broaden to all significant others.

Do Keep Who is Paying in Mind

So, if you are footing the bill entirely for your wedding, you get 100% say in who gets invited and who doesn’t. If your parents, grandparents, aunts or uncles or your neighbor Bob are paying for your wedding (or any aspect of it), they get at least a partial say in inviting people. If your parents are going to go crazy inviting people, you could give them a set number of guests to invite. This tends to be an issue that can cause tension but keep in mind, parents and grandparents are proud, they want to show off that you’re getting married. Be clear about your expectations and try to give deadlines for them to give you names by.

Don ‘t or Do Invite Kids

Whether or not to have kids at weddings has been a point of controversy for a long time. The answer to whether or not to invite children is based on your desires and your guests. If not inviting children will prevent many of your guests from attending, invite them and consider setting up a kids table (with a different meal choice, ideally something cheaper) and activites for them. If you choose to not invite kids, make sure this is clearly communicated to guests on detail cards and/or your website.

This is just intended to be a guide for your day and to provide a bit of a road map when creating your guest list :) for more assistance email us at tatiana@simplycharmedevents.com