10 ways to cut down your guest list – without grief

Your wedding day is one of the most important days of your life, and being surrounded by the right people is essential. But putting together a guest list without feeling pressured to add your second cousin’s best friend, or feeling guilty about not inviting a friend that you haven’t seen in two years, can be extremely stressful too.

Before you start pulling out your hair trying to decide who to cut from your wedding guest list, we’ve come up with easy ways to determine whether your friends and family should have been on the list in the first place.

Be realistic

The most important thing when it comes to creating a wedding guest list is to be realistic. You can’t invite everyone you know, and some people are going to be disappointed for not being invited. Remember that this is your day, so do what is best for you.

Pick your venue first

If you want to have your wedding in a quaint venue that only accommodates 50 people, then you can’t have a guest list of 200. Before you even think about putting together your guest list, find your perfect wedding venue and see how many people it accommodates.

Make the guest list 50/50

Once you have your venue and have decided how many people you can afford to have at the wedding, split the guest list in half. The first half will go to you, while the second half will go to your partner.  Make sure to allocate mutual friends to certain lists, not to overlap.

It’s your wedding, not your parents’

When it comes to your wedding, set guidelines for your parents to follow. They can quickly get carried away with inviting all their friends and family. Give your parents an exact number of people they can invite. Even though they can invite people, you will still have the final say.

The one-year rule

This one is fairly simple: skip anyone who you have not spoken with in more than a year. If you’re not sure whether to invite someone, just think about when you last spoke with them. Of course, there are probably plenty of people you may not have spoken to in a year that you still want at your wedding, but this is great for eliminating those who you are not 100% sure on.

No plus ones

We all have that friend or family member who has a new partner every couple of months. It can be hard keeping up with people’s love lives when you have a wedding to plan. A good rule, even though sometimes unrealistic, is no ring, no bring.

Leave the kids at home?

While including kids in a wedding can be a great thing, having a child-free event is a smart way to cut down on numbers. Be sure to make this clear from the beginning to ensure there is sufficient time to find a babysitter.

To invite co-workers?

Just because you spend your entire day with your co-workers that doesn’t necessarily make them friends. Only invite co-worker that you see outside of work, and that if the company dissolves tomorrow, you’ll still hangout.

Don’t feel guilty

Anyone who’s on your wedding guest list only because you feel guilty about leaving them off, should be taken off the list. You might have been invited to their wedding, but that does not mean they need to be at your wedding.

Stick to your rules

Once you set the rules, stick to them! Organising your guest list will be a considerably easier task. Good luck!

A great way to organise your guest list is with our free guest list planning tool. It’s easy to use and allows you to edit your guest list with ease, at the touch of a button. To create your guest list now, simply follow the link.