Three Tips for Cutting Down Your Guest List
Nov 12
One of the largest challenges I consistently see my brides and grooms struggle with, is knowing who to cut from their guest list and how to cut them without hurting anyone’s feelings. Hey, I get it. It can be really, really tough. When you’re like me and everyone in your family has been divorced and remarried, sometimes even twice, your list becomes astronomically high with names before you even get started adding your friends to that list. You could be looking at a list of 300+ names and working within a budget or a venue with a tight maximum capacity. So what do you do?
Photo Credit: Autumn Nicole Photography
1. Kids
Number one way to cut that list down? No kids! Unless it’s a child in your immediate family or a member of the junior bridal party, say buh-bye. If your cousin really can’t get a babysitter 6+ months in advance, or can’t bear to leave her child’s side for just a few hours, then so be it. That’s two less adults you’ll need to worry about as well.
2. What Goes Around, Comes Around
When looking at your list of friends and extended family, you may notice that many are also married. If that rings true, then ask yourself if you received an invitation to their wedding. If the answer is no and they didn’t elope or have another legitimate reason for you not being invited to their wedding, then you can very well rescind their invitations without feeling guilty.
3. Don’t Be Afraid to Get Tough
In a perfect world, we wouldn’t be dealing with budgets, venue limitations or personal family dramas. We would be able to invite everyone on our list and sending out those invitation would be so much easier. Unfortunately, it’s not a perfect world and we do have very real limitations we are working with. At a certain point, it’s your responsibility to decide who’s getting the boot. You can 100% tell Mom she can’t bring all of her friends from yoga and you can certainly let your college friends know that if the budget allowed it, you’d love to have them, but it can’t so you can’t.
If you’re still not sure who to cut from your guest list, then check out the handy graphic below. And if that doesn’t work, then contact us for a complimentary consultation for your own Lake Tahoe wedding.
