5 Necessary Tips for Making Your Wedding Guest List

When it comes to planning a wedding party one of the first things you have to deal with is the guest list. Whom to invite and whom not to. Especially with our desi weddings, the guest list is super long and everybody of everybody needs to be welcomed. Before you know It your chacha ke mamo ki bhabi ke betay ke parosi have also made a list. Drafting the guest list is the dreaded task because a lot of family politics and underlying dynamics are involved. You have to be careful of everybody needs and feelings. This means wasting a lot of writing, rewriting and crossing out names of the guest list.

 

Worry not, I have few tips for you to make the whole ordeal easier– let’s get cracking!

 

1. Let Them Suggest

Make a list by asking main people involved in the wedding party who’d they like to invite. Ask your parent who’d they wish to invite to the wedding. List down whoever they mention. Next ask your siblings and in the end, write down whoever you want to invite. By now you’d have a great long list of names. Now break this list into Must-Invite guests and Wait-List guests. Must-Invites are the one you can’t do without whereas the Wait-List guests are the one you’d invite if your budget and venue allows you to. If you are marrying into your family chances are some of your guests will be ‘repeated’ on both yours and your in-law Must-Invite list. Make sure you share the list with your in-laws to figure out the familiar guests and that they are counted once.

 

2. Capacity Capacity!

Wouldn’t it be lovely to just invite about everyone you know! Well, that would be nearly impossible because like any sane person you have a budget to meet and a venue capacity to keep in mind. Know your venue capacity and curtail your guest lists according to that. An expected 20% of guests don’t turn out, but that shouldn’t give you an urge to invite 500 guests to a venue which has a capacity of 150 guests if you know what I mean. A crowded affair will easily get mismanaged and spoil your big day – you so don’t want that!

 

3. Your Budget Matters

This one is rather simplest to understand – the more guests you have, the more it will cost you! Caterers charge per plate, and venue settings are charged per head. You may be able to invite a huge number of people, but you’d have to cut back on other things like decoration and favors, etc. That being said your budget will help you pick some guests that you can stick to without giving up much of what you want.

 

4. Crossing off Names

You don’t need to invite your entire office, this means ask only co-worker you see outside of the office and do ‘hang out with.’ This applies to friends too, invite friends who are really important to you. Not everyone in your posse needs to be at your wedding. A simple rule would be to invite friends you regularly social see.

 

5. Factor in Plus Ones

When you add a name to your list, it usually means two people or more if they are a family. This means your lists should be the exact head count of the family you are inviting. If you are inviting just Mr.and Mrs. do mention it on your invite. Kids can quickly tip of the total number of guests. Also stand your ground when you have a big family, like inviting a tier of third cousins and maybe not inviting fourth cousins. Let people talk if they have to. Your day, your rules.

 

Granted wading through the family dynamics is difficult when it comes to making a guest list, but stick to these few essential tips, and I am sure you’d be able to save yourself from a massive headache.