Dear Diary,

Let’s talk about…..the dreaded guest list….

One of the hardest parts about wedding planning is definitely the guest list. Everyone warned me, but now I understand that they weren’t exaggerating!

Luckily, we got our guest list nearly finalized pretty quickly, so I thought I’d share a few tips with you!

1. Decide How Many

Before anything else, you should sit down with your fiancé and your families and decide how many you want at the wedding and what your budget will allow. Some people imagine a small wedding and others want a huge party. Decide your limit and then the tough decisions come.

2. Wedding Party

Don’t forget that your wedding party will have to be included in your total number!

3. A and B

Make a list of people you know without a doubt you want to attend your big day and put them under the “A list”. Anyone that you are kind of on the fence about, put under the “B list”. You can decided later if you have room for those on the B list! Also, if you find out someone on your A list definitely can’t come, you can move someone over to fill their spot.

4. Plus Ones

If you don’t want to have roughly 500 people at you wedding, then you need to be smart about plus ones. This isn’t easy because of course your friends want to bring a date!! But do you really want to pay for a person you don’t even know to enjoy dinner and drinks on your special day? My fiancé and I have decided to only allow plus ones if the person has been in a relationship for over a year, is engaged, or we know both people very well. That way, there shouldn’t be any unknown faces at our wedding!

5. Don’t Feel Guilty

Remember that this is your day. It’s definitely not easy, but you can’t feel guilty when you can’t invite someone. If they don’t understand now, they will someday when they have to make hard decisions like this.

6. Who’s Important

Think of these important questions if you are really struggling to decided about a certain person :

1. Would your day be incomplete without them there?
2. Were you invited to their wedding? (If they are already married)
3. Would you be upset if you weren’t invited to their wedding? (If they aren’t married yet)
4. Have you talked to them in the last 6 months-year?
5. Would they make your wedding more fun?
6. Do you hang out with them outside of work?
7. Is it important to your parents that they are there?

7. Kids

If you want kids at your wedding, that’s great! But don’t feel obligated to invite them to the wedding. Parents understand when their kids are not invited and most of the time, they are happy to have the night off!

8. Google Doc

Making a Google Doc makes the guest list super easy because you can share it with other people. This way, you, your fiancé, or your parents can view it whenever they need to!

---

I can’t wait to continue sharing my wedding planning experience with you!

I hope you found these tips helpful. If you did, give it a like and comment your favorite tip!

Check out my other Wedding Wednesday Posts here!

Let me know what other wedding topics you’d like me to write about!

Thanks so much for stopping by to read my Not-So-Secret Diary!

I post every Sunday and Wednesday!

xx,

Beth