Planning A Wedding Guest List

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Unless you have unlimited space at your wedding, one part of the wedding planning process that is usually among the least fun is choosing your guest list, as you will quickly realize that there is not nearly as much space as you thought – or rather, that the people you want to invite take up space a lot more quickly than you would have imagined. And while you might have entered the whirlwind of wedding planning imagining you would easily be able to invite all of your friends, once you realize that you have to account for not only your significant other’s friends, but also for their family and your family as well, it can start to become overwhelming; this is why it is tremendously important that you follow the proper procedure in order to plan your wedding guest list.

Four different lists to be created in order to start to planning of the guest list; the bride-to-be should create a list of her own, the groom should create a list of his own, and both sets of parents should create lists of their own, as this should cover all the bases as far as who might be invited to the wedding.

The second step of the planning of the guest list should bring the people who helped create all four lists together so they can go through the four lists, making sure you (that is, the bride and groom) know who are the most important to attend, and who it might be okay to leave off the list; realize, of course, that each person who makes their list will want most of the people on their list to be able to attend – but sacrifices will certainly have to be made!

In the third step, the bride and groom can come together and start making these sacrifices; without the input of the parents on either side, the bride and groom should begin to pare down the list, deciding who from all four lists is a “must stay,” who is in the middle ground, and who can be cut out completely. Eventually, of course, many of the names on the middle list will also have to be cut out; but this is best done between the bride and groom together, without the help of others — and after much time and lots of effort (and perhaps a few fights!), the final guest list can be presented at last.