According to age-old conventions it is the bride’s family, which draws up the wedding list. But nowadays what with the wedding couple themselves contributing funds and more and more grooms’ families helping out as well, managing wedding guest list affects everyone involved.
Here are simple and effective tips about how to manage a wedding guest list:
* Funds
A practical way of funding a wedding guest list, which is popular nowadays, is sharing wedding expenses three ways. You and your fiancé contribute one third, your parents contribute one third and your in-laws foot the rest of the bill.
Usually when bride and groom hail from the same town, both sides are allotted equal number of guests. All three lists share mutual friends. However if the groom hails from a distant town then it makes sense to allocate his family lesser guest numbers.
* 2 ways of managing the wedding guest list
You can either choose to have a dream-wedding plan or a plan that includes everyone that you, your parents and the groom and his parents want to invite. Each option will affect the style and expenditure of your wedding. The former potion implies that you first decide upon the maximum number of guests possible and then finalize everything else around that number. The latter option implies that you first determine where and how the wedding will take place and then decide upon the guest list size subject to budget, accommodation, etc.
* Guest Lists
Draw up eight lists. You, your fiancé, and your respective parents should draw up four lists each of ‘must invite guests’ and four of ‘want to invite guests’. This should give you a rough idea of the numbers involved. If the list becomes simply too long, start by striking off names from your respective parents’ ‘want to invite’ lists. After that if still necessary, strike off names from your fiance and your lists of ‘want to invite’. You two are the priority considering it’s your wedding.
* Trimming guest list
Prioritizing is the key, however harsh it may seem. Begin by eliminating business associates, then parents of your attendants, then distant relatives like second or third cousins. Also you could eliminate friends and relatives who would take more than 3 hours to reach the wedding venue.
Usually 20-25% of the invited guests don’t turn up. But don’t rely on this fact to stay within the budget.
* Intimating guests
Once the final guest list has been drafted after numerous revisions, get hold of complete contact details name, address and telephone number) of each and every guest. Send out invites two months in advance (6 months in advance for a weekend wedding). Be patient about receiving RSVPs but don’t shy away from calling up an unresponsive guest 2 weeks prior to the wedding.
So you can fit in your guest list within your budget with some preparation and communication. Then finally comes the time to enjoy the company of your guests on the wedding day.
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