How Many Wedding Guests will you Have?

The guest list question is one I ALWAYS get. Honestly, the answer of how many invited guests attend is different for each wedding. At one of my September weddings we had 99% of our guest count attend. The bride really didn’t forsee that happening because they had alot of people from the midwest and east coast that they thought wouldn’t foot the bill to travel.

However, people clearly decided California would be a fun place to go so they made vacations of it. That happens ,so be aware that people you think may not come just might surprise you. Of course I’ve had it the other way around where we have a lot less than we thought but thats actually rare ..its much more common in my experiance, to have more than you thought.

The best way to figure it out (rather than going off a percentage you read in a magazine since every guest list has such different variables) is to do your homework. Here’s what you do:

Make three lists.

A list = Those people you KNOW would never ever miss it.

B list = Those people you KNOW would never ever attend.

C list= The grey area…those people you just don’t know about.

Then you take that grey list and try to get some info…for instance..ask your Aunt if she thinks your Cousin will come….ask your mom to bring it up casually with your Uncle on the East Coast…etc etc…And from doing a bit of homework (undercover of course) on the grey list…you’ll be better able to come up with a range in number of guests.

So you don’t need to have in your heada firm 165 but rather say 160-170 or 155 to 175 or something..then what you do is budget on the 175.

Ryan Larson, the founder of Savoir Flair Wedding Coordinating in Los Angeles, plans everything from intimate destination weddings to dazzling receptions all over Southern California. She is a monthly contributor for Marriage.com and is a wedding planning expert. Visit her website for more info or give her a ring at 818-631-4957