About two weeks ago, my fiance and I tackled the guest list. I know, I know you might think this is early, but some of our favorite venue choices have strict guest counts. So to get an idea of how many guests we were expecting, we got busy. First, I pulled out my hefty Excel spreadsheet and created columns across the top and the left hand side. Up top of course, were first and last name. I also went ahead and created address headings like address 1, address 2, city, state and zip to get a head start when I eventually have to start collecting addresses for save the dates and wedding invitations.
But I really got down to business when I created the left hand headers. I organized my guests by how I know them.
- Immediate Family (that's not in the wedding)
- Mom's Family
- Dad's Family
- College Friends
- High School Friends
- Work Friends
- Mentors
- Parents Friends
After we did that for my guests, we also did the same for my fiance with similar headings and added his guests to the Excel spreadsheet. Next up, I created a column for plus one's My fiance and I decided early on that everyone would not automatically get a plus one. I think by giving everyone an option of bringing a plus one equals more money for us and the potential of not knowing a lot of our guests. So our decision? If you were married or engaged of course you got a plus one. We also decided that if you had a serious girlfriend/boyfriend/significant other and we knew that person, you could also get a plus one. Additionally, we also decided that if you only knew us and know one else at the wedding you could get a plus one. For instance, I would hate to invite a work friend and have them sit at a table all alone because they didn't know anyone.
So, I know you are wondering what the total guest count number is. So all together right now we are at about 160 guests. When we first started thinking about our wedding I always thought it would be a lot more, but when you literally go through the list and think about that person, it really puts a lot of things in perspective. Also, I am sure that our list might grow a little more. I am sure that we left a couple of people off and that our parents might add another one or two people, but because our wedding is a destination wedding for most (at least 95% of our guests will be coming from out of town) I am pretty sure there will be at around 150 when it is all said and done.
Also a little note, if you were wondering how many people were the plus one side. It was only about 50 and 100 on the guest list. I think that breakdown is pretty right with so many of our friends being our college and high school friends, many of them know each other and will be pretty comfortable at the wedding. So most of the people that got plus ones were our family members, co-workers, and older couples.
How did you organize your guest list? Was it easier or harder than you thought?
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