Wedding Hive Podcast

Guest Count Dilemmas

• Wedding Hive

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Navigating wedding guest counts requires balancing budget constraints with meaningful relationships. Creating an intimate celebration allows genuine connections with every guest while avoiding the overwhelm of a massive wedding.

• Budget is the primary factor in determining guest count, with approximately $20 per person just for meals
• Venue capacity restrictions may limit how many guests you can invite
• Categorize potential guests into "must-have" and "would be nice" lists
• Consider only offering plus-ones for married couples or those in long-term relationships
• Evaluate whether to include children, as they can significantly increase your guest count
• Ask yourself if you've spoken to or spent time with potential guests within the past year
• Question whether you're inviting someone out of genuine desire or mere obligation
• Assess if each person's presence will bring joy or stress to your wedding day
• Prioritize having meaningful connections with everyone attending your celebration

Don't feel pressured to invite people just because you feel obligated. Your wedding day should be filled with people who bring you joy and support your relationship.


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Speaker 0:

Hey guys, welcome back to another episode of the Daily Buzz. It is your co-host, grace. So we had a listener sent in a question saying guest count how do I know who to invite and how to go about that? So when it comes to guest count, I mean really I think the biggest thing is budget. How much is your budget? Every person you add to this list is going to cost you more money, unfortunately, a lot of times. I mean, it's about 20 bucks a plate per person. So I would suggest, if you are having a smaller budget, it's definitely going to have to be a smaller guest count. But if you kind of have all the money in the world, I say invite as many people as you'd like. Also depends, too, on venues. Do they have a limit on guest count? Is there a max? It doesn't matter how many people you have.

Speaker 0:

I think for me at least, when I got married, I definitely wanted it to be a more small, intimate wedding. We had around 55 guests, which I felt was perfect. I felt I could really talk to every guest that night, get to talk to everyone but not feel pulled in a million different directions. And then also, too, it's nice because with a big guest count. I feel like a lot of brides and grooms end up feeling bad that they weren't able to talk to their guests or enjoy moments with them. So I definitely would say guest count, base it off your budget and also who you really want to be there.

Speaker 0:

I know it can be a lot of pressure to invite everyone. You know. I know it's hard to tell those people or to send out those invites and know that potentially maybe someone's feelings could get hurt. But it really matters about you and your soon to be husband. You guys as a couple, who do you want there? Who's going to make this day special? We don't want any drama on wedding day, so I mean I would avoid really inviting anyone that you think is not going to make your day feel special. Your day is about you and if you have some people that like to make it about themselves, I would not invite those kind of people. And two, it's just it's part of weddings and inviting guests and not feeling bad about who's there and who's not, and I think I loved the fact that everyone that was there and inviting guests and not feeling bad about who's there and who's not, and I think I loved the fact that everyone that was there had been a part of our relationship as a couple and not just because we knew them. And it's actually funny when we first got engaged we had talked about having, I think, over 100 plus people and as the planning process went by, you kind of realize and think, oh wait, I actually haven't seen this person in X amount of years or actually we're really not that close with these people.

Speaker 0:

Your wedding day is pretty much the biggest event that's going to happen in your life and I think having a good guest count and having people there who truly love you and want to celebrate you is what's going to be the most important factor. And also, if you guys are making your guest count, you can kind of almost categorize maybe into a you know, section A, section B, a is you know, most important closest friends, family. B section is kind of like, okay, we would love to have them there, but if they're not there, you know it's not the end of the world. Also, are you having plus ones for your wedding? That's going to take into account your guest count? Do you want people? My opinion is, I think really only people who are married and or have been in long-term relationships should be able to have a plus one, even if you don't really know that person. I think, especially if maybe that guest doesn't really know any of your friends or family, at least they would have someone there for the night to celebrate and enjoy their time there with you guys. Also another big part of guest count are you going to have kids at your wedding? Some people have one, two, three, four, five kids, and that adds up really quick. Do you want to pay $20 a head for kids or meals for them? So those are another two big factors when it comes into wedding guests and how many people could end up being on your list.

Speaker 0:

And last piece of advice when you're picking your guest count and who you're going to invite, you can maybe ask yourself these questions have you spoken to this person in the last year? Have you even hung out with this person, spent time with them? If you went out to dinner with these people, would you want to have a meal with them? Would you take time out of your day to text them and say, hey, let's hang out, let's go to dinner, let's go to a restaurant A big one? Are you inviting these people out of obligation or because you genuinely have a loving, long connection with these people.

Speaker 0:

Brides, grooms, we don't want you to feel pressured into inviting people just because you feel obligated. It should never be that. It should be who you want there to spend your special day with. And, last but not least, will their presence bring joy or will they bring stress to your big day? We've talked a lot about this. The last thing you want on your wedding day is going to be stress or family drama. It is better, in my opinion, to get any of that out of the way before it happens on wedding day. Even though they're not fun conversations to have. They can be tough and hard, but nothing is going to be worse than not having a good wedding day. So that is your daily buzz.