Cutting the Guest List
March 10, 2009 · Posted in the planning process by kasia
We all may know by now that the only way to cut costs drastically is to cut the guest list. The pangs of cutting ours has been physically making us ill. Every time I try to cut one of our many friends, my fiance rolls over and squeals in discomfort.
Neither of us were expecting to deal with the guest list this soon - before even setting our date. However since our #1 venue choice’s dinner capacity is at 200, and because of the uncertainty of the economy in a year and our jobs’, we need to scrutinize the list today, 16 months before our wedding.
Both my fiance and I want to host an amazing party in a unique Chicago venue with our family and best friends present….however, this is about 100 people OVER the capacity of our #1 venue’s dinner space. We can fit them all into our venue #2 but then we are about 10k over budget! Many of our friends have shrugged it off telling us to, “do what you want” and “invite only your family and best friends.” Well, our family alone that live in Chicago totals to 12o! And as for our best friends, we have a lot. Since we are tying the knot nearly a decade after graduating from college, both of us have close friends from grade school, high school, college, study abroad, Peace Corps, grad school, and work! Our parents’ lists are the least of our concerns. Now, every time we need to cut further, we ask the question, “Would we be hurt if we were not invited to their wedding?” If it’s ‘no’ we hope they won’t either. I know it’s not fool-proof, but we’re humans, and nothing is. :(
So, I know that I promised you our venue selection this week, but we are still struggling with our guest list and need to get that sorted out before we put down a deposit. I’ve spoke with many wives who’ve told me both that they wished they had not invited as many people, as well as that they had regretted not inviting others.
I promise though, that by next Tuesday, I will share with you our venue choice. We have meetings scheduled this week to discuss final proposals. Until then, I’m back to to dissecting our guest list and deciding who has been naughty and who has been nice :)
Cutting the guest list is the absolute worst. Ours has now ballooned to 80 people over our venue capacity, so some drastic cutting is in order. Good luck!
Ugh, I SO know what you mean! We’re getting married in my grandparents’ backyard and have somehow got the list to 150. I don’t expect that everyone will come - in fact I know several that won’t/can’t - but I’m still worried about having that many people there. It still seems like too many. But I can’t bring myself to cut any of those people because most of them are family or nearly family. This is the worst part of the planning, I’m sure of it.
Remember that scene in Sex and the City where Anthony tells Carrie that 75 sounds better than 76 and she just cuts one right then and there? “Cut throat, I love it!” is what he exclaims. Just be a little cut throat :) I will be okay.
How about having a destination wedding? Your guest list of 200 may just come down to just 40, plus all of you will be on vacation! :)
Since we had to cut almost all of our friends to meet the size of our venue we decided that we will invite all of our friends to a local bar after we get home from the honeymoon to celebrate. We will not ask for any gifts, everyone pays for thier own drinks and the owner of our local bar doesn’t mind doing it on a Tuesday or Wednesday night free of charge for us as long as we can guarantee a certian number of patrons.
