Weddingbee boards

It's been really hard to nail down how many people we are inviting... anywhere from 150-180.  I have 3 BM, and FI has 3 GM.  I've heard this rule before too, but I think people should ask whoever they want in their wedding party.

4 bms, regardless of numbers... inviting about 210, hoping for a final of ca 160.

I have way more bridesmaids than I should, but it's one of those things where my college friends were always just...a clump.  You can't invite half the clump and not the other half, and I'm not especially closer to one than to another, so I'm having 7 bridesmaids (6 college friends plus FSIL) and 1 MOH, and only MOH and FSIL will stand up with us at the ceremony.  FI has 4 boys including 1 best man and my brother, and just my brother and the best man will stand up for the ceremony.  They'll all be part of the procession down the aisle, though.

Or at least that's the current plan; I haven't actually asked anyone but my MOH yet!

I didn't even consider it. FI and I each have 4 people standing up with us. We're only going to have 60-70 guests at our DW wedding. The only thing I heard about BM numbers is that you shouldn't have a lot at a DW wedding regardless of how many guests in total you have. Guess we'll add that one to the list of ettiquette rules we've broken lol.

I think it should have to do more with your friendship dynamics and how many YOU want than a proper ratio.  

Me, I had just 1 MOH, for 120ish guests.  I would have had trouble picking and 'leaving people out' if I went for more. 

I'd heard it was around 1 BM/50 guests, but I feel like the trend has been towards more than that.  We have 4 regular BMs, 1 jr BM, 2 ushers (one male, one female), and 4 or 5 groomsmen (and a flower girl!), and our wedding will be about 130 people.  Guess we went a little over the norm!

Doesn't matter - do whatever you want. We're having 110 guests and no BMs.

I had five bridesmaids and about 100 guests.  I knew I wanted those ladies with me and there was no rule that was going to stand in my way!

I could care less about a rule. I am just picking who I want to stand up with me. I highty doubt even an etiquette expert would bother counting guests and figuring out the ratio

I thought it was 1:50, but no one pays attention to that.  It does look a *little* off maybe to have 50 people & 10 BMs.  We invited 200 (120 came), and I had 4 BMs -I would have had 5, but one had to drop out.

My husband had 5 gms.

@eileen marie: I've also heard of 1:50.

We had 150 guests and I had 3 girls/DH had 3 guys.

While not currently engaged, I have based my hypothetical maids on how many people would be BFs groomsmen. It's either 4 or 5. So 8-10 total party people. So it's apparently planned out before there is talk about guests and space and ratios involve math and that hurts my brain.

I don't think it matters in most situations, but something to consider: If you're having a very small wedding, chances are you're having it in a smaller venue. If you want to structure it the traditional way, and have a single-file line of attendents on each side, you probably don't want 10 bridesmaids. Think of it like this: If you have ten bridesmaids, a maid of honor, and your groom has a best man and ten groomsmen, you're going to have to have room for 25 people to stand single-file across the front of your venue. Otherwise, you're going to have to have lines two-deep, and that can start to look clumpy if you're not very careful.

I DO think situations where there are like 15 bridesmaids + junior bridesmaids and MOH and then Matron of Honor are a little silly. It always makes me wonder if they have ANY female guests under the age of 40 at the wedding who aren't wearing that matching dress. At a certain point, you start to make people who AREN'T in the wedding party a minority....

I'm having 4 people- a MOH and 3 BMs. I didn't based my choice off of any ratio, really- I just knew that I didn't want a ton of maids because I'm not close enough to enough girls to do that. 

Our guest list (invitation based) is around 200, but we're expecting around 150-175. So, technically, by the 1:30 ratio, we are still about 2 maids short! 

Also, just to point something out- I once went to a wedding that had 3 bridesmaids, and the total number of guests that attended (BMs included) couldn't have been more than 50. It honestly looked fine. I think that if she had like 8 bridesmaids that would be one thing, but it really wasn't a big deal for them to have 3. I think that under 5 is fairly normal and what most people are used to seeing at average sized weddings.