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I've seen some posts where the couple chose not to make a (free) website because they felt the number of guests attending was too small to warrant it. A couple of friends are getting married in the next year and two of them told me that since their weddings will be small (less than 40 guests), they've chosen not to even send paper invitations.
I found this very interesting, since I've never heard of that before; even when we were only planning to invite 50, FH and I never thought for an instant of just doing e-vites or word-of-mouth invitations. Even if the guests throw the paper away, I still think there's something special, if only for a moment, about getting a paper wedding invitation. But maybe I'm just old-fashioned and sentimental! ;)
Would the number of guests you planned to invite impact your wedding-related decisions (on paper, websites, etc.)?
I would still do the paper invites and wedding website regardless of the number of people attending. I'm having my guest RSVP online, so hence the need for the wedding website. The paper invites are a must, but you don't have to do a wedding website but I think its nice to do.
@tinkaluv: I'm still not sure if we should do RSVP cards or just have people RSVP online...most of his family is Internet-savvy, but I'm a little worried about mine, although it's only my immediate family coming so I'm sure they'd tell me in person.
We're having 20-30 people and we're still doing paper invitations and still have a website. Most of my fiance's family is not good with computers or doesn't even have one and it's the same with a few people in my family. Plus the invitations can get so pretty and it's something we can keep in a scrapbook. And I just found making a wedding website fun. 
I will be sending invites and have a website. Most of my guests are anti-website anyway.
@Statutory Grape: I still think there's something special, if only for a moment, about getting a paper wedding invitation.
I'm with you on that one!
@mandb122: I hear you on the fun part! It took a while to find a site I liked, but mywedding is pretty good. And they have Royal Steamline templates, which rock.
i would never cut out the actual invites, even if i was having like 10 people. i love getting mail and having something tangible to hold on to. as for the wedding website, i voted to give that up but that's because i'm not even doing one for our 150ish person wedding. i work on websites for a living but have no desire to make my own. if i did one i'd end up going all out and spending way too much time on it, and i just don't want to get started with it.
I would send out paper invites no matter what! Even if the only guests were your siblings... I'd want them to have a real invitation. Those facebook electronic invites are way too casual for my taste. I'd tend to think that the email was a save the date, and wouldn't go to a formal event without a paper invitation!
I would still set up a wedding website, but mostly because I think they're really fun to set up.
Invites just shouldn't be optional. You can at least send some form of a paper invite if you want people to travel to your wedding and probably bring you a gift.
I think I would still do both for the fun of it! We're making our own invitations for 100 people and I would do the same if we were having a smaller wedding. I wasn't going to do a website at first, but the idea has grown on me.
What sites are you guys using to set up your website? I've signed up for project wedding... but I haven't done much searching. What's the best one?
@pb and j: Totally understandable. :)
By the way...would it be better for us (we're limiting plus-ones to engaged/living together/super long-term) to do paper RSVP cards? That way, we could specify "We have reserved __ seats in your honor" and stop people from adding +3s and +4s and so on. I think we could still have a card for that in the invitation suite--we'd just specify, at the bottom, "Please RSVP at ________." But at the same time, wouldn't that open it up for trouble? Like, people could potentially ignore the number on the card when they RSVP on our site and insert a different number all together.
How did online RSVPs work out for you, if you did them?
We have 25 guests, and I sent STDS, pocketfold invites, and set up a website.
That said, I don't think anyone besides my sisters and BMs have even looked at the website... and (SHAME!) I stopped updating/building it. Ours was on The Knot and honestly, i think the web address may have been too long for people. In hindsight, I may just do a pay site and get a good domain name.
@StautoryGrape: If you're limiting +1s and other guests then I would totally put in an RSVP card. I think that physically crossing out the "we have ___ seats reserved for you" is sooo much harder than just typing in a number of guests online. I can totally see people adding their kids or casual date!
I will have 35 guests at my wedding. We did have a wedding website, formal invitations, and save-the-date cards. I think having paper invitations is an indication of an event's formality, not of its size.
As for the website and save-the-date cards, we figured that the guests would still want to know details of what was going on--even if there were not that many of them!
@Miss Starry Night: Yeah, that's true! Especially since FH's stepmom tried to add +1's for our guests' teenage children...GAH.
I would probably do more if I had fewer guests. But that is also because I love design and paper. With 50 guests I could go nuts on the packaging for invitations,maybe even splurge for letterpress. But I understand why some people wouldn't want to do it, and I think it's pretty cool, especially if you're trying to cut down on waste.
I'm having a small-medium wedding (~65) and I am definitely doing real invites, because I love the feel and look of paper. I don't even like e-books! And it's also because I have a dear friend who is a printmaker who offered to do our invites for us as a wedding gift, so I don't have to worry about the cost.
But if I was a guest, I wouldn't mind getting an email invite.
We are only having about 45 guests (including children) and we still did both a website and invitations.
We did the website more because we are having a DW wedding. We wanted to include hotel information. restaurants, and places of interest since most of our guests have not been to the OBX before. But overall I think websites are a personal preferance and not a do or die thing.
I still did inviations because I never thought of not doing them. I always knew I would make my own and making enough for a small wedding was an easy(ish) task lol.
@SandDollar: Yeah, hotel info and places of interest are a huge part of our website, haha. FH's dad and stepmom want maps and actual tangible lists of hotels, but I think we'll just put a web card in the invitations instead--imagine the paper and ink costs to print out a list of 20 hotels and attractions with all their info! Yikes.
I would actually do more (and did do more) with fewer guests - but I love crafting!! To my mind, if I have fewer guests, I feel like I can splurge a little more, since the total costs will still be lower than if I had 200 guests.
I agree with pp who have said its nice to get a paper invite in the mail. I love getting “real” mail, especially cards and nice paper products.
In my opinion, paper invites are a "must" no matter the size of the wedding (unless it's ultra ultra casual or you are going to the courthouse with just your parents there or something). It sets the tone of your event. If you send evites I think people will take the whole thing a lot more casually, like it's less of a serious or formal event. If you need hard "numbers" for your caterer I would suggest doing paper invites with standard paper rsvp cards, otherwise you might get a lot of confused guests who don't respond in a timely fashion.
A wedding website is never mandatory even for a big wedding, it's something you can do if you feel like it and you think it would be helpful for your guests.
I don't know about everybody else but I love getting mail, especially when it's not a bill. If they are on a budget there are so many sites that offer discounted wedding invitations and since they don't need so many it will won't expensive at all. Ann's bridal bargain is a great website, I think their invites start at $. 60 each.
We're definitely doing paper invitations and no website. I really have no reason for not doing a website aside from....I just don't feel like it 
. We have a few guests coming from out of town but I'm just going to include a hotel information card in their invite and call it good. We'll be hanging out with all of them the day before the wedding anyway so we'll show them the sites. I know I know bad bride 
.
People don't get real mail anymore so I love the idea of a mailed invite. I'm not doing RSVP cards so I need the wedding website. I was a little concerned about some people not being web savvy but I figured they could always call.
I would probably skip the invites if it was just immediate family, but if there's any more than that I'd want to send them. My cousin is having his Bar Mitzvah soon and they sent e-vites b/c they wanted to be green, and they invited a TON of people. I think it's becoming more common now not to do paper invites no matter the number of guests.
I wouldn't have done a website if we had less people too. We only had it for the RSVP's, and it would be easier to track people down if there weren't so many of them.
@Statutory Grape: haha Yea! I totally understand what your saying. I did a small map (FH calls it our little kid map and it only shows the roads right near the venue) and on the back had directions from arriving on OBX with 2 hotels marked that are really close to the beach house...we have limited parking so we wanted guests to stay close and walk (literally the hotels are right beside the house). We had more on our website tho and included the website on the insert. Maybe you could include an abridged version of what your in-laws want?
I actually think I'd be more enthused about making our invitations if we had fewer guests to send them to. The task seems very daunting right now!
I'd probably be more excited with a smaller number of guests, because I could spend more per piece.
My guest list is 18 and even I'm sending invites! It's just something you do - it makes the guest feel special.
But no, I definately will not be doing a website.
I would probably still send invites if I had 50+ people and was having the reception at a wedding venue. But if I was doing a dinner with 30 or so people at a restaurant, I probably would skip those things.
I only had 54 guests and I still had all the traditional elements to my wedding! Invites, wedding website, DJ and dancing all night, sit down dinner, open bar, cocktail reception etc.
The small guest list allowed everyone that I loved deeply to be in one spot and allowed my to do everything I wanted for my wedding day!
We are having a medium sized wedding (130) and we chose to not have a wedding website. Not because of the size, just because I think they're kind of silly and I didn't want to make one.
If we were having a small wedding, I might forgo traditional invitations, and do a hand-written invitation for each guest (which is the old fashioned way to do it). But I definitely would not skip them entirely!
If I'd had a tiny guest list I would have done the opposite and gone all out on the invites.
I'm biased because in general, I found that nobody even looked at the website. I'd probably cut it regardless of the guest list next time.
If I were having a smaller wedding I might have chosen catered food over DIY food.
Paper invites, definitely... but I've never considered setting up a wedding website. I always feel weird about them. Like I'm making too big a deal of the wedding or something? We are only inviting 100 guests, and we're not having a "wedding weekend" or a morning after brunch or anything, just the traditional church ceremony and reception, so there are not a lot of events for guests to keep track of. And I always hate the "About the Bride and Groom" sections... like I need to list my hobbies or something, ugh... most guests just don't care that much! They are not going to spend any time going through the photo albums etc. I actually love to design websites but just feel so funny about making a wedding one... luckily I'm lazy so discarding it is in keeping with my overall lifestyle :)
Oops! I meant to vote for neither but somehow clicked on "actual invitations". If I was having a very small wedding I would have probably gotten letterpress invitiations or done something more extravagent, like those invites in a box :)
@nbblondie: Agreed! If we weren't having 100+ guests, I'd totally go all out.
Paper invites are considered standard no matter what the guest count. Having a website depends on how many folks would actually use it. If you know that most won't, then don't spend the time and money on it. There are other things that can be cut out instead if you can't afford them or don't want them (food and entertainment make or break the party though). However, generally, having a small wedding allows you to go a little more fancier if you wish on the small number of guests you do have. What works for one couple won't work for another in the same position.
Nope. We're having between 40-50 people at our wedding (including Bridal Party) and I still did a website and purchased invites. I don't know why the number of guests would matter in regards either of those things.
We had 18 guests at our destination wedding and we still sent out save the dates, really detailed handmade pocketfold invites and created a wedding website!
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