Post # 1

Member
288 posts
Helper bee
We have decided to give both sides an equal number of invites.
That being said, for my side I told my parents that I would like to keep the family invites to close family only- my grandparents, my parent’s siblings, and their children- my 1st cousins. I said inviting my parents’ cousins and their kids would just be too much- and I’d rather be able to invite friends who I love instead of 2nd cousins who don’t even talk to me.
But I don’t know how to cut the friends list! The number is getting sort of out of hand- some friends don’t know others so I’d like to give them a guest to bring, some are married so I feel I must invite their spouses, and many are in groups (like my college crew, or my ex-co-workers who were like family to me) so I couldn’t really pick and choose just a few and leave out others. I’m also trying to not invite dates for most.
Help! What did you do?
Post # 3

Member
1966 posts
Buzzing bee
I read something that said if you haven’t shared a meal with someone in a year cut them from your list. Now that can sound pretty harsh. But ded helped us decide to cut our old coworkers, some extended family and friends who we just aren’t close to anymore. We cur our list from 110 to 65. And our very happy with our final list.
Post # 4

Member
2254 posts
Buzzing bee
I’d cut coworkers unless you are very close to them currently. You can also only give +1s to the people who are in committed relationships, engaged, or married.
Post # 5

Member
288 posts
Helper bee
@Olive12: off topic- i love your kerope profile image! hehe
Post # 6

Member
1966 posts
Buzzing bee
@Olive12: +1 on the plus ones
Only married couples or couple in long term relationships were given a plus one. Example my cousin who has a different bf every time we speak is not getting a plus one! Lol
Post # 8

Member
1066 posts
Bumble bee
@ChampagneBlushWedding: You have just solved all our problems re our guest list.Thanks for this awesome flow chart..:)
Post # 9

Member
2254 posts
Buzzing bee
Post # 11

Member
2440 posts
Buzzing bee
Cutting co-workers (particularly ex-coworkers) might feel harsh to you now, but they’ll never even notice missing the invite, and you WILL notice how much of a dent they would add to your budget.
Post # 12

Member
329 posts
Helper bee
I’m in the same boat. our guest list now is 170 and I want to get it down under 100! Yikes. But this was our first draft and pretty much put anyone we knew down. After talking about it though, we realized half the people we haven’t seen in a year or more and are just inviting because they are family (distant). I saw that flow chart somwhere else and that is what I am going to be using!
Post # 13

Member
5242 posts
Bee Keeper
@virgomasala80: We invited immediate family only on both sides really only my family is coming because fiance is an only child and so are his parents and his grandparetns cant travel. We then gave our parents a maximum amount of friends they could invite of there own. We invited close friends only and almost all of them are in a committed realtionship so they are bringing a plus one cause I wouldnt want anyone to go on a vacation alone. We are currently at 58 confirmed guests and we invited about 90..we are expecting maybe 5 or 6 more people to book last minute and come. WE are very happy with the number of people we have coming…if we invited everyone we wanted to our wedding would have been over 200 and I dont see that being very intimate and I wanted to be able to spend time with my guests on the trip
Post # 14

Member
288 posts
Helper bee
@MsSparklyBee: haha that made me laugh!
Post # 15

Member
288 posts
Helper bee
hmm. the tough thing with my ‘ex-worker’ list is that they really weren’t just typical co-workers to me. i spent free time after work with them, told them my every secret, had many sleepovers with them, traveled with some, etc. the group was like family!