Cutting a guest list due to Covid 19

I think people will understand. We our original guest list was about 80 people and we were hoping to have between 60-80 in attendance. If we have to cut it to 50, I don't think anyone we've nixed will be offended. Our RSVP deadline just passed and 47 guests still hadn't RSVP'd (worried about Covid I'm sure) so it's possible of your 72 guests you'll only have 50 or so who feel safe attending anyway.

In your situation it sounds like you have already told all of your guests about the new date, so I would probably go down your list, starting with your VIPs and most important guests, to confirm if they are planning on attending the July event. Once you hit 50 RSVPs then I would tell the other guests you had to make your event smaller due to government regulations and safety precautions, so unfortunately you don't have space for them that day but you really want to celebrate with them at a later date.

Also, I'd just double check with your vendors how much staff they will have at your event to provide service. I suspect a 50 person gathering is actually 50 people total, so that means you and your partner, your photographer, your musician/DJ, servers, bartenders, etc all are included in that total, not just your guests. I imagine just the basic event staff could easily be 6-10 people (keep in mind, they may not all be there at the same time, so maybe your officiant leaves before your bartender shows up, but generally there is some overlap) and that may mean you can only have 40 guests or so. Definitely double check the math before you go confirming RSVPs or un-inviting people.

Hi Brenda! Have you decided who will be included in the new guest list? Obviously if there are were any plus ones you can trim that's easy, and you should think about people who may have to travel or if there's an easy "family and wedding party only" type of decision you can make!

When you called all of your guests, where did you leave the conversation? That would guide my next steps, but I'm sure all of your guests will be more than understanding in this insane time! You should check out this conversation from another bride in a similar situation, she came up with some great wording for notifying her guests: You are uninvited letter.

Also Kari has a great point about figuring out exactly who is included in a "50 person event"!