Guest list help

Would you be able to afford the wedding if 100% of people attended? If the answer is no then I wouldn’t invite over the amount you can afford.

I think its risky. You're correct that there is a good chance not everyone will be able to go, but theres still the chance that you might still be over. It's a risk

How big is your guest list? I think it’s fairly safe to assume 15 will say no you invite 200+ but it you are only inviting 50 you make not be as lucky.

I think it’s risky, and it depends on who you’re inviting.

Most guests will have to travel for our wedding, neither of our families live where we do. We ideally want 125 to attend, and that’s actually the minimum for our venue. We invited a total of 154, including “plus ones”, but knew that some of our older family members wouldn’t be able to travel. our venue has a max of ~300, so it’s just a matter of cost. We were able to contract the venue at a lower pp amount (it includes food/open bar) but once we know we are closer to the 125 that we expect we will most likely upgrade our package, which is perfectly fine with the venue.

I think its its only ok to over invite if in the event that 100% rsvp yes, you will still be able to afford it.

Only ever invite people based on the resources you have now, not with an expectation of people dropping out. If you invite 15 extra people, then your guest count is simply 15 people higher than your preferred amount.

Do you have an “A” & “B” list? If you do once you receive a no from the A invite from the B.

We invited 160 even though there was only space at the tables for 142 oops. Worked out fine, only 128 rsvp yes and 126 came. Not going to lie I was very nervous at first about how many over we were.

Unless you have extremely dedicated friends and family, at least a few won't show for one reason or another. That's pretty much law of averages. That being said, plan for all of them to be accounted for; food, drinks, seating, etc. regardless. You know, just in case.

I agree with Kelly! I would make sure you can afford all of the guests you invite; in the event you get 100% attendance.
We have not received any 'No' RSVPs yet; I'm actually hoping for some lol. However, we're prepared to pay for all invited.

100% agree with PP's on a few points.

Ensure you can afford for all the guests who you invite to attend and also ensure you don't over invite yourself out of your venue.

We are over inviting as well, however, we already know from FMIL and also my parents that a few of these invitations will be polite declines from the guests. We also can afford for all of these guests to attend the wedding and not over our venue maximum. We are aiming for 135-150 and are inviting 175.

Just be careful with who you invite and don't put yourself in a situation you will have to ask people not to attend or you cannot afford the event.

With a destination wedding most people that aren't really close family and friends may not be able to make it. But I would definitely say to just prepare for everyone that was invited and set the RSVP date sooner than normal. But the more notice you give your guests, the more likely they will be able to attend.

Some people would say you could invite more knowing that the likelihood of everyone saying yes isn't always 100%, however, that kind of scares me because of an off chance of everyone actually being able to say yes. so i ended up inviting the right amount of seats i had. some people are against the idea of a second invitee list but that's what i did. i felt like i didn't want to risk not having enough space. it's really all in how you word it. if you tell someone that you did not have space before but wanted them there but now you do have space and would love if they can come, it should be alright.

It’s tough to say 100% because it could go either way—especially if your wedding is out of town. A general rule of thumb I’ve been told is that about 20% of the people you invite won’t come (rsvp no or no show included). My FH and I looked at our guest list and thought about realistically who would/wouldn’t be able to come. For example, We subtracted older relatives who don’t travel and a few others and got a more reasonable number, but we’re also prepared if we end up with more than that.

They say that for destination weddings, to only expect 75-80% to come but theres always a risk. From a recent poll: "if you have a wealthy crowd that is mostly family, you can estimate that 85% of them will attend. However, if most of your out-of-town guests are old friends or college buddies that you have not seen in years, your acceptance rate is probably closer to 40%. For most couples, a safe estimate of an acceptance rate for out-of-town guests is around 55%."

All of our guests were from out of town and we had a 42% attendance. 50/118 were able to come. We had 54 yes RSVPs but 4 bailed last minute.
That said, you can't always count on everybody to decline. Plan for what you can pay like PPs have said. You could B list people, but I personally find that rude but you know your crowd and if they wont be offended, then it's a possible option.

Our venue is ok with us inviting 10 over capacity. We do have some courtesy invites going out to way out of town guests that we assume won't show.

I think its good idea to invite more people in some situations it just depends on the how you have your planning going. For me my venue has done everything as a package so therefore it's 200 ppl period. No matter what. We have a lot of out of town guest traveling and I know for sure that 30% of them will not come but I did want to extend the invite because we would like them to come if they could make it.

If you invite over, then the ones that dont show or rsvp then you will have people to replace them with. A plate costing $24.95 per person is a lot for it to go to waste.

I think you'll be absolutely fine inviting 15+. We had at least a few people RSVP "no" who we were SURE would come. Sometimes people have other plans and you just don't know ahead of time. We originally figured 125 would attend. Then we thought 135. We got more RSVPs and told the caterer 115, and currently have 108 confirmed guests. Wedding is in 2 weeks.

Depends. If you would be okay with everyone invited showing up, go ahead and do it. If not, then I wouldn't risk it because there is a small chance everyone will show up.