How many people actually showed up?

Hi Kylee, we invited 162 and 110 attended for our August wedding (half live locally, approximately 12 came from out of state, and the other half came from approximately 2.5 hours drive in state). ❤️

Always prepare for 100% attendance. It does happen more often than not. Nearly all the couples we have have known said they had 99-100% attendance and they had many traveling from other states. Covid is a different ballgame and many are not comfortable attending.

My wedding was local and i actually had 20% of my guest list decline

We had a very small Covid wedding with mostly out of state people and only one person couldn’t come.

It is safest to estimate everyone will come. Sure, a few probably won’t, but not a large , predictable amount.


We invited ~143 and had about 125 attend. 95% of attendees had to travel.

There’s no accurate math problem to determine that, since the factors are endless. So, plan as if everyone is attending and make adjustments when the RSVP’s roll in.

View Quoted Comment I’m not really asking because I’m trying to plan for less people. I’m just trying to get an idea of if most people show up to weddings

View Quoted Comment Right! Totally understood. It’s hard to compare the likelihood of one couple’s guest list of attendees to another’s list because the factors are plenty. But it’s a good guessing game.

We invited 113 and 100 showed up. Most of our guests lived 2-6 hours away. However, we did have some come from FL and PA (we live in NC). This was pre-covid.

I would plan and budget for all 188 to attend, however, I'd expect closer to 150 to show.

I may not be as helpful, but I have heard that on average, usually 15-20% decline. That's not every wedding, and as many have said, there are so many factors determining whether or not a person can come. So far, we've had a lot more yeses to our June wedding than I anticipated and it's a Friday wedding in the middle of a pandemic, and some people have to travel. We have only invited a total of 112 people, and in our minds, we are thinking lower end we will be at 80 people, and higher end, 100. I would plan for everyone, but keep that statistic in the back of your mind and plan accordingly as the RSVPs come in.

Maybe this is helpful...
https://weddingdive.com/idea/percentage-invited-guests-attend-destination-wedding

I used to work in the hospitality/wedding industry and my boss used to say be ready for 20-25% to decline, depending on your factors.

You should plan for 100% attendance - that is, make sure you can accomodate every single individual on your guest list should everyone RSVP yes to your event.

Of course that rarely happens. Usually about 15% decline for non-destination weddings in which the majority of the guest list is fairly local. That number is probably closer to 35-40% for weddings involving extensive travel. None of this factors in a pandemic, in which traveling has extra restrictions and concerns associated with it and could push your declines even higher.