How many to invite?

I think most of it depends on your budget and how many you and your fiance can afford/are willing to invite. Put together a list of people you cannot imagine your wedding day without and/or are definitely planning to invite to your wedding, and see where your guest count is. If COVID restrictions are still in place, I would limit the guest count to 50% (or whatever restrictions require). If this is a post-COVID wedding, then I wouldn't invite more than 150 (if vendors don't count towards the guest count). If vendors count towards the 150 limit, I would invite no more than 140-145 (depending on how many vendors you have).

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Thanks Lisa! Praying Covid is over by then, they are releasing the vaccine today

right now we have 200 on our list. The vendor does not care how many people we invite, we told them 190 because there is standing room and 15 people will be standing for ceremony (ie me, FH, bridesmaids, groomsmen, officiant).. I just am trying to gauge who will say no! haha.

View Quoted Comment Be aware that if you invite 200 people, you might get all 200 to accept the invite (even though it doesn't happen very often)! Are more tables able to be setup at the reception? I wouldn't invite more than what your venue can accommodate. Otherwise, you may run into an issue either with having to turn people away due to space, or cramming more chairs than what could comfortably fit around each table.

This all depends on budget and the amount of people you know you would want to spend your wedding day with.

Our venue can hold up to 250 guests. Our guest count is 190, but we estimate 160-170 will attend (most of the older guests and those out of state/country won't come).

Def. check and stay updated on your venue's restrictions regarding COVID!

No more than 150 people.

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Also...THIS! We attended a wedding where the bride and groom were allowed to invite more people than the venue listed they could hold. Us, along with about 20 other people, were left without a seat from the ceremony till the end of the wedding...my feet were sad. 😂

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Thanks Shelly! So, I was banking on standing room if more people come than planned. Our ceremony will only be 15-20 minutes. Would you recommend not having standing room?

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All the girls were miserable the whole time. They had standing room behind the chairs for the ceremony, as well as in the balcony area on the second floor. I wouldn't recommend it, just because there were some older folks that arrived later that had to stand with us. Their ceremony was about 25 min long and I was getting uncomfy standing!

I think what made it worse was that we also had to stand during the whole reception. We literally did not sit all night and honestly, that made the experience bad for me because I was more focused on how uncomfortable and tired my feet were, than how beautiful everything was. It also made us and our friend group feel unimportant watching everyone else get a seat, yet we had to stand to eat (which we had to do outside in order to sit our food on high bars used for cocktail hour).

If you'll have enough chairs and tables for everyone at the reception, then I think you might be able to get away with standing room for your ceremony! If not, then you might have some unhappy guests.

View Quoted Comment I agree with this! If you were a guest at a wedding and didn't have a seat, you probably wouldn't be very comfortable all night. Plus, it makes it difficult for the guests to eat dinner at the reception if they have to stand. Also, if the venue is only legally allowed to hold 150 people, they may not let you have 200 guests (even if you did standing room only for some). They might not care how many you invite, but they'll likely care how many show up. I recommend only inviting 150 guests maximum to guarantee that everyone has a seat.

It depends on your budget but I definitely wouldn't invite over 150 people

You shouldn't invite more than the venue can hold. If the venue can only hold 150 then that's the maximum number of people that you should invite unless you find a larger venue to host your wedding.

If your venue can only hold 150, then you shouldn't invite more than 150. Every butt needs a seat. Even for a short ceremony, no guests should be expected to stand! I can't think of many things ruder... I'd definitely recommend limiting your guest list to 150.

With covid I would invite as few people as possible

Always prepare for 100% attendance. It happens more often than it doesn't and venues have seating capacity limits for fire codes.


You determine your budget and guest list first. It should only include people you and your fiance want in attendance and can't imagine the day without. Parents insist? Those folks don't get an invite. Relatives and acquaintances you don't like? Again, no invite. But significant others regardless of the time spent together (just start dating 3 months ago or married for 15 years) are a package deal and you cannot invite one without the other. Most people are perfectly fine and have a great time not having a random stranger (to the couple) tag along because a single person who is not dating anyone will know others at the wedding, either their friends or relatives.
Also couples forget to include themselves in the seating capacity.
Based on that final number, you pick a venue that will comfortably fit that number. Every guest must have a seat.

Don't forget to keep up with other states' Covid restrictions if you are planning a destination wedding.

I am a big advocate for choosing your guest list and then looking at venues as it is not ideal being unable to invite all your loved ones, or worse, having more people attending than your venue can accommodate.

I generally would estimate that at least 10% of people (or more) will not attend but you need to be prepared for the slim possibility of a near full house, depending on your crowd. My venue holds 200 (although it would be horribly cramped) and we have 150 on our list. By reason of some people being out of town, some being elderly, and having a few ‘courtesy’ invitees, I am assuming a turnout of 115-130 but am confident we will not exceed 140.