How to Make a Wedding Guest List

Where do you start with your wedding planning? Well, making a wedding guest list is pretty important, wouldn't you say? In fact, I think it's one of the first two things you should do when you begin! But how DO you make a wedding guest list, you ask? If you're feeling a bit stumped on this one, I'm here to help. Let's make a wedding guest list together!

Photographs by Reesh

This guide here isn't going to walk you through the emotional side. Nope, we're only talking pure numbers and logistics. This guest list will be a key deciding factor in which venues you go shopping for, so you'll need to get serious and strict with the digits. However, as I always say, make it fun. Numbers can still be fun if you've got a glass of wine or your favorite sitcom replaying in the background.

Okay, the nitty gritty of a wedding list is making a spreadsheet. It's your choice which program between Excel or Google Sheets or something else, but you'll want something that lets you make columns and add raw numbers to give you a crystal clear idea of where you stand for capacity needs.

To start with you'll be working with your partner to list out all your must-have guests. These are the people you know you need to have at your wedding. I'm not here to decide what that means to you and your partner, there's no judgment here on where you draw that line whether it's at family you feel obligated to invite or a best friend from childhood you can't live without, this is your list and your choices.

Photo by KMT Photos

In the first column of your spreadsheet you'll list out people's names, be they Susan from work or Bev & Bob or the Francis Family, whomever they are. Column 1 is the party names, and column 2 is where the actual numbers will land.

As a side note here at this stage, you need to make a decision on plus ones and kids. Do you anticipate being okay with guests bringing a partner that you yourself didn't list by name? Do you expect your wedding to be family-friendly and allow kids or are you wanting things to be 18+ or 21+ only?

When you know those details, list out each party and how many guests that party accounts for, so for instance Susan from work gets a 1, Bev & Bob are 2, the Francis Family is 10 because whoa, they were fruitful and multiplied and we love them for it. See, we're having fun here!

Once you have your must-invite list complete, tally up the numbers in the second column. This is the number you'll need to keep in mind when looking for a venue as if the venue can't accommodate at least that base number, you'll need to either choose a different venue or you'll need to cut down your must-invite list.

Photo by Katy Weaver Photography

Next, under that first list make a second list. This is the nice-to-invite list, which again is going to be entirely up to you to decide what that means and who that includes. List everyone out by party name and include how many guests will be in that party, then tally the second column up to include both the must-invite list and the nice-to-invite list. This final number is the capacity range for your venue and will tell you exactly how large of a space you need. This could be a range of 30-50 or 200-300, whatever it is you need to take that bigger number and use it as your deciding factor for venues when shopping.

I can't state this enough, your venue capacity can't be lower than your must-invite number, and once you decide on a total guest list you cannot book a venue where you'll get in trouble if your entire invite list attends. As you're updating your choices on the must-invite or nice-to-invite lists, do it all in the spreadsheet so that you have real numbers. It's tempting to just sort of try and keep it in your head but you'll have enough to keep track of in there, let the spreadsheet do the numbers.

Photo by Eric Doolin Photography

Some people actually like to make a third list, sometimes called the B list, where people who didn't quite make the nice-to-invite list can be put. In the event that you start getting enough no responses from guests, this opens up the chance to invite people from your B list.

Finally, there's the question about whether you should send out courtesy invites, and I think those are absolutely fine. In this case, a courtesy invite is going to someone who you know would love to feel invited but you also know 100% will not be attending. Nanna loves you but she hasn't left her home in 30 years, that sort of thing. Just be completely sure of these courtesy invites since again, if you find yourself in a situation where everyone you invited shows up (even the courtesy invites) but your venue can't accommodate them, uh-oh, you're gonna have a bad time.

See? Making that guest list wasn't so hard now was it? Once you have your final total and want to go venue shopping, hit me up! I'd love to help you find the right place for you and your partner to share your special day!

Happy Wedding Planning,

Andy <3