Cut that Guest List in 5 Easy Steps

A typical wedding will have up to 2/3s of the budget for the reception and catering expenses. So it just makes sense that if you must cut down on your wedding expenditures, you'll have to start with your guest list. Fewer people attending means fewer plates you will have to pay for. Here are five great tips to manage your wedding guest list, reduce your expenditures and keep the peace among friends and family.

1) Setting a budget you can realistically afford should be the first step every couple takes. If the brides parents will be paying for the wedding and reception, then you'll need to talk to them about what they can afford and then see if you can add to that total with your own funds if they are open to that idea. Then decide whether you'll have a traditional sit down dinner, a buffet dinner or just heavy hors d'ourves. Do some research and find out about what each would cost per guest and then take 2/3's of your total budget and divide that by the cost per guest and you'll have your maximum attendee list. Now it's likely that if there are many relatives that live far out of town, they won't be able to attend so you can sneakily add those positions back into the count. 2) Now you'll need to assign the total into 3 groups. The first should be the wedding couple's friends and acquaintances, the second is the brides parents list and the third is the grooms parents list. Leave the aunts/uncles/cousins and other remote relatives to come out of each of the parents lists. If the wedding couple is shouldering the entire expense of the wedding, their list may be significantly larger than the parents lists. But if you are following the tradition of having the bride's family pay for the wedding the three lists are to be split evenly although you may even give the bride's parents a slightly larger portion of the guest list.

3) Communicate firmly to the parents exactly what their maximum number of guest invites is and don't let them guilt you into giving them more. In fact, if the grooms family wants a larger invite list let them know what the per guest cost is and ask them to put the money up front to extend their invite list.

4) Separate work from play - it is completely acceptable to leave out all of your office associates if your wedding is a small, family only affair. But once you decide to invite some office friends and fun associates, be sure to invite your boss - it's just good etiquette and you are likely to get a great wedding gift from him or her in the process.

5) Lastly, don't feel you have to invite anyone you don't consider a good friend. Remember this is your wedding! You can always send a wedding announcement to casual acquaintances or friends who love far away. In fact you may just discover that they will be relieved not to be invited as they may feel that they must show up even though they may be a bit uncomfortable doing so.

Cutting your list down to an affordable level may take a couple of iterations so get to it early and once that is settled, go pick out your wedding invitations. At EyeCandyGift.com we offer you many inexpensive wedding invitations to choose from. We have several Laura Ashley designs and other do it yourself invitations that can fit the most modest of budgets.

Then save a wee bit of budget for some extra special touches for the reception like a set of engraved toasting flutes or personalized cake serving sets.