09er seeking help

Utterhappiness Posted: May 02, 2008 12:04 AM

09er seeking help

Ok so I guarenteed 250 when I signed my contract at westbury manor. We made a mock list and i had a little over 100 on my side including close family and bridal party w/dates. On my FH side he had around 90 of just close family. He used his brothers list (who just got married on sunday) to make his.
So to make our gaurentee we need approx 50 more guests. BUT thats really 25 bc they are all friends and would be invited with guest. On our mock list we had WAY over 25 friends...more like I had 60 and that was just me...

So Fh's mom has been bugging us to make the gaurentee lower-to like 200 instead. On his side about 20 people didnt come for whatever reason...it was a sunday night, end of passover so people were on vacations, etc...

Finally, here is my question... in your experiences what should I do? Should I try to get it less with Westbury Manor? OR should I stick to my guns and my gut feeling that 250 will be fine?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks in advance!

wundmoretime Posted: May 02, 2008 12:11 AM

Re: 09er seeking help

Lower if you can, but make sure the room can accomodate more. You will be stuck paying for the guests up to that amount. You need to consider no's and no shows. I think you have way to high of a minimum and could be in real trouble. We have a min of 75 and plan to invite about 125 or so. Our room can hold up to 125.

dancinmyazoff Posted: May 02, 2008 12:13 AM

Re: 09er seeking help

I would honestly lower it...I thought I was going to be WAY over my minimum but you never know how many people say no and I'm just about 4 people over my minimum.

jonsgirl04 Posted: May 02, 2008 07:16 AM

Re: 09er seeking help

We invited 265 and made our guarantee for 150. I would def lower it. Being stuck paying for plates would stink. You are allowed to go over your minimum. I would guarantee 175 with that amount of people.

ChristineAaron08 Posted: May 02, 2008 08:06 AM

Re: 09er seeking help

i would lower it if you could. Its better to go over your min than to have to pay for ppl who arennt there. They say 20% dont come, but we estimated for more.

We invited 250 and our min was 145. We just made the min w/ vendors. We thought for sure we would have 175, but nope.

Munchkn16 Posted: May 02, 2008 08:41 AM

Re: 09er seeking help

Try and lower the minimum if possible. You've got enough time to negotiate. We thought we'd have 10-15 more people than what we're having. We're over our minimum but ours was low (100)

MKEA98 Posted: May 03, 2008 06:31 PM

Re: 09er seeking help

I'd say def aim for a lower minimum. Whatever the minimum number is, you have to pay that if you don't even meet that number come time of the wedding. It's always better to have the lowest # possible, and if you go over, that's fine cause the place will love having more guests which equals more money (as long as your room can hold it).

We're inviting between 250 - 260 people and our minimum is 220. They say on average 20% say no, so we should be ok. And I've already made plans mentally in case I don't meet my 220 minimum (I'm pretty sure we'll meet it, but just in case, that's when I'd turn to my B list, or tell my brother's friends to come if we need to fill the spots).

So you definitely want your minimum to be lower than the actual number you have on your guest list.

snowcutie82 Posted: May 03, 2008 06:34 PM

Re: 09er seeking help

try asking them to lower it and see if theyll still keep your pricing the same etc. its better to have a lower guarantee (just in case) so u dont have to pay for empty seats or look for more guests if some ppl end up rsvping no...but like others said...just make sure the room can fit the max # u might expect.