B list?

I am getting ready to order invitations and was just wondering how people are doing this with a and b lists, do I order enough invites for all and then wait to invite the b list people, I mean they would need notice as well, I am so confused.

Re: B list?

You should leave enough time between the no's and yes so you could send the B list invites out. I think thats how it works.

Re: B list?

We are going to to an A and B list, and order enough invites to cover both. We will send out the A list invites in June for our August wedding, the B list will go out in July.

My friend who recently got married did this. First she invited everyone on her A list, which was 30% over her guarentee. When she got her number that could not attend out of the A list invites, she sent invites out to the B list guests. She had 2 sets of RSVP cards printed, one with a later date for the B list invites so that it would not look strange that the RSVP was due a week after they would receive the invite.

It worked out great for her, and she had exactly the number of her guarentee- if she hadnt done it, she would have been way under. Hope this helps!

Re: B list?

You should definitely order all the invitations you MAY need and some extras. The costs are nominal for an extra 25 invitations compared to ordering only 25 invites. (remember you will want some as a keepsake, your photographer and video guy may need one each, etc).

For the B list guests, you could order a 2nd set of RSVP cards with a later date

or

send the A list invites out early and as no's come in, send out B list invites.

Re: B list?

I plan on doing this too. I am getting married July 4th so I think I will send my first batch out in the middle of April because one its a holiday and 2 I want to give the B list people notice and not make them feel like they are on a B list. I hope I get some responses so I could send the B list out in the middle of May. I wish I didnt have to do this but my FH's family is so big and we have to invite family first.
So many people tell me that the no's usually come in at the end so I hope that doesnt happen. Not sure what I will do!

Re: B list?

Ok so I will cover both and that rsvp date thing hmmmm wouldnt have thought of that...thank you.

So how many extras should I order other than covering the lists, parents, photographer etc. ???

Re: B list?

They say to have at least 15 extras. I think that is a bit overkill but I did it anyway!

Re: B list?

I have always heard to order an additional 25 to be safe.

Re: B list?

According to our stationer this is the amount you order:

Your total guest list divided by 2 plus 25.

I am sooooo glad we had extras - DH added 7 or cousins never mentioned before we were sending the invites at the last minute And we had 2 get lost in the mail.

Re: B list?

I did not have a B list- I find them very, very rude (sorry, but JMO). We invited the people that we wanted to attend the wedding.
If you do a B list you must make sure you have enough formal invites for them. You have must send out your A list 4 weeks earlier that you normally would.It is really difficult to time it all, but basically if someone gets an invite 2 days before the RSVP cut-off or the day after they KNOW they are B-list. YOu will be shocked at how many of your A-list guests wait until the last minute to tell you if they are coming to the wedding.
editted to say: DO NOT just split your guest list in half. I needed more invited than that. I put my guest list in an excel spreadsheet. How many lines I used was how many invites I needed, plus I added 25 to be safe. But if you have a LONG b-list you might want to add more.

Re: B list?

Hmmm sounds a little complicated, there really arent too many people I was unsure of maybe 10 people total, maybe it would be easier just to invite them all together.

Re: B list?

I guess it depends on your guarantee whether or not you have a B list. We have 150 pp guarantee, so we pay for that amount if 10 people or 150 people come. We have a large guest list, and cannot invite everyone. To me, its a careful balance of not going over the minimum by too many guests, while making sure I meet the minimum.
The point of a B list to me is to include as many people as possible in our wedding- if one person cannot go, then you can use the place for another friend/loved one. I dont think its rude at all, if done right- obviously its pretty tacky to send an invite w. an RSVP date of one week later or something!

Re: B list?

yeah well the week left thing was a pretty obvious no no, and the people that are on the b list are people that wouldnt be offended if not invited and probably wouldnt come anyway but it might be nice to invite them, at least in my situation.

Re: B list?

I wasn't planning on having a 'B' list nut I still ordered more invites. Thank God I did. We got more no's then expected and had to invite people that we had no intentions of inviting. I had to guarantee a certain amount of people for my room. I was very surprised at the amount of no's that I got, so you should just be prepared. I would order 25 extra invites.

Re: B list?

I got enough invites for both my A and B lists. I am also planning on having the calligraphy done on all of them at once so as soon as I am ready to send any B-list invites out, I can.

Hope this helps!