invites...

this is so in the future for me, my wedding isn't until next september, but we had to guarantee 165 at windows to ensure they won't have another wedding start until after ours is completely over (otherwise they can start a cocktail hour or ceremony before my reception ends!!). my fiance and i are in disagreement over how many people to invite. we want about 180 to be there. we have about 2,800 to invite so we aren't sure how many to assume will say 'no'. it is a holiday (labor day) weekend. any advice would be greatly appreciated. thanks all!

2,800!!

Did I read that right? 2,800 invites and you only expect 180. You can usually expect 20-30 % to decline. But that depends on where everyone is coming from. Obviously if they are all local the decline rate would probably be lower. This is always the biggest stress issue I think, while planning, the guest list!

2,800!!

How many do you have to invite? Like Stef said if they are alot of outter towners the more the decline rate goes up. Someone wrote though that they had mostly yes(s) I don't recall who but it is a big guessing game with the invite list. This is why they suggest A and B lists which are tricky also.

I think (hope!) she meant 280! *NM*

sarcasm

i was only kidding...its FEELS like that many, its probably more like 200 or so but it feels so overwhelming. sorry the sarcasm wasn't clear :(

sarcasm

I'm getting married this labor day weekend..Invited 210 - think I will get around 125-130 (so about 40% - no). A lot of people had already planned there last vacation and the out of towners with kids was a problem. School starts that week.

caf73

good point, i hadn't even thought of the last vacation of the summer thing. i feel a little better. now, how to divide up the invites between the future in-laws, my family and friends of mine and fiance's??? my mom thinks he and i should make our list and the parents will work around it. i seriously feel like i need to invite well over 200 people to have everyone i want included and appease others but what if not enough people say no?!? and i still have so long to go, so many decisions to still be made!!!

How Many?

How many do you need to guarantee.

How Many?

165 will guarantee that no other wedding will start until after ours ends and that we have the extra room opened for the reception to fit more tables. we have a big talking to last night with the parents and i think we'll end up inviting about 210 and hope for a 15% 'no' rate, to end up with about 180.