Too many guests

August Bride Posted: May 17, 2006 10:00 AM

Too many guests

We have way too many people on out guest list right now and no one wants to budge. Our list was at 275 and we were able to take it down to 265 but our room only holds 230, but we are also having a band so I think we have less room. What is the percentage of people who do npt attend? Most of our firends and family are on LI so I feel like there aren't going to be too many people who can't make it.
Thanks!

cindyandkevin Posted: May 17, 2006 10:02 AM

Re: Too many guests

They say normally 15-20% of your guest list responds No. Wow, that's a lot of people! Are you sure you can't cut it down more? Good luck!!

EGreene79 Posted: May 17, 2006 10:28 AM

Re: Too many guests

Posted by cindyandkevin

They say normally 15-20% of your guest list responds No. Wow, that's a lot of people! Are you sure you can't cut it down more? Good luck!!

But be careful. My friend invited 230 for a place that holds 200, and has only gotten 7 no's. Only 2 people haven't replied. The bride and groom now have to sit at a regular table because they won't have enough room.

CLMon7906 Posted: May 17, 2006 10:45 AM

Re: Too many guests

we invited 260 and our room holds 220. so far we only have 83 and we'd need nearly everyone left to say yes....and there are plenty on there that we know are not coming! hopefully it works out for you...but in reality, there is no definitive % that say yes or no...much of it depends on the time of year, the closeness to a holiday and other factors.

Katie&Chris2006 Posted: May 17, 2006 10:49 AM

Re: Too many guests

I think they say there is anywhere between 10-20% no response rate. Unfortunately, it is not an exact science of course. Could be less than that, especially if everyone is mostly on LI.

I have about 260-265 on my list, hoping for no more than 220. However, we have over half OOT guests. Also, my room can hold more than 220. Just be careful...sometimes when places give their 'max' number it can get very tight and uncomfortable. Some places told me they could hold 300 and there was no way.

Try to bring everyone together and see if you can cut anymore. Good luck...I know how stressful this part of the process is.

papameo23 Posted: May 17, 2006 12:09 PM

Re: Too many guests

See if they can give you a bigger room, play it safe!

SweetCin704 Posted: May 17, 2006 12:10 PM

Re: Too many guests

We invited 220 & already have 49 yes, but 24 no's...I think we'll just about make our minimum (hopefully) but we have a lot of family OOT

hocus Posted: May 17, 2006 01:44 PM

Re: Too many guests

are you getting married on a Friday? If that is the case you might have more No's than expected.

I think at 15% no rate is pretty reasonable to expect. You can also create a B list.

August Bride Posted: May 17, 2006 06:10 PM

Re: Too many guests

Thanks everyone. So if you do an A list and a B list, how soon after you send out the A list do you send the B list. I just wouldn't want people to know that they are on the B list. Also, I was going to invite people I work with but I work with 13 people who are all married or have boyfriends/girlfriends so that means 26 people. On guy got married last year and I was not invited to his wedding but I feel like it would not be reight for me to invite everyone else and not him.

Noonie Posted: May 17, 2006 11:10 PM

Re: Too many guests

Posted by August Bride

We have way too many people on out guest list right now and no one wants to budge. Our list was at 275 and we were able to take it down to 265 but our room only holds 230, but we are also having a band so I think we have less room. What is the percentage of people who do npt attend? Most of our firends and family are on LI so I feel like there aren't going to be too many people who can't make it.
Thanks!

I'm going through the exact same thing right now. We gave Jericho Terrace a guarantee of 170 when we signed with them, but realized when we finished addressing all of the envelopes that we had invited 295 people!!!!!

lreigada Posted: May 18, 2006 10:35 AM

Re: Too many guests

We are going through the same thing as well. For a sit down dinner the max is 144 (ideally 125-130), but we've invited 174. We need the 20% to decline or else the whole format of the wedding will change last minute.

ali120206 Posted: May 18, 2006 10:43 AM

Re: Too many guests

I would send the A-list invites out a little earlier than you had planned and send the B-list ones out a few weeks after that. Make sure though that you are getting enough no responses in to allow room for the B-listers.

Unfortunately, our room is a lot bigger than what we're expecting so it means my FILs are just adding more people to their list.

ETA: We had friends who got married last year who had a 35% no-rate and we had friends who got married a couple of years ago who had a 3% no-rate so it's hard to predict exactly where you'll fall.

Danigrl28 Posted: May 18, 2006 10:46 AM

Re: Too many guests

I wouldn't worry about it to much. On average 15-20% will be a no.

meliwhit Posted: May 18, 2006 10:59 AM

Re: Too many guests

I have a similar problem...but my room can hold up to 400, so I have enough space, jsut too many invites!! We planned on inviting 300-320 max, but it ended up at 375!!! Most of them are over seas (FH is Croatian) so most of which will not come, hopefully! My advice to you would be hold off on the work invites..they most likely will not know when you are sending them out, so you can wait a few extra weeks on those...to lower my lsit, I decided not to invite the peopl I work with, it jsut turns out to be too many poeple!!

Good Luck!!!

bride2b92006 Posted: May 18, 2006 01:15 PM

Re: Too many guests

our room can hold 144 max but I think that would be a little tight. We invited 153. I wanted to invite all the people I ride the train with but that would add another 10. I'm afraid if I didn't get enough no's we will be too crowded.

MayBride06 Posted: May 18, 2006 01:17 PM

Re: Too many guests

we had almost an exact 20% decline rate!!

tbtmickey Posted: May 18, 2006 01:24 PM

Re: Too many guests

Our max was 300 (I want 250), so far we have 239 yes's and 13 no's. So I'm not really sure what to expect. Maybe have a second list of people and tell everyone that if a lot of no's come in you can send out invites to the second list, but you don't want to invite more than will fit! Good Luck! Guest list always seems like a sticky subject!