Weddi-quette Wednesday!

This week for Weddi-quette Wednesday we will be discussing the dreaded Guest List. This always seems to be a point of contention when planning a wedding. It's certainly one of the more stressful elements, especially because each guest costs approximately $100.00 at the average wedding these days. Here are some things to remember when you and your signifigant other are sitting down to decide who will make the cut!:

• Approach your parents and explain to them that they can't invite the world to your wedding, its your wedding and you both want the people you love there, unfortunately some older family friends might get sacrificed. Of course you want to be able to invite everyone and not have this dilemma! But that's just not feasible, so tell each sets of parents to compile a list that you can all go over together. This will help ensure that 4 months down the line they won't conveniently "remember" someone else they HAVE to invite!
• It honestly doesn't matter whose family ends up paying more, they shouldn't mean they score more invites. Divide the list evenly and start to fill in the blanks from there.
• Set boundaries, if you say you're only going to invite 120, then ensure you're only inviting 120. If there are a couple stragglers that you would love to invite, just wait a couple of weeks, people will decline. And being on the B-list is ok! The worst thing you can do is over invite guests assuming that people will decline. I'm sure some will, you just have no idea if its going to be 2 people or 10 people and now you've gone and invited a ton of extras. Shame on you! Be smart!
• Assess this kiddie situation. If you plan on allowing kids to come ensure that you've made the appropriate plan for them. For example, talk to the venue or caterer to see if they offer a kid friendly menu. Start thinking about hiring a babysitting service so the parents can enjoy their night as well. Or make the decision that there are no kids allowed, just remember the golden rule, NEVER write that on the invitation!
• Decide on the plus one rule. It goes unsaid that all spouses, fiance's and serious boyfriends and girlfriends should get an invite. Whether or not you want to allow your single friends and family to bring a plus one is your call. It can certainly be more fun with a date, so if you're down with more fun but are trying to cut cost there are a variety of different options. Opt out of the formal sit down dinner and just do hors d’oeuvres and desserts all night, try having a brunch wedding! Both can still be fun and classy, but they certainly cut down on costs and have an heir of simplicity about them.
• Inviting people to half of the wedding such as a just ceremony or just reception invite (usually after the dinner) are options as well. I, personally, recommend staying away from this one if you can, it just ends up hurting people's feelings and creating rifts. So either don't invite them at all or invite them for the whole thing!
• Here is my favorite rule of all. Be consistent with invites! If you're inviting people to showers and other wedding related parties, I can almost guarentee you, they think they're coming to the wedding. So please don't make that mistake! Again, its hurtful and pretty unreasonable, it just looks like you want the cash and gifts, but aren't willing to shell out when it comes to friends and family!

I know this has nothing to do with the guestlist, but I saw these babies on Martha's most recent cupcake article and couldn't resist putting up a photo! How amazing!

Enjoy the rest of your week little readers!