Weddi-quette Wednesday!

One of the biggest stresses when planning a wedding is nailing down the guest list. It's hard to determine who should be invited from who you want to be invited. Lets face it, unless your Donald Trump you just can't invite everyone you'd maybe like to. Coming from an etiquette perspective, it's customary to start by inviting your family and adding in friends and aquiantences from there. This day in age people don't necessarily follow that rule. It all depends on how close you are and really, who you want in attendance! The only true etiquette I stand by when it comes to the guest list is ensuring your inviting the same people to all events. You've heard my rant about inviting people to all events leading up to the wedding and then deciding to leave them out of the actual event! Just don't do it! Consistancy is key! After reading dozens of articles about this, here are some handy tips to help keep things stress free!

• First thing is first, sit down with your partner and make a list of everyone you would like to invite. Start trimming it down from there! Keep in mind, you should be allocating approximately $100.00 per guest. Of course you can scale back depending on the type of wedding you end up having- brunch, cocktail or otherwise. But, that is the general rule of thumb.
• Don't kill yourself with thoughts and feelings of obligation. This is YOUR big day, I cannot stress that enough. Only invite the people that really mean something to you and your relationship. Sometimes this means telling parents or co workers that certain people will not be invited. If you're honest and straight up, people will understand. (Unless they're crazy.)
• Set restrictions well ahead of time. If you and your partner make the decision to only invite 100 people...stick to it! Don't start getting all wishy washy. This is how arguments begin. And always, always remember, this is just one day, one little part of the rest of your life.
• Discuss children in advance. Will they be invited?? If so, don't forget to address this when making invitations. NOT by writing "no kids!" By ensuring that the wording is correct on the invitation and it's obviously exactly who you plan on inviting.
• Same goes for the plus one rule. It gets difficult when you decide to start making different rules for different guests. So make it simple on yourself, you either are allowing plus ones or are not.