Advice from Experts on How to Politely Trim Your Guest List
Your wedding is one of the most important days of your life. As such, it is only natural that you have big expectations about what your wedding day will be like. You’ve probably already started planning your décor, choosing your dress and venue, and making dozens of other choices in order to craft the perfect event. After you’ve chosen the details, such as your invitations and save the date cards, one of the hardest choices that you will have to make is who to send them to. Everyone wants to share their special day with the most important people in their lives. It is often very difficult to draw a line between who in your love does and does not receive a wedding invitation. Unfortunately, with the cost of a wedding and venue restrictions, it is not always possible to invite everyone in your life. If you are dealing with the difficult dilemma of trimming down your wedding guest list, here are a few tips that will keep you from over inviting, while not stepping on any toes in the process.
Sort Out the Musts
There are a few guests at every wedding that absolutely must be invited. Usually, these people consist of immediate family and a selection of extended family. Before you can start thinking about who to trim from your list, you need to decide who needs to be there. Your parents, siblings, grandparents, close aunts and uncles, and other close relations should be at the top of your list. Once you’ve made sure that your family and the family of your soon-to-be-spouse all have spots, add in the bridal party.
Cut the Kids
Weddings often tend to be a family affair. However, a quick and inoffensive way to make some room on your guest list is to ask children not to attend your reception. Most people will understand, considering that wedding receptions run late into the night and involve a lot of drinking. One polite way to handle removing the children from your guest list is to invite children to participate in the ceremony but go home once the reception begins.
Focusing on the Now
Choosing the friends that you invite to your wedding is the hardest part of finalizing your guest list. The most important thing to remember when you are choosing which friends will get an invite is to seriously evaluate who is most important in your life now, and whom you think will continue to be important in your life well into the future. It’s never an easy. Many people get bogged down by guilt, thinking that they have to invite every single childhood friend who was important to them at one time. Keep in mind that weddings are about moving forward into a new phase in your life. If you have childhood friends that you haven’t seen in years and do not plan on seeing as you move on into your future, then perhaps your wedding invites will be better used on new friends who will join you during your new chapter.
Trimming the guest list of your wedding is always a touchy affair. You always run the risk of offending someone, whether they are distant friends or distant relatives. However, if you truly want your wedding to be a perfect evening, it is important that you make room for all of the people who are truly important in your life. Sometimes, this means you might have to leave some guests behind. Just remember to be upfront about budgetary concerns and venue capacities. Explain to co-workers, acquaintances, estranged family, and friends from years past your guest list unfortunately has to be limited. If any of these people have faced the difficult task of trimming guests from their own wedding list, they will most likely understand and wish you the best.
Image Credit: freedigitalphotos.net/phasinphoto