love meets guest lists

Last week, I talked about a handful of the immediate steps after your engagement --

• Announce the engagement
• Have an engagement party
• Set up your wedding website
• Start a "wedding binder"
• Design your wedding 

Now that you've been engaged for a few weeks and you're ready to kick start your planning, its a great time to start with the guest list. For some couples, the can be one of the most difficult things to manage but it doesn't have to be. Your guest list may go through significant changes once you nail down the wedding date and location, the type of venue, and your overall budget. Expect to refine and refine your guest list. 

So-- who should you invite? 

There are obvious people that fall into the "YES" category right away:

• parents, grandparents, and siblings (and their significant others)
• aunts, uncles, and cousins that you see frequently 
• close friends 

Depending on who you are and the types of relationships you have with the following people, they could be a "MAYBE" or "YES":

• new friends that you've made in recent years 
• old friends that you used to see frequently but not so much anymore (i.e. childhood friends that you may not see often still keep in touch with) 
• neighbors you might have grown up with 
• coworkers - the one you may socialize with outside of the workplace 
• distant relatives that you see occasionally (you don't want to hurt their feelings) 

Neighbors that you may have grown up with is one example of someone who may not make the guest list depending on the venue. If you're getting married hundreds of miles from your hometown, you might re-think inviting your neighbor. 

Then there is the "NO" category. I probably don't need to go into detail here since you'll know who you won't include in your celebration. Don't feel obligated to invite people and don't feel guilty about not extending an invite to everyone you know. Also, just because someone invited you to their wedding doesn't necessarily mean you absolutely have to return the favor. But it would be a sweet gesture to send a regret card! 

It's super helpful to list your guest list in a spreadsheet. You can start with first and last names. You'll want to eventually start collecting pieces of info for mailing addresses. Each bit of information should be contained in its own column.



In my sample spreadsheet above, I've included a few additional columns to help keep track of your guests and your parents' guest and +1 and children you may want to invite.

This should keep you busy for the next few days. Next week, let's talk about setting your date and setting your budget!

Until we meet again...