Creating your wedding guest list is not a one person job and can be stressful. It is currently my biggest headache and least fun portion of wedding planning. I’m not so much stressed about who to invite, but more about gathering all of the information (addresses, proper name spelling etc.) and making sure that I haven’t forgotten anyone.

When creating your guest list you need to decide how many people you want there and how many your budget will allow. If you want to invite everyone, but your budget won’t allow it, or you are just not sure who all to include, I have created a flow-chart infographic to help you with your list.

I am planning to have around 200 people at my wedding (but it may end up being closer to 300), many of whom will be family. Even though my immediate family is very small and I am an only child, I have a lot of extended family I want to include. I have recruited my parents, an aunt, a great aunt and some cousins to help me compile this list because it complex and I couldn’t do it alone.

I am marrying Greek so he has a lot of family and family friends that need to be invited. His mother and sister-in-law have been very helpful, because everyone is scattered across the USA and Greece and I haven’t met them all yet.

 

Tools to alleviate the stress of compiling a guest list:

  1. Theknot.com guest list organizer: I am using this to keep track of everything from parties (so I know how many invites I actually need), RSVPS, gifts, menu choices, to addresses and more.
  2. Wix.com: This is a free, easy to use website creator that I used to create a digital save-the-date. I linked it to my theknot.com guest list so people I send the link to can give me their addresses, and it inputs it into my already created guestlist. There are several wedding-based website offerings like theknot.com, but I decided to use wix to create my own because my theme doesn’t exist on regular websites. My next blog post will be about this.
  3. Family & friends: Don’t be afraid to ask for help! You shouldn’t have to start your list from scratch. If anyone in family or circle of friends has recently had a wedding or regularly sends out Christmas or Holiday cards they may already have a good list that you can use.
  4. My infographic below:

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