Wedding invites vs. those who do attend?

Question

Any statistics or experience about what percentage of people invited to a wedding actually attend? There are many people I would like to invite but can only afford to have around 100 guests. I'm afraid to send too many or too little invitations to meet that goal, because you never know who will be able to attend or not.

Answer 1

I am presuming that your concern is with the reception and not the ceremony. You can never be certain. Most caterers will tell you to anticipate that 15-20% of people invited will not attend (even if they say that they will). For my wedding I invited nearly 350+ guests and limited dinner invites to a small number - I anticipated 250 dinner guests (these people actually RSVP'd), but after dinner was served, i was notified that there were still 60 plates left. Invite everyone to the wedding and limit invites to the reception. Another suggestion: maybe send out invites for people to join you for cake and cocktails after dinner - that way you don't have to pay for them to eat and they can still share in you special day!! Good luck!! (If your concern was the ceremony, your best option is to invite family and your closest friends)...

Answer 2

If most of the guests are local, you will find that about 90% or more will RSVP that they are coming. The rates are much higher for weddings then other events because people will try harder to be there. Once you have an RSVP list, nearly 100% of the poeple who say they are coming generally do come.

Your best bet would be to first make a list of 100 guests you really want there. Send out their invitations a little early, with an RSVP date a month before the wedding. Then, when the RSVP date comes, call anyone who didn't RSVP to see if they are coming and then if you have a few free spots, you can invite a few more people.

Answer 3

Send out your invites early with the excuse that you need a head count for the caterer. You can judge by some rsvps about how many "takers" you'll have and can invite more people based on the no's. By the way, it's entirely acceptable to have A & B lists. The folks on the B list would be the ones invited after you have a few no's. Good luck.

Answer 4

Statistically speaking an estimate of about 30% do not attend functions they are invited to. The smaller the denominator (in your case 100). The less that holds true. I wouldn't invite more than 110 to be on the safe side.

Answer 5

I had a simular issue. I was told you can expect to have 30% of the people you invite not to come. I invited around 170, and about 158 showed up. Not exactly 30%, but you will have those who will not show up even though they RSVP'd yes and even some who RSVP'd no... be ready! This was the most frustrating part of the planning for me! I would just stick to what you think you can afford, and maybe only invite 10% over that.

Answer 6

My husbands side of the family had close to 100% for his and his sisters wedding-both for their friends and family...My side barely made 70%. It largely depends on location and family closeness. If your family has many divorced members and many relatives that live out of state, across the country, in other countries, and your friends also are newer friends, work friends, friends who have moved, etc, the liklihood of them coming goes way down. If your parents also move around or work at different locations, they might not have life long friends that would feel obligated to attend. If you have a family that is local and sees each other throughout the year, not just at weddings and funerals, they are more likely to come to the wedding. Your life long friends and your parents life long friends and neighbors would likely go no matter how inconvenient. You also should consider time of the year in terms of other plans (holidays, winter travel, summer vacation), if people have money to spend on the travel, gifts, clothes, and if people have kids that aren't invited for babysitting issues etc etc. Some people that aren't close to you may consider the location of your reception as to whether it will be fun with great food and drink etc. So, if your family is not close either emotionally or location wise, many factors account for no shows. If your family and/or his family is close, less no shows.

Answer 7

I'm planning a wedding right now and i'm not going to invite more people than i know i can afford to feed. Luckily that number doesn't exceed the number of people i know/want to invite. But if it did, i would still only invite the number of people i could afford, and if i had people declining invitations, i might consider sending out a few more. But only you know who you want there and what you can afford so it's ultimately your decision.

Answer 8

The A list / B list is the safest way to go. Invite the first 100 people as you get people declining, send out invitations to people on your B list. I know of people that invited more, counting on the 15-20% number, and then almost everyone said they were comign. you don't want that situation!!!

Answer 9

You know what, keep it too 100. I am inviting about 60 people to my wedding and Im happy with that. You have to remeber this. Do you want to enjoy your reception? Because with that many people all you will be able to do is greet people all night. Think about these things. If that is what you want then go for it.

Answer 10

about 80% of the people I invided attended...maybe even a bit more. the rest who didnt I never really expected to. I just invited them because they are family and its polite to do so.