Wedding Guests
You’ve got your venue and have started planning all of the other items, but who is going to be at the wedding to enjoy it all? You may think, how do I even go about making a guest list? Making a guest list is a bit more of a task than most think. Do you invite that couple or not? Below is my rendition of how we went about picking who we added to our guest list and who got the chop. After all, you can’t invite everyone.
While reviewing who to invite and who to not I recommend making a spreadsheet to keep the “poppin bottles crew” orderly. After all, poppin bottles can become a mess. I used google sheets and created a spreadsheet not only including the names of the people we are inviting to the wedding but also additional information you will need for the wedding planning process. It has become a one stop shop for me and a vital component to my organization.
Spreadsheet column headers:
- Name
- Email/Phone Number
- Adress
- Invite-Adults (#)
- Invite-Kids (#)
- (+) One Name
- RSVP’d (Yes/No)
- Adult RSVP (#)
- Kid RSVP (#)
- Gift
- Thank you Note
Components of the spreadsheet:
Name
- This should include the name of the couple, family or single person.
- Example: Smith Family
Email/Phone Number
- I recommend obtaining guests email/phone number so you have a fast and easy way to communicate.
Address
- Address is needed for those save the dates and invitiations. It’s extremely convenient to have them all in the sheet so that when it comes to sending those invites you don’t come into the situation of having lost their address since sending the Save the Date.
Invite Adults (#) & Invite Kids (#)
- It’s nice to seperate the adult numbers from the kids so you can plan accordingly when contracting vendors.
(+) One Name
- Again, another easy and convenient spot to keep your guests plus one name so when is comes to name cards, envelopes or anything else you are including names on, you have a one stop shop.
RSVP’d Yes/No
- A great column to keep track of who has RSVP’d and who hasn’t. Google sheets gives you the fabulous option to sort the column, so when it comes down to following up you can filter out the “yes” and you then have a list of all the individuals you have to follow up with.
Adults & Kids RSVP (#)
- I seperated kids and adults so that when it comes to food and alcoholic beverage counts I have an accurate and easy count.
Gift & Thank You Note
- You will note I also included wedding gifts in the spreadsheet, so as you get gifts you can document what you got and then when you send the individual a thank you.
Spread Sheet Totals
| Total Adults Invited | |
| Total Kids Invited | |
| Grand Total Invited | |
| Total Adults RSVP’d | |
| Total Kids RSVD’d | |
| Grand Total Attendance |
In the columns that have a number I created sum rule so that when I change or add to my guests the number totals update as needed. Fast and easy numbers for all of those vendors and those final counts that can be daunting.
Ok you have your list, but do you give them a plus one
