QUIZ: How Many People Should I Invite to My Wedding?

A safe answer to how many guests should each family invite is “split it evenly”. If you’re inviting 100-200 people, allow you and your S.O. to invite 50-100 guests and let your parents and your S.O.’s parents split the rest.

Jessica from The Budget Savvy Bride says, “There is no rule of thumb for cost per guest. Costs vary wildly based on a multitude of different factors, from location to the hard cost of goods, local taxes, and more. The important thing to know is that your cost will increase per guest you add to your list.”

Nicole from Junebug Weddings says, “About how much per person does each wedding guest cost? Ultimately, the cost per guest of a wedding varies extremely, especially across these wedding sizes, so it’s difficult to pin down a number. For an average-sized wedding (50-150) we would say somewhere in the $80-$150 per guest range.”

Kristina from Wedding Forward says, “The average cost per guest in the US varies from 120$ to 290$ depending on the state and wedding expenses. We bring to perspective the destination wedding cost which looks closely at locations. Places like Manhattan see the average price of wedding rising to $76,944, while New Mexico is as low as $17,584.”

Absolutely not! At the end of the day, it’s your wedding, and you should only invite those people who you want to celebrate with. If you’re worried about upsetting your guests, consider the “No Ring, No Bring” rule, which says that you only invite plus ones if they are engaged or married. While the rule can be somewhat controversial, it’s a good baseline to keep in mind and will prevent last-minute Tinder dates from showing up in all your photos.

There might be some coworkers that you’ve formed closer relationships with that go beyond the office. If you consider a coworker to be a close friend and you’d like to share your wedding day with them, you should extend the invitation to them! Just because you see them every day doesn’t mean you need to invite them. Pro tip: If your co-workers have never even met your fiance, they probably shouldn’t be on the invite list.

Although this is dependent on the size and budget of the wedding, a lot of couples are open to extending a plus-one invitation to their guests.

Inviting extended family can increase the size of your guest list fairly quickly. While there’s no right or wrong answer, cousins and extended family should be invited if you’d like to share your wedding day with them.

Think about inviting extended family in terms of inviting groups. If you invite 1 aunt or uncle, you should invite all aunts and uncles. Consider your budget and size of your wedding before making final decisions on inviting extended family.

Lindsay, founder of WomanGettingMarried.com, says “While traditional etiquette says you should send your Save the Dates out 4-6 months before your wedding date, we say the sooner the better. Lots of people make plans for vacations (especially those with kids) months in advance, so to help guarantee a good turnout at your wedding you could send your Save the Dates 8 months before your wedding, and even a year for a destination wedding.”

If you’re comfortable including children in your wedding day costs and ceremony, it’s a decision you and your S.O. should agree on. It’s important to think about extra costs and activities that might come along with inviting children. Also, consider your venue, and if it lends itself to young guests. 38% of Joy couples are not inviting children to the weddings.

Immediate family includes you and your S.O’s parents, siblings and children.

You don’t have to invite your parents’ friends to your wedding. However, if your parents are helping fund your wedding and you have some sort of relationship with their friends, it’d be nice to extend the invitation to them.

Beyond the immediate family and close friends, create a list of the people in your life (other friends, extended family, children, coworkers, etc.) and decide with your S.O. if these are people you’d like to share your wedding day with. If you’re okay with them not being there, they can be eliminated from your guest list.

Katie from Joy says, ‘Don’t lose sight of your budget – your headcount determines many budget-related items, such as the venue you select, your catering, rental and bar costs, your transportation costs, and more. Keep your budget in mind as you determine how many guests to invite.’