As a couple, it is important to keep in mind that the wedding day should be about you and your partner.
Picking your wedding guest list is a delicate topic for many couples and it is often easy for things to escalate. It can be difficult to deliver bad news to that childhood friend that you haven’t spoken to in 20 years, or your third cousin twice removed who assumed they would score an invite when they saw your partner’s engagement announcement on Facebook.
To avoid this stress, it can be helpful to create different groups for your wedding guest list based on how close you consider them to be to the two of you. This will help you narrow down the people who are a must to invite, as well as the more casual friends that could be left out of your guest list if your budget or venue is tight. For a spacious Barn Wedding Venue Kent, take a look at The Plough at Leigh
Some couples also use a B-list as a way of managing the number of family members and friends who might be able to attend the wedding. This group can be limited to those who have a major role in your life, or it may simply include those who you feel have a good relationship with you and your partner’s family. This group can also be the place where you assign plus-ones – some couples only allow guests to bring their significant others if they have been together for a certain amount of time, or are already married.
Who to leave off the list
With the cost per guest so high, it helps to be firm about who really belongs at your wedding. It is a celebration with the people who play a real part in your daily lives, not a school reunion, so friends you have not seen in years do not need an invitation.
Anyone who is not fully supportive of the marriage can be left off, as can former partners of either of you, unless everyone is genuinely comfortable with it. Colleagues are best kept to those you count as close friends. If you invite only some, be discreet to avoid office gossip.
Think carefully about the guest who always drinks too much and embarrasses themselves, since a free bar and your family make a poor mix. Also watch for the revenge plus one, where someone who has split from a partner brings a new date to upset them. Divorced parents arriving with new partners can create exactly the bad feeling you want to avoid on the day.
