There are etiquette rules for who to invite to the wedding. If you are limiting your guest list, there is a format that helps you decide who to invite and who not to invite. If you don’t want to make changes to your reception plans, and your budget can’t handle your full guest list, then it is time to whittle it down to a more affordable level. This topic covers how to do this.
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If you don’t want to change your wedding plans, then you have to change your guest list. Remember: whomever you invite, you must also invite their live-in partner, fiancé, or spouse even if you don’t know them. Boyfriends or girlfriends of guests you invite can be invited or not as you choose. It is nice to include the parents of the bridal party, especially if you know them, but it is not a hard a fast rule. People who have been meaningful in your life—like a mentor, or counsellor, is nice to invite, but not necessary.
These groupings, in order as listed, is the order in which you should choose people for your guest list.
First of those who must be invited is immediate family (grandparents, parents, siblings, and your own children if you have any); the person who performs the ceremony and their spouse; and the parents of the ring bearer and flower girl. Included here is the bridal party and their live-in partner, fiancé, or spouse.
The next group of people that are invited are extended family. This includes aunts, uncles, cousins, nieces and nephews. This includes their live-in partner, fiancé, or spouse even if you don’t know them.
At this point, if you have a large family, you may have to stop inviting people. If you still can accommodate more, the next group is family friends of both your parents and yourselves. This tradition stems from the fact that the parents usually pay for the wedding. This group includes close friends, long time friends and neighbours, and childhood friends. Of course, this includes their live-in partner, fiancé, or spouse.
If your budget can still take more, the next group to include is the bride and groom’s current friends. This can include high school friends, college friends, work friends and new friends.
Chances are you are out of budget at this point, but just in case, the last category is parent’s colleagues. Parent’s colleagues include employers, employees, associates, and of course, their live-in partner, fiancé or spouse.
If your budget is tight, remember that you still need to price out wedding cake, flowers and a few other things. You might want to just skip ahead a bit to make sure you know your costs there before you finalize this decision.
Once you have your guest list completed and finalized, and all your wedding plans finalized, that is the time to purchase all the stationary. Always purchase extra to account for mistakes in addressing the invitations, or for last minute guests that you want to send an invitation to.