How to Make a Wedding Guest List

Every little girl wants her perfect wedding with all her loved ones smiling at her as she walks down the aisle. But the bitter truth is that every face is going to not only cost her a lot of money, but it's also going to determine whether her day goes as she wanted it or not.

So, the best idea is to make a guest list well in advance, so that people who absolutely must be there make sure that they're available and you can easily overlook some unimportant ones. This story will give you some very easy tips to draft a reasonable guest list for your dream wedding!

The first step towards the perfect guest list is to think for the final time, what kind of wedding you want. Sure as a little girl you may have wanted the entire world to be present on your special day. But by now, you've surely figured out how many people you actually want, for whatever reasons.

Is it a small and intimate family affair you want or do you want even far off relatives to be invited? When you have a clear picture of what you want in your mind, the planning for the guest list becomes much easier.

Once you have a rough idea of the size of the wedding, you can prepare a rough draft of all the people you think absolutely must attend the wedding. You'll have a really long list at first, so don't get worried. Keep in mind that the list is going to be cut short for sure.

You can either categorize the invitees into sections like family, friends, colleagues, business associates, doubtful attendees, etc. and make a combined list with your fiancé or you can make separate lists and then cut it short according to the guidelines given below.

Once you have a rough list ready, find out if the number of people fits the budget that you have decided. If your parents are paying for the reception, then ask them if the number fits their budget.

If it's you and your fiancé, then you can get a good idea of how many people you need to remove from the list. Be firm on your budget. Don't get emotionally influenced and decide to go overboard by inviting everyone you know. You'll repent for sure, if not in the near future, in the distant one.

Alright, after you have matched the tentative guest list with the budget that you have set, you realize that the list overshoots the budget by leaps and bounds. The only way to get a somewhat acceptable figure that matches the budget, is to cut the list short (didn't we tell you it was going to happen!). For this, you and your fiancé need to sit down and go through the possibly heart wrenching ordeal of eliminating people from the list.

Given are some people you can safely refrain from inviting.

• Classmates you haven't spoken to in years.
• Colleagues who you don't interact with outside of work.

• People who tend to drink a lot (unless its family). They could make the party really expensive for you.
• The 'and guest' for your single friends. Ask your single friends to come alone. It will not only reduce the cost, but will also give them a chance to meet other single people.

• Ex-es you're not comfortable around. This has to be discussed rather seriously with each other. If either isn't comfortable with the ex, then simply chuck him or her out of the list to avoid any complications.

• Literally distant relatives, who you haven't interacted with for long. They most probably won't travel the distance, so what's the point?
• A relative or friend that one of you has a strained relationship with. It will help to curtail expenses and more importantly, reduce any tension that could conspire.

• Children, though adorable, can sometimes wreak complete havoc at weddings. Inviting children who aren't family, is something that the two of you can discuss and decide accordingly.
• Also, cut out people that you're inviting just because he or she invited you to their wedding, especially if you're not close to them.

The basic steps to make a wedding guest list are that simple! It's mostly common sense and the rest is just the discretion of the lucky couple. It's really quite simple: be firm on your decisions, don't overlook important people and have a great wedding!