Cutting Your Guest List

As you create your wedding budget, you may be dismayed to find that you have too many ideas and not enough money to see them all to fruition. If you're not willing to give up the fancy wedding favors or the real old fashioned photo booth or the horse drawn carriage, there's another option open to you. I want to warn you, though, that it's not an easy one.

One of the easiest ways to save money without sacrificing luxury is to cut your guest list. Cutting your guest list can seem like a painful idea at first...one to avoid at all costs. But the reality is that many of the people traditionally invited to weddings don't particularly care if they're invited...or they care about as much as you care whether they'll show up. I'm talking about your mom's tennis partner, your boss, your third cousin that you haven't seen since you were growing up, and your sister's new boyfriend of three weeks.

As much as you feel somewhat obligated to invite everyone under the sun to your wedding, recognize that cutting your guest list can mean the difference between having the fancy (albeit smaller) wedding you want and giving up all the things you've dreamed of since you were a girl. Here are a few hints that will help you pare down your guest list without offending anyone who really matters to you.

Go through your guest list and ask yourself:

• Have I seen this person in the last 12 months?
  
• Have I spoken with this person in the last 6 months?
  
• Did I send this person a Christmas card last year?

Then look at your guest list again with these thoughts in mind:

• Don't invite your parent's friends, particularly if you don't know them very well.
• Don't invite old high school or college friends that you know you'll never see again.
  
• Don't invite second and third cousins.
  
• Don't invite business associates (unless of course, it's your boss).
  
• Don't invite children.
  
• Don't allow single people (those without "significant others") to bring a date.
  
• Don't invite people just because you were invited to their wedding. If you've lost touch with them... don't feel obligated to invite them to your wedding.

Of course, if you'd like to invite children or your sister's new sweetheart, then by all means do so! These are not rules; rather, they are recommendations meant to help you afford the wedding you really want.

Click to read more ways to keep your wedding budget under control.