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Guest List Debate

Updated Feb 08, 2013

| By Alison Westlake

As I mentioned last week in my second blog post, Tyler and I are in the process of deciding how many guests we'd like at our wedding. This should be easy right? (insert crickets chirping) Anyone? We're having the wedding on my parents farm and in a perfect world, we would only invite the people we knew genuinely wanted to be there celebrating with us. Unfortunately we all have a certain amount of obligatory guests we are forced to accommodate. How the heck are we supposed to navigate this one diplomatically? We have a budget that we'd like to maintain and as the guest list broadens the budget widens dramatically. I've seen brides come into Coriander Girl with guest lists of 300 or more and often they will confide that they would prefer a much smaller wedding. So what do we do? Bankrupt ourselves in order to keep the peace? Or choose a destination wedding and cross our fingers that most people won't be able to attend?

No.
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Guest List Debate

Do I sound like a terrible person? I'm really not! I just want to talk about the harsh realities of planning a wedding rather than glaze over it because it makes us uncomfortable. I'm really struggling with this one. I'd rather get the "We regretfully decline" over a scowling face buried in an iPhone as I'm walking down the aisle. Unfortunately you can't write a disclaimer on the invite, "We won't be upset if you decide you don't want to come." Etiquette suggests that if you invite one cousin and not the other, be prepared to defend your decision. I say, "May the force be with you young jedi," as you enter into some seriously dangerous territory. I'll be right behind you, dropping bombs and running for cover because I'm a firm believer in doing what's best for you and your partner even if it means ruffling a few feathers. Try this song as an early crowd pleaser, click here! Peace out, Alison xo

This article was originally published on Sep 16, 2010