Budgeting & # of guests

[rayelias]

I'm in the very preliminary stages of research.

I had a question that maybe someone could answer.

We'd like to keep our cost reasonable. My DF has a pretty large family. My thought was to invite everyone, and ask that our wedding gift be their attendance (eg - they cover airfare & hotel for themselves in lieu of buying a gift). Now, the # of people we would invite and the # of people who would actually come are two very different numbers. We don't want to NOT invite someone, and it would be great if everyone could come, but we understand because of costs and logistics, not everyone would be able to.

So, how do you handle this situation with the wedding planners? I'm sure they need a pretty accurate number. If we invite 60 people, maybe 25 would come. That's a pretty substantial difference in the cost.

Was this an issue for anyone? How did you handle it. Suggestions?

edit: We are DVC members - can we stay on points as part of the "minimum stay"? Also - is the required "minimum stay" for all the guests as well, or just the Bride & Groom?

 

[Rustyflwr3]

Hello!
Well, at first, you and your planner will go over how many guests you invited and come up with an average number....just to base your proposal on. The actual guest list isn't due until fairly close to the wedding!! There are a lot of things that are based around the number of guests, but don't worry..it will all work out in the end! You're not going to get stuck!

For example...we invited 140 people, but our proposal is based on 80 guests...the food costs, number of tables, cake costs, bar, floral, etc...! We are expecting more then 80 as of right now, but the number isn't due until later! I HTH a little!

 

[JJClemson]

To answer the minimum stay question, yes any hotel on Disney property goes towards the room night minimum, even DVC (I asked my SM a similar question). This is for custom weddding, as I am assuming you are having b/c you are having more than 18 people. For example, you may have a 25 night minimum. So, if you stay 5 nights, your sister stays 5 nights, cousin stays 4, you would have a total of 14 nights. I have heard it is usually relatively easy to meet your minimun. HTH