Guest count

[disneybex]

Hi guys

We are really thinking about when to have our wedding and the date is really dependant on who can make it to WDW (we're from the UK) and who we really want to be there (and therefore have to pay for their trip) so I'd be interested in knowing how many guests you all had or are planning on having at your wedding?

It would be great to hear from couples who got married without any guests and their experiences, as we are leaning towards just being the 2 of us and stepping the date up.

 

[Rohais]

Currently we're planning on 24 guests - neither of us have any really close friends so it'll mainly just be immediate family.

We're hopefully having...

DF:

Mom and her boyfriend
Eldest brother, his fiance and their daughter
Second brother, his wife and their two daughters and one son
Younger brother, his girlfriend and their two daughters
His friend (BM) and his girlfriend

Me:

Mom
Brother
Nan
Uncle
Aunt and Uncle
Dad and his fiance

I'd love to have more people, but we can't really afford it and some people, like DFs Dad and some of our grandparents can't fly. We're planning on having a blessing etc and reception when we get back into the UK

We thought about it just being the two of us, but our families would kill us

 

[Tenacious K]

Hi guys

We are really thinking about when to have our wedding and the date is really dependant on who can make it to WDW (we're from the UK) and who we really want to be there (and therefore have to pay for their trip) so I'd be interested in knowing how many guests you all had or are planning on having at your wedding?

Ha I love reading about everyone's circumstances of inviting guests because it's usually so stressful! I'm so glad that that part of my wedding planning was over!

It was a bit easier for me since everyone I invited lives on the East Cost, most between Florida-Virginia. I am having an Escape wedding because I didn't want to worry about whether there were only 2 people there or 20 people. I ended up inviting a few people to the ceremony (parents and siblings) and then I invited everyone else to other festivities during the week (a dessert party the day before, a dinner, etc)

I based my date 100% on when it could work for our parents and siblings since the date didn't really matter to me. Plus, I figured the least I could do is allow them to help choose the date since they're traveling.

I invited 10-ish people to the wedding ceremony and 30-ish people to the "reception activities", making 40 invitations overall. 30 (75%) out of the 40 invited people can come. There were only a few people who were not invited to the ceremony and were disapointed that they couldn't go, and I went ahead and allowed a few more to come (since I had room). Other than that the friends didn't really care if they missed the ceremony or not (if anything, some of them were a little relieved).

It is a win-win for me n DF because we wanted the ceremony to be more of a private affair with only a few people there, but have everyone around for everything else and just have a good ol time.

 

[2010_Bride]

Part of the experience for us was being able to have only immediate family (15) and not have to deal with having to make cuts to large guest lists.
DF has a huge family and they are all close to their in-laws - so although we had to "fight" his family a bit, we explained it was only "immediate" family and not Godparents, Aunts, Uncles, Cousins...etc.
We have:
Both sets of parents
Each of our siblings / their spouse/ their children
The End

 

[WDWBride04/19/2010]

We're having 41guests.

 

[disneybex]

I'd love to have more people, but we can't really afford it and some people, like DFs Dad and some of our grandparents can't fly. We're planning on having a blessing etc and reception when we get back into the UK

We thought about it just being the two of us, but our families would kill us

This is part of our issue, we sat down and really thought long and hard about who really had to be with us and we came up with DF's Mum and my sister, and we were happy to wait until 2012 so that we could pay for both of them to come (and then expect a few friends to also be able to come as we would wait until 2012).

Now DF's mum could never even bear the thought of getting on a train a few years ago and now she travels to London from Manchester every couple of months to visit us and she was sure she could eventually fly with us too. Doubts are starting to creep in, and we really don't want to put her under pressure to have to come, plus she has said she would have to fly both ways with us, so she would be there for 3 weeks with us! She's lovely but I don't think I could deal with being with her for all that time and I certainly wouldn't want to feel guilty about leaving her to do our own thing

Then my sister has decided that she can afford to go skiing but can't afford to fly to the wedding, so she has essentially chosen her ski trip over our wedding which isn't too nice

Our other option was to have the wedding in Manchester (where DF's from and where we first met) but it would mean inviting so many people that we barely see because it is in Manchester

We have a holiday booked for September (this year) and are now seriously considering having just the 2 of us and I have to say it makes me feel so happy about everything because I know we can pick exactly what we want to do and not have to worry about anyone else and really enjoy both the special day and our magical holiday

I have put a call into Disney today with a request about what dates and locations might be available while we are there, so we will just have to wait and see.......