Guest questions

[IndyBride]

Hey Girls! I feel a little high maintanence with all my questions. Now that I'm close to getting the save the dates sent out I'm nervous about the guest list. On other bride sites they say to assume 10% won't come to the wedding. Well, Disney weddings are different and I'm wondering how it all came together for you. Did everyone you invited come? I've got a guest list around 58 (including my Fiance and I- I decided since I wanted to eat I needed to start counting myself in all that! ) Also, I'm scared to death of no-shows.

thanks for all your help!

 

[PrincessBride010103]

We had 53 guests and every single one of them showed up. With a guest list that small it was mostly family so we knew everyone would show. If your guest list is mostly comprised of family you can be pretty sure most won't miss it.

 

[disprincessatheart]

Last year for our custom we invited about 40 and 2 months out we were expecting 34 - all guests having to come in from North Carolina or New York. You don't have to do your final count for food and things until about a week before, so you have plenty of time for everyone to figure out if they're coming or not. Your planner can also give you updates whenever you ask about who has booked in your room block, so that'll help you know who's serious about coming.

 

[lurkyloo]

We invited 55 and had 35 show up, so that's, what, 35% who couldn't come? But about 2/3 of our guests live in California, so that had a lot to do with our attrition rate too.

Some people will tell you Disney weddings have more people who can't come, since it's a destination wedding. But other people will tell you that you have more people who DO come because it's Disney - there's just no predicting it, I guess

 

[OceanGdss]

We have a limit in the venues of 75 (including us) and we have invited exactly 73. We know that at least 69 will ABSOLUTELY be there, as some of them have already booked their rooms. I think it depends on where you live...we're local, so its the 4 out-of-state guests that may not come. I wouldn't worry about it at this point. Just have your STDs sent out and you will start getting calls. Then when the invites go out you'll REALLY know. HTH

 

[IndyBride]

All of our guests are going to be out of town seeing as we live in AZ. Also, has anyone had problems with people "inviting" others that weren't on your guest list? I hope that won't be a problem for me. I am assuming each person will have an "and guest" just in case. Most of my guest list is comprised of family short of ten or so.

Thanks for all your help everyone!!

 

[IndyBride]

We have a limit in the venues of 75 (including us) and we have invited exactly 73. We know that at least 69 will ABSOLUTELY be there, as some of them have already booked their rooms. I think it depends on where you live...we're local, so its the 4 out-of-state guests that may not come. I wouldn't worry about it at this point. Just have your STDs sent out and you will start getting calls. Then when the invites go out you'll REALLY know. HTH

Wow!! You already have that many people with their rooms booked! It seemed that so many brides on here were freaking out with less than three months about guests that hadn't booked. Thanks for the help!

 

[IndyBride]

We had 53 guests and every single one of them showed up. With a guest list that small it was mostly family so we knew everyone would show. If your guest list is mostly comprised of family you can be pretty sure most won't miss it.

I never thought of 50 people being a small wedding until I started talking to Disney. Especially for destination weddings! I'm glad to hear everyone showed up since if you are anything like me you agonized over who you could invite and who you couldn't invite.

 

[cryssi]

We invited about 135, I think, and about 120 rsvp'd yes. I think only 2 people didn't show up...flakes...lol

People left early, too, don't even get me started on that. I'd move heaven and earth to attend an in-park disney wedding...and stay till the bitter end no matter how late it was (it's not like they didn't know!)...but I guess that's just me...

 

[caryndisneydiva]

Wow!! You already have that many people with their rooms booked! It seemed that so many brides on here were freaking out with less than three months about guests that hadn't booked. Thanks for the help!

we invited 135 and 60 showed. i didn't give people much notice though (less than 5 months) and they all had to travel. i only had one flake.

i DID have people trying to invite other people and i just put the smack down and said NO.

 

[cryssi]

LOL Caryn. I had 2 people ask...one I said yes, the other no...that was my biggest fear...people would try to invite others...hello...I'm not paying for all your homies...lol

 

[StitchBride]

We invited 104 people and 53 showed up, so less than half for us but 2/3's of the guest list were from out of state so that had something to do with. You shouldn't have too much in the no show category as people do have to make some sort of arrangement to get there.

 

[sungela]

We're very nerdy, and very Excel-happy, so we went through and guessed the probability that each guest would come, and then created a total that way. For example, anyone in the wedding party got a 1, and anyone who we had to invite but we knew couldn't make it (sick old Uncle Richard, for example), got a 0.2. If you multiply the number of people in each party by their respective probability, you can tally up that way. We're inviting 150, and we expect about 85. I'll let you know if we were right...

Example:
1 person, definite yes = 1
1 person, definite no = .2
1 person, probably = .8

Total estimated coming = 2

 

[lurkyloo]

That is genius!

 

[Mama of Indybride]

We're very nerdy, and very Excel-happy, so we went through and guessed the probability that each guest would come, and then created a total that way. For example, anyone in the wedding party got a 1, and anyone who we had to invite but we knew couldn't make it (sick old Uncle Richard, for example), got a 0.2. If you multiply the number of people in each party by their respective probability, you can tally up that way. We're inviting 150, and we expect about 85. I'll let you know if we were right...

Example:
1 person, definite yes = 1
1 person, definite no = .2
1 person, probably = .8

Total estimated coming = 2

OMG, that is so awesome!

I just would not have thought of using probabilities in that way, because I am in sales and marketing, therefore am incredibly optimistic, and everybody absolutely of course will be there blah blah blah.

Although I must say, we all love Val and her Dan very much, and I couldn't imagine anybody not wanting to share her (their) (our ) special day with them (US!)

I swear I am not becoming a Momzilla.

Right?

 

[IndyBride]

We invited about 135, I think, and about 120 rsvp'd yes. I think only 2 people didn't show up...flakes...lol

People left early, too, don't even get me started on that. I'd move heaven and earth to attend an in-park disney wedding...and stay till the bitter end no matter how late it was (it's not like they didn't know!)...but I guess that's just me...

An in park wedding would be wonderful but, I didn't want one because I didn't want it to be so late. So, I guess I can understand some of your guests leaving earlier. What was early? 1 am?

 

[cryssi]

lol, our reception ended at 1, but people left before 12...the reception didn't start until 9:30...

 

[Ember]

I invited 50, 23 said yes, and 21 actually attended. 2 lost their passports in Rome and physically could not leave the country, so I'm not putting them in the "bad guest" category.