Telling someone that they are not invited to your upcoming nuptials can be a difficult thing to do, but sometimes necessary. Here are our best tips on how to make this easier on you and your spouse.
Make a List
Work with your fiancé and make an initial list of the people that you want to invite, then see if this number of people works with your budget and venue. If there are too many individuals, then you can start deciding who you really care about having there.
Plant the Seed Early
Start spreading the word right away that you will have limited attendance at your wedding just so people may be more prepared to not get an invite. When talking to family and friends try to make it clear that your wedding guest list will be small.
Blame it on the Budget
Some people (especially ones who have not planned a wedding) don’t understand how expensive weddings can become when the guest list grows out of control. If there are individuals that you do not want to invite (or can’t) just tell them that you are over budget and had to slim down the list. You can explain that you are paying for the wedding by yourself and you are already over budget.
Blame it on the Venue
Another thing you can blame this on is the venue. Most venues have a cap on how many people they can fit inside so this may cause you to have to shave down your list as well.
Claim You Want Intimacy
If certain people wonder why they were not invited to your wedding you can explain that you just wanted an intimate ceremony with your very closest family members.
Plus Ones Debate
Plus ones can really add up quickly if you are too generous with them. Explicitly stating on the invitation that plus ones are for spouse and/or serious relationships only. (Not your tinder date from last week!) This will greatly help keep your attendance in check.
It’s likely that there are several people that you would genuinely like to have at your wedding, but due to space or budget constraints, you just can’t. A great way to incorporate these individuals is to invite them to dinner or a gathering so you can still share in the joy of this exciting time!
Most people will understand, but no matter what you do it’s likely that some people will still be offended by not being invited to your wedding, but the bottom line is, this is YOUR day and it’s about YOU and YOUR spouse. I wouldn’t worry about this too much because if they are mad at you for this you probably wouldn’t want them there anyways. Unfortunately there are just some people out there that feel they are entitled to your invitation, but they are certainly not if you don’t desire them to be there. This day is about having your closest loves ones there and no drama!