Invitation Shown: Pumpkin by Wedding Paper Divas
One common guest list buster is the parent with a LONG list of clients and business contacts or old friends they feel should be invited. This can be very touchy and can blow even the best budget! There are a few ways you can deal with this: one is to simply give them a set number of guests and stand your ground. One of my friends who is getting married this spring faced a similar situation and came up with this great solution!!
She had her parents, her fiance, his parents and herself each make their own guest list. They had a budget for 150 guests, but when the lists came back, the groom’s parents list alone had nearly 200 people on it! The bride was okay with a larger wedding, but did not have the budget for it so they compromised. The groom’s parents agreed to pay for a percentage of effected costs based on the percentage of guests that would be from their list.
In this case, his parents’ list, not including family, made up 50% of the guest list. Since a bigger hall was needed, his parents paid for 50% of the hall rental, table rentals, centerpieces, catering/food costs, favors and invitations. Her parents paid for 35%, which was their portion of the guest list, and the bride and groom paid for the remaining 15%.
This was successful on two levels. First, she stayed under budget and was still able to make both sets of parents happy. Second, the parents were much more picky about who they invited, because they knew they were paying for each guest they added to the list!
#1 by Anonymous - August 25th, 2006 at 15:52
wow.not sure what my opinion is on that one. My parents let us know up front they couldnt pay for anything too much going on in their own lives. Im 32 and already have a family. I think my family’s belief is that I’ve been on my own this long so I can cover my own wedding. My best friend is helping a lot with the planning(if you call taking over helping) but other than that we are on our own financially. Basically I simply agree with both sides it depends on whos paying yes but it also depends on the relationship you have with everyone involved. family doesnt always equal closeness I think in Alethias case she has some other issues going on but the nastiness was still uncalled for. Im not especially close to my family either there were times when we decied certain people would simply not be invited but then we thought better of it. The only solution to making this day completly ours is to ELOPE or go to the Justice of the peace. other than that leaving people out would be plain rude.