When planning a wedding, one of the most difficult and time-consuming challenges is creating your and your partner’s perfect guest list.
There can be a lot of pressure surrounding feeling obligated to invite certain people, just for the sole reason that you wouldn’t want them to feel left out.
However, it’s important to remember to only invite people that you want to celebrate your day with.
Obviously, the people you are closest to should be invited to your wedding if they’re not already members of your bridal party.
This includes best friends, close family members, and whoever else has had a great positive impact on you and/or your partner’s lives.
Even though you may have fond memories of spending time with certain people from childhood, high school, or college, it’s important to analyze your relationship with them now before inviting them to your wedding ceremony.
Sometimes, people fall out of touch with one another, and that’s okay! If you haven’t talked to this person in years, then it’s reasonable to scratch them off of the guest list.
Don’t let your parents pressure you into inviting all of their friends, either. Just because your parents may be contributing financially to your wedding day does not mean that they have free rein over the guest list.
It’s important for the people at your wedding to be people you actually know, not your father’s random coworkers or everyone in your mother’s Bunco group.
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Have a conversation with your parents and make compromises if necessary, but don’t feel obligated to invite people that you don’t want there.
This includes children as well! Many couples choose to have their weddings be children-free, and while this may not be everyone’s ideal scenario, all you can do is hope that everyone will be respectful of your choices.
Most importantly, remove anyone who does not support you and/or your partner from the guest list. It’s so important to keep the vibes on your wedding day happy, loving, and drama-free.
If you feel like anyone is going to jeopardize that, then you can make it so that they won’t have the chance to.
This can be especially difficult if you have some unsupportive or difficult family members, but ultimately, your and your partner’s peace is the priority, and you deserve to have a special day with people who truly care about you.
While making a guest list for your wedding can be tricky, it’s nothing that you and your partner can’t handle! Start by writing out a list of people who you absolutely can’t imagine the day without, and go from there.
Before sending out the invitations, check your list again to make sure you’re excited to see every person on that list celebrate your wedding day with you.