Weddings are a time to bring family and friends together to celebrate your love and new chapter in life, but it can be difficult to decide who can and cannot come to your wedding. To begin planning, you should decide on how many people you can invite. (If you already have a venue in mind look at the amount of people that value can hold). Create rules and limitations for your guest list to avoid offending family members. Finally, writing multiple lists can help you maximize the number of people who can come. With some patience and careful consideration, soon you will have your guest list ready for invitations.

Even if you’re not sure on the specific figure, you can determine roughly what size of wedding you want. This will help you get quotes from caterers and venues while allowing you to figure out the specific number later. Some people decide just to invite immediate family members and a few close friends. A small wedding is generally around 50-75 people. The average wedding is around 150 people. A large wedding is 200 people or more.

Keep your budget in mind. The most basic and easiest way to decide on how many people you can invite is to look at how many people you can afford to invite. This one is simple, the more people you invite, the more expensive the reception and ceremony will be. If you have the luck of parents chipping in, find out how much each couple is contributing. Factor that into how much you and your partner can afford to spend. Get a few quotes from local caterers to see how much the reception may cost per person. Remember to factor in drinks and cake as well. Catering should take up about 25% of your budget.

Size of the venue. The number of people you can invite may be decided by where you have your wedding, if you already set a venue before your guest list. If you have your heart set on a particular venue, ask them how many people they can hold. Please do not invite more than this number, the risk is that you may find yourself scrambling to fit everyone.

Children or not. Some people prefer to have a childfree wedding because they worry kids will be loud or disrupt the ceremony. Others feel that a wedding is a big family event and that children are of course part of the family. There is one more option to have children only attending the reception. You must understand that some guests may choose not to come if their children are not invited. If you want a childfree or not for the ceremony I definitely recommend to set an age limit to decide whether you are inviting teenagers or not. This could be as young as 12 or as old as 18 it’s all up to you to choose.

Plus one. Who will be allowed to bring a guest or will everyone be allowed, that’s a decision for you to make. If you don’t have the space for all of your friends to bring an extra person, you might want to skip the option to bring a date on the invitation. By that said, if you have a friend who is in a long term relationship or married, then you should invite their partner as well. Keep these info with you when counting your guest list.

Put your guests into different groups. When planning, create four or more groups of people you are considering. Next number these groups by their priority. Here is an example, it might be more important to you to invite close friends than extended family members. Here are the typical four groups:

• Immediate family members

• Extended family members

• Close friends

• Work mates or colleagues

Establish rules with your family. Your parents and your partner’s parents may have their own ideas about who to invite, this is very normal. Let them know upfront what kind of wedding you want. Tell them how many people they can invite. Don’t forget to be firm about your boundaries, they must understand that they need to follow these rules. Here are some rules you may want to consider:

• Only invite people you’ve talked to in the last year.

• Friends of the couple have priority over friends of the parents.

• Certain estranged family members may not be invited.

Next step. Start by writing two lists, the first list is the people you absolutely want to invite. By that I mean family members, close friends, or other special people. The second is your back-up list , yes a back-up list. The backup-list is the list of people you would like to invite but don’t have space or the budget for. It’s simple, if a person from the first list declines,then go ahead and invite a person from the back-up list. I recommend to assume that approximately 20 percent of your invited guests will not be able to attend. Which means that you can have at least this number on your back-up list. This will help you maximize the number of guests who can come to your wedding and spots won’t go to waste.

Last edit. Before you go ahead and send anything out, take a second look and edit to make sure that you are not inviting any more people than your absolute maximum. If you want to cut guests, start by going from the lowest priority guests (colleagues, distant family members, family friends you might not know) and up to the highest on the list.

Set a date when the backup guests will be invited. There need to be enough time for them to be able to come, you don't want to send out anything last minute. Make sure that you send out your first round of invitations early enough so that you can send out a second round later.

Consider inviting people to the reception only. Are you getting married in a small venue, are you struggling to fit all of your dear friends onto the list. I would say, consider having a separate guest list for the reception. It’s easy to explain, just say that you would love to have them at the wedding but that you are limited with space.

• A good way to explain it is: “Our venue is so small that we cannot invite everyone we want to the wedding, but we would still love it if you could celebrate with us. You are welcome to join us at the reception.”

• If you have a destination wedding, you may choose to have a reception in your hometown. You can invite all of the friends that could not attend the wedding to this celebration.

The basic rule of thumb is to send save the dates 6 months before the wedding. For a destination wedding, it is customary to mail save the dates 8 to 12 months in advance. For a local affair, send save the dates 4 months in advance. Follow your save the dates with your formal invitations about 8 weeks before the wedding.

The ring is on your finger and the planning is underway, let’s get your guests in the loop. Number one is to send a save-the-date card (aka the pre-invitation that officially announces your date and lets your guests know that they should schedule it in). But you have to do it right. I have written below, go and find out what mistakes not to make while giving your guests the heads up.

Not Sending Them at all

Yes, this counts as a mistake in my opinion. I know you don't have to send save-the-dates (if you're having a very short engagement, I understand it might make more sense to simply send out invitations), you're typically doing yourself a disservice by not sending them. Most definitely if you're having a destination wedding or a three day weekend affair, you want to give guests enough time to clear their schedules and arrange and generally increase their chances of being able to make it to your big day. That's the goal, right?

Sending Them Too Late

As a general rule of thumb, I recommend to start sending them out around 6 to 8 months prior to the ceremony (send them earlier for a faraway destination or holiday weekend). This gives wedding guests plenty of time to book their travel, save money and ask for days off work. Any later than that and they won't have enough lead time to do those things. After all, the only pieces of information you need on them are your names, wedding date (or dates, if it's a weekend) and location—just the city is fine, so you don't even need to have your venue booked yet. Including your wedding website is ideal, but not necessary.

Sending them too early

On the contrary, if you send them any earlier than that,say, a whole year in advance, they may toss the notice aside and forget about it. Also, you should never send out formal wedding information before setting things in stone just in case plans change or something falls through. In the event of an unexpected switcheroo, your best bet is to update your wedding website, pick up the phone and start spreading the word. You do have the option of sending out another mailing that explains the dilemma, but a personal, verbal notice is the best way to avoid confusion. (If your wedding guest list is a bit overwhelming, enlist the help of your bridal party.)

Sending them to people you're not sure about

When the save the dates are sent off, there's no turning back. So make sure to only send them to those guests you definitely want to attend. (Even the ones you've received verbal confirmations from, like your bridesmaids and family members.)

Overthinking the design

Save-the-dates are much less formal than your wedding invitations and definitely don't have to match them or your theme. This is your opportunity to let your style as a couple really shine, or try out a theme you love but are hesitant to commit to just yet. Play with colors, motifs or fonts to create something that will get guests excited for the occasion.

Only Sending Electronic Ones

Email invitations for informal events like bachelorette parties and postwedding brunches are becoming more popular, and as a result, rewriting the rules of snail mail etiquette. We stand by old-school stationery for the big stuff like formal invitations, but the use of digital is up to your discretion. If you do decide on digital, consider doubling up: Send out an electronic save-the-date to everyone, and send paper correspondence just in case the email goes to spam. Also, odds are, you have older relatives or friends who may want to keep the physical one as a keepsake.

Being unclear about who's actually invited

It's best to be as clear as possible about who's invited to the wedding, even this far in advance. By including the actual names of every intended guest on the envelope, you're less likely to have any assumed invitees (like your second cousin's new boyfriend), or general confusion (is your 7-year-old niece invited?). Being up front about who's invited also gives families with uninvited kids ample time to plan for child care, and out-of-towners time to figure out hotel room shares.

Including Registry Information

While your guests will likely want to know where you're registered, it's in bad taste to include this information on your save-the-dates. Gifts, of course, are not required. You can wait to include a link to your wedding website (where your registry information should live) on an invitation insert, and guests will know to ask bridal party attendants or your parents for the scoop if they need to do so. 

Check these Free website themes out click here.

Searching and looking for the perfect venue can be both hard and exciting. My number one advice is to not book a supplier only because somone recommended them and the worst if you haven’t done the research and feeling super good about it.

I would say the number one most important thing is for you and your fiancé to be a team. Let’s face it, as you plan your perfect wedding, there are most likely going to be areas that one of you is more passionate about than the other and we all have our strengths and weaknesses. When it comes to choosing your perfect wedding venue, this should absolutely be a joint task a team work. As planning goes, it’s the biggest commitment you’ll make this early on in your planning and you should both feel excited and connected about the place you choose.

Go and get organised - With so many details to consider, organisation is your best friend. Start by creating a spreadsheet of venues to visit - I would think 4 in one day is the max as it can become very overwhelming. And don’t be tempted to take an entourage on visits, this is about the two of you, and too many opinions can be really confusing. After you’ve got a shortlist, then it’s a great idea to talk to the people who really get you, to help sort through your own thoughts about each delicious venue you’ve seen!

What I want to bring up in this post is for you to not make a mistake like a lot of other brides and grooms do. Don’t walk into a venue and just see how pretty and how wonderful the place is, ok ok you can do that for a few minutes but if you like the place and feel like this could be it. I want you to look at these questions and have them with you or at least a few of them. There are loads of stuff that can be missed in the planning that can be an expense in the end.

• 1. Can the venue hold both the ceremony and reception?

  2. Which local authority does the venue come under?

  3. What is the venue capacity for both the ceremony and dinner?

  4. Does the venue have a specific supplier list they would prefer you to work with?

  5. How many guests can you accommodate?

  6. Is there a policy about children attending and does the venue need to be child-free at any time?

  7. Is there enough car parking for all guests?

  8. What is included in the hire price? (Hint: catering, coordinator, accommodation etc)

  9. If the venue has its own caterers does the price include a tasting?

  10. How flexible is the catering to suit your wedding style? (E.g.: Meze boards, sharing platters, hog roasts, BBQ, formal dining, street food)

  11. (If they do in-house catering) Is there an extra cost for example cutting and serving the cake? Is there a corkage fee?

  12. Will your wedding be the only wedding at the venue on the day? If not, how many weddings do they hold in one day?

  13. Can you hire the venue exclusively? What is the difference in cost and what extras are included?

  14. What are the bar prices and can guests pay using card or is it cash only?

  15. Do you have a guest book or customer reviews that I can read?

  16. What time will our reception need to finish?

  17. Are your prices plus or inclusive of VAT? 

  18. What are your deposit and payment terms?

  19. Are there any other additional fees or costs we need to be aware of?

  20. What information does the venue need from your suppliers who will be working on site? (Public Liability/PAT testing etc)

  21. When can you come back for a second visit?