Make the hectic wedding planning slightly easier by avoiding these common mistakes couples make while preparing the wedding guest list.
Planning a wedding is magical. Planning your own wedding is a magical, once-in-a-lifetime experience. Even though it comes with a side of chaos and headaches, it all becomes worth it at the end when your special day turns into a dream wedding.
But wait—your wedding is not only about you. Being the institution that Indian weddings are, it’s about you, your family and your endless number of relatives attending, or not attending, the wedding. In reality, planning a wedding is a whirlwind of feelings, budgets, family politics and your sanity. There is a high chance that you will succumb to the “Log kya kahenge?” pressure and struggle to find the right balance, ending up organising a mini kumbh mela of what could have been a perfect wedding with the right planning.
Let Team Wedding Affair come to the rescue! We are listing the most common mistakes couples make while making their wedding guest list, so that you can avoid them and have a smooth sailing planning the wedding of your dreams.
Inviting Everyone You Know
One of the biggest mistakes couples make is to feel obligated to include everyone they know in the wedding guest list. Let’s be brutally honest for a moment. In Indian families, the line between family and acquaintances is blurry at best. Atithi Devo Bhava is a fantastic motto, but when the guest list exceeds your capability or liking, it becomes a hard principle to follow.
Create an “A-list” to begin with, including all the must-have guests at your celebration. These can be immediate family and friends. Then go to the second list that you’ll be inviting only if it suits your venue and budget. Brutal? Yes. Necessary? Absolutely!
Letting Your Parents Dictate Everything
Here comes a difficult one. Unlike Western weddings, the weddings in our country are mostly funded by parents, giving them the obvious steering wheel of every little decision of the day that is supposedly yours. And suddenly your mother is planning to invite the hairdresser of her friend because she was nice to her once.
No, we are not telling you to go rogue against your parents or in-laws. Instead, have an honest conversation with them. Agree on how many guests they can invite that won’t disturb the wedding guest list. Maintain the boundary.
Read Also: Last Minute Wedding Changes? Here’s How to Handle In-Laws!
Ignoring the Budget
The best part of Indian weddings is the multiple vibrant functions—haldi, mehendi, sangeet, wedding, reception and many more. What a lot of couples forget about is that the long list of celebrations comes with a long list of expenditures. And more guests means more rooms at the resort, more food and more wedding favours. It is kind of hard to enjoy your wedding when you are stressing about money, isn’t it?
Calculate the per-head cost for each function and set a more realistic goal for your wedding guest list. Choose the number of guests according to your budget, because having a smaller and joyful celebration is better than going into debt for an over-the-top wedding.
Not Considering the Venue Size
Your dream wedding venue might look like it belongs in a fairy tale, but if it’s flooded with people who can’t find their seats to rest and enjoy the event, then it doesn’t really serve its purpose. Do not book a venue for 300 guests and then invite 500 people, thinking “you will manage” or “not everyone will show up”. The last thing you want is overflowing spaces with awkward seating and a whole lot of angry rishtedaars.
Take your time choosing the right venue and prepare the wedding guest list later. Let the space dictate your guest number, not the other way around.
Read Also: Managing Guest Lists: Tips for a Stress-Free Wedding!
Take control of your own wedding, avoid these four mistakes and have a fabulous wedding!
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