Having a micro wedding offers so many benefits, but often, one thing keeps couples from actually moving forward with an intimate celebration—the guest list. It can feel gut-wrenching to make decisions about who not to invite, not to mention the drama that can come along with it, so we’ve created this simple step-by-step process to help make the yes/no a lot clearer.
When my husband and I were planning our wedding, we initially thought we’d have a large one, but once we assessed the cost, we quickly realized a smaller one would be a better fit for our vision. These are the steps we took to narrow down our guest list from over 150 guests to 50.
We recommend creating your guest list as one of the foundational elements to planning your micro wedding. It’s easy to put this task off, especially when you’re consumed with dreaming about how your special day will come together, not to mention the stress that can come along with it. But I assure you that getting this out of the way early will set you up for planning success and also help prevent the uncomfortable situation of having to go back to someone you thought you’d invite and tell them they aren’t.
Having an adults-only party is one of the quickest ways to reduce your the number of people you invite to your micro wedding. There are added benefits to this as well: many parents will enjoy the opportunity to socialize with friends and family without having the distraction of their kiddos, and it reduces logistics and planning activities that you might have had to otherwise consider if children were going to be present at your event
Keeping plus-ones to significant others only is another great way to narrow down your list. If it’s unclear whether or not a plus-one should be offered for a specific guest, you can put the potential guest through the process outlined below.
When my husband and I were working through our invite list, we decided to only consider people who had been a part of our lives as a couple, including family members. It’s easy to want to invite old college friends, colleagues, or others who you were close with in the past, but this is where your guest list can really spin out of control.
One of the best ways to determine who should make the list is to put anyone you’re considering for your wedding through the guest list test. This step-by-step process can make creating your list much more straightforward and clear. The beauty of using this method to decide who to invite is that you can customize it to suit your desires regarding the type of people who will make the list.
Creating your own guest list test is easy! Before you start, you’ll want to sit down with your partner to discuss what’s important to you. This is different for everyone so just be true to yourselves and I promise the list will come together perfectly.
All you need is a pen and paper or an Excel or Google sheet to create your list.
Follow these steps to make your own test.
The questions on your guest list test can be anything! Just be sure to choose questions where a resulting ‘yes’ would rate the potential guest higher. For example, if you’re having an adults-only event, you’ll want to ask the question, “Are they an adult?” as opposed to “Are they a child?” Here are a few ideas for questions you could ask.
If you’re having a destination wedding, you might consider:
These questions can be about anything that’s important to you. Don’t hold back—it’s your day!
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Once you have scored all your potential guests, follow these steps to create your list. You’ll want to have a target number in mind before you start, so be sure to have that before you start these steps. Otherwise,. Otherwise, you’ll have a hard time finding where to cut off the list.
Voila! You have your guest list!
Once you have this step complete, you’re ready to really get into planning your micro wedding.
Oh yeah, and because we get so many requests for help with this, we decided to create an automated tool to run you through all the steps above. Think printable worksheets and guest list Excel templates for some automation to make this even easier on you. It's already helped so many couples gain clarity. Grab yours here!
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