📋 Wedding Guest List Calculator
How many guests can you afford?
Guest List Tiers
The Guest List Is Your Biggest Budget Decision
Each guest adds $100-275 to your wedding cost through food, drinks, rentals (chairs, plates, linens), favors, and invitations. Cutting 30 guests saves $3,000-8,250. This is more than most couples spend on photography, flowers, or the DJ. Before agonizing over vendor choices, decide on guest count — it is the single decision with the largest budget impact.
The invitation acceptance rate averages 75-85% for local weddings and 50-65% for destination weddings. If you want 120 guests at the reception, invite 140-150 for a local wedding or 185-200 for a destination wedding.
How to trim the guest list without drama
Apply consistent rules: no coworkers (unless close friends outside work), no plus-ones for single guests you are not close with, no children (saves 15-25% of the list), no extended family beyond first cousins. If someone asks why they were not invited: having a rule (we kept it to 100 people) is easier to defend than individual judgment calls.