A Little Space, A Lot of Guests = Some Cozy I Do’s
September 4th, 2008 @ 2:40 pm by Mrs. Espresso
When I drafted our first guest list in December, the total head count (rounding up) was 150 people. Mr. Espresso and I both come from very large families, so a big wedding was a given. But the week before we did our invitations, the guest list suddenly jumped to 244. Say what?! Our ceremony only has room for 150 (if that)… how the heck would we fit 244! So after a lot of stress, a crying breakdown in the kitchen, and some sweet words and hugs from Mr. E (who didn’t even know what was going on or why I was stressed until my kitchen episode)- I was back in the game.
Everybody is also RSVP’ing “Yes”, but instead of fretting (anymore) over who will get a seat and who will be standing in the cheering marathon line before I even get to the aisle, I’m taking a step back. This is a blessing. Repeat. This is a blessing. 
Our friends and family want to be their to celebrate with us; and we’re dang lucky to have them!
So come on in. Just over this bridge we’re getting married.
Just round the bend a little more…
And we’re here! Honestly, I love this spot. It’s intimate, private, totally secluded from our reception, and it smells like trees.
Mr. Espresso and I will exchange our vows underneath or on the steps of the gazebo (without the patio set). I’ll be asking you soon for decorating tips so start thinking, 
Looking up:
And to the side, the view of our reception is blocked by the mountain vegetation…
But there will be a serious celebration waiting on the other side. It’s almost here!!!
What was your original guest list number and what did you end up with?
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27 Responses to “A Little Space, A Lot of Guests = Some Cozy I Do’s”
We wanted to invite no more than 180, and my FMIL managed to add another 39. I don’t want to even talk about it! Not to mention the fact that nearly everyone is RSVPing yes (blessing or not)!
Perfect timing. Our guest list has almost made me want to elope instead. Our place holds “max” 200 people. And they don’t mess around. That is with out dancing and it is a really tight fit. Our invites were sent with a total of 230. What were we thinking? So far only 4 no’s. It is a bad feeling to almost not want people to be at your wedding. I had to get past it and move on. Now we are changing things up to a cocktail style wedding and crossing our fingers for nice weather in Oct and we are in Oregon, so its goign to be a close call. Good luck, and the place looks wonderful!
wow, i just wanna say that the site is absolutely lovely! i’d so pay extra to get the smell of trees!
I love your venue, and I can’t wait to see pix of the wedding! I like the mountain setting that you are having, as well as the rustic vibe of Miss Cherry Pie’s! My kinda thing . . . 
We wanted a smalllll wedding (or at least my hubby did!). We told the venue (a ranch that had a couple of different sites available for the reception) about 30 people at first, and then upped it almost immediately to 50″ish”. They said they had a great room at the inn that would be perfect. Later I told them I was now planning to invite about 80 and count on about 65-70 (do we sound waffly? ;-)). They said, oooohhh, that’s a lot, but . . . we still can make it work. Five days before the wedding (ACK!), they said, this isn’t going to work! “We can fit in 65, but you want dancing, too?!” (Told them that before; guess they forgot.) Soooo, at the last minute, they suggested moving us to the “party barn” (for more $$$). It was our decision to make, but what were we going to do when they basically were saying “it ain’t gonna work”? We were worried that the decor was not as neat and the space was toooo big for us. The decor turned out fine anyway, and we added a table (which didn’t make the florist too happy, although we figured out a way to make it work with the existing arrangements) to make things a bit more spread out. It was all fine. But kinda scary for awhile there! I agree you should count your blessings, though!
Does anyone have numbers to share? Like how many they invited and how many actually came?
Yes - I’m dying to know, too! Especially the percent of OOT people who come! How does one figure it out, its a mystery!
We were hoping for no more than 180 guests, but we knew we wanted to pack the house rather than get married in a huge church that seemed empty, so we booked a tiny chapel that holds about 120 comfortably. Then our guest list swelled to 219! And I was stressed. out. But, this is a destination wedding for everyone but the bride & groom and close, local friends, so we had no idea how many people would be able to travel. With our RSVP deadline just 2 days away, we have 120 attending, 46 declined, and we’re still waiting on 53!!
We invited 189 adults, 5 children. Our final count has been wavering but I think it will stand at 144 adults, 8 children. Probably 80% or more invited were from out of town. Almost an 80% exceptance rate. I think the normal they say is between 70 & 80%. The best part is we have 75 coming to the rehearsal dinner!
We actually went the opposite way! We started with a list of 50 people, still small I know, and when we looked at it and started to realize oh no we forgot someone - we cut the list. We went for 50 people to 10!
Our original guest list was approximately 200 people…at two weeks after the invitations had gone out we’d somehow made our way all the way up to 400 people invited…..thankfully I made all the invitations myself so I just spent many more evenings mass producing. That being said, our venue technically seats 250….75% of our guests are out-of-town and so far we are at a 98% acceptance rate with far more yes’s pouring in every day than no’s. I’m just grateful that no one will be standing at the door of the reception counting people coming in, also that we are not serving a plated sit down dinner…..and that we will have plenty of couches and easy chairs for people to sit in because….at the rate we are going there won’t be seating at the tables for everyone. Guest list is something I’ve decided not to stress about, if people want to come celebrate our marriage with us, then I want them to feel welcome. The last thing we wanted for our special day was feeling bad or causing hurt feelings because someone wasn’t invited. I only wish our parents would have “remembered” all the people they wanted invited a little bit sooner.
The venue is gorgeous! It’s going to be a festive, wonderful celebration — so what if they are squeezed in a little? who doesn’t love a good cuddle?
*swoon* your location looks amazing. I love your comment about how it smells like trees.
Our venue holds 150 max- which I loved having a great reason to having to limit the head count. so initially we invited 159, then another 16 people were included. But it is working out well, I think out of 175 invited we will have 115
thank you for blogging about this!!
i just had the same breakdown on saturday… our guest list went from 275 to 360. our reception is in my parents’ back yard. the current tent only holds 256, so my dad is working with the tent guys to make something custom to hold up to 328. i am now scrambling to make 9 more centerpieces than originally planned. mom, dad, and fiance are helping, so i stopped crying.
repeat: it is a blessing!
We invited 250 and due to a flood in Iowa destroying a lot of homes and businesses, we only ended up with 183.
We had to invite a lot of out of towners since we are getting married where we live now and not where either of us grew up. We invited our closest friends and family which includes people from asia, europe and the opposite coast. With all of the plane fare price hikes and restrictions making the news right after we sent out our invitations we ended up with 50% of our invitees responding yes. If we segment the list by friends who live in the city where we are getting married the response rate is 100%. We are very excited about having a more intimate wedding, though we will miss those who cannot attend.
We got married a week and a half ago. Woo-hoo! We invited about 225 for our wedding in Chicago with about 90% of our guests being from out of town. I was thinking that we’d end up with about 140, but we ended up with 90. Crazy drop. But it was fantastic and intimate. Like kar said above, things like airfare hikes were a big factor in our numbers dropping. And school just started, so basically any out of towner with kids was out. One thing I would advise is go low on your minimum number with your venue/caterer. So if your headcount drops, you won’t have to add upgrades, like an extra hors d’oeuvres, to hit your minimum number.
We started with 180, ballooned to 225, then cut it back to 60. It was tough, but I’m thrilled to know that our attendees are the people we love most in this world.
oh…i feel you on this one…..Our guest list would be in the 400’s if was left up to everyone else. Unfortch, our venue only holds 250. I wanted a small wedding, but I was veto’ed immediately. Too bad…cause it would have been a lot cheaper.=(
I got married three weeks ago. We invited 275 and 201 were in attendance. We were aiming for 200 so it worked out really well! I completely panicked though because everyone rsvp’d yes near the beginning. The no’s were mainly people who didn’t send back the card (that I had to contact). Don’t worry!
@caulner: hahaha I definitely can relate, Just keep breathing
@Mia: Good luck to you too! That was a great idea to switch it up to a cocktail reception
@Mrs. Green Tea: Mrs Green Tea!! It’s so nice to see your comments with ‘Mrs’ in front
@goodvoile: oh my gosh that must have been so stressful! But I also think at that point your mind goes into Tim Gunn mode “Make it Work” Didy you have your wedding in a mountain setting?
@Puzzle Pieces: Message me when this is all over and I’ll let you know
@danathebride: My OOT’s have been half and half so far
@EastportBride: 53?! I think you should do some yoga and get a massage over the next few days, you deserve some relaxing time
@Melissa: That is one big rehearsal dinner!
@soontobeewed: hehe that last comment made me laugh. I’m with you though- at this point we need to realize the situation for the blessing it is and move forward
@Mary: oh you poor thing! Keep repeating: This is a blessing! Right now it’s stressful- but on the day of, it’ll all be worth it. And yay for fiance and family helping out!
@IrishBride: Congratulations “Mrs” Irishbride!
@Miss Dumpling: I too was veto’ed out of a small wedding… Veto’ed reminds me of FRIENDS with the baby names
@Miss Martini: Thank- you Thank- you!
Our guest list was over 400 at one point (that was “let’s just see who we would invite if we could”), we got it down to about 250 and now it’s back up to 337 (only 289 adults). Seating capacity is ~200, the venue can probably hold 300. We’re having a cocktail reception so we don’t have to seat everyone but I’d like to if we can. We’re getting married at a state park that’s at least an hour and a half drive for everyone, with others much further away, so I think we’ll have maybe 60-70% say yes. I’m desperately hoping we have less than 200 just for food and liquor costs and so we can actually talk to our guests, but I will repeat the “It’s a blessing” mantra if it comes in higher!!!
Thanks, Miss E — our wedding was at a ranch on the prairie (we live in Kansas). We had a southwest/western/prairie theme, I guess you could say! And yes, we ‘made it work’ a la Tim Gunn. Good luck with your wonderful setting!
An update. We’re now 4 days past our requested deadline for RSVPs and we’re down to 20 people who are AWOL. Seriously, folks, is this your first wedding? Miss Dumpling, I’m all for your massage and yoga idea. If it weren’t for the gym, there would be no telling how I might release my frustration! Seriously, though, your venue is beautiful and it will all work out. Somehow it always does. Best of luck!
er…Miss Espresso, that is….sorry!
Mrs. Espresso, Corona/Big Bear
Age and Occupation: 23, Community Services Specialist
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 22, Maintenance Technician
Engagement Date: December 21, 2007
Wedding Date: October, 2008
Blogging Since: June 25, 2008
Venue: Outside a rustic b&b in Big Bear Lake
About Me: I'm a lover of all things good: coffee, music, travel, rain, and of course- my handsome fiance! I'm a full believer in the "Life is Short," mantra - and therefore, eat lots of dark chocolate. I'm a Geographer by degree and nerd by choice. I cook to the sound of French and Portuguese music even though I speak neither. I love road trips, camping, hiking, and capturing life through the lens of my camera. Take me to Anthropologie and I may never leave. I'm a sucker for pretty packaging, bargain finds, and old movies. Mr. Espresso and I are high school sweethearts and I am so blessed to be this amazing man's future wife.
We were thinking small from the beginning, under 200 for sure. When we found a venue that only held 150, it was perfect because it forced us to cut back and gave us a good excuse.
Becky