Guest Lists Cause Homicidal Rage Part 2

Guest Lists Cause Homicidal Rage Part 2

September 19th, 2011 @ 2:11 pm by Miss Porcupine
Share

Just when I thought it was over…the guest-list monster has returned.

When I first created our guest list it seemed like a painfully daunting task. Not going to lie: it really was. My mother, ever so old-fashioned, decided it was easier for her to HAND WRITE the list. On top of this, there were some spelling mishaps and a few incomplete addresses. After I ironed those out, typed the list up, and looked sadly at my design of the spreadsheet, I started copy/pasting Mr. Porcupine’s guests into it as well. His mother had sent me her list in Word, and it wasn’t flowing right with the Excel grid from hell I had created. I should have stopped right there and reformatted the whole darn thing. But instead I like to dig myself into ditches.

The whole task made me crazy, and when it was over I figured I would go back at a later time and reformat. Unfortunately, my human eye made many the typo, and about five save the dates came back to us. Like an idiot, since we were mid-move and I was flustered, I just texted friends to get their address corrections and sent those off WITHOUT updating my guest list. Then Mr. Porcupine emailed me his family’s corrected addresses, but somehow those never got typed into the guest list. It took almost two months after we moved in for me to send those puppies out.

In my defense, it was a hectic time! We were moving and I needed to find new envelope replacements! In my idiocy, it wasn’t THAT hectic. I could have broken out the laptop and updated the list quickly. But I had other priorities—like packing crap and then unpacking crap. This is all the crap’s fault, really.

Don’t be stupid like me! Stay on top of your guest list, because just thinking about fixing this thing up is making me want to go toast some bagels instead.

Anyone have an award-winning formula to make a guest list? Ever wish you could just send out a Facebook wedding invite (and tell Facebook-less grandma via phone when this shinding’s happening)?

Tags: guest-list, lancaster |

Share |

Latest Gallery Pics

Hot Pink and White with Zebra 36" Lighted Spandex Ostrich Feather Centerpiece

16 Responses to “Guest Lists Cause Homicidal Rage Part 2”

Guest

Yes! Use google documents. You can share your doc with your fiance, mom, whoever and make updates from ANY computer! It is our lifesaver for all wedding documents.

9/19/11 @ 2:18 pm (reply)

Bee

Mrs. Hyena (message) 1,882 posts, Buzzing bee

I kept all of ours in an Excel sheet so that once it was time to print the invite labels, I could just mail-merge those bad boys. NAME - ADDRESS 1 - ADDRESS 2 - CITY - STATE ZIP
It made it easy for me to keep it in that format since it was fairly simple to make changes, and I kept track of all our RSVPs in the same doc.

9/19/11 @ 2:29 pm (reply)

Guest

Kristin

Google Docs is a life saver. My fiance and I could add and change things by just logging in through gmail. You can edit the file from anywhere because it is on the internet rather than having it on a computer. I then did seating charts as well on Google docs! Try it out!

9/19/11 @ 2:34 pm (reply)

Member

ktell16 (message) 31 posts, Newbee

I agree about the google docs! Also, have you read Mrs. Mary Jane’s post on mail merge? http://www.weddingbee.com/2009/07/20/super-fast-save-the-dates-do-you-mail-merge/

I haven’t addressed anything yet, but I’m planning on taking advantage of that!

9/19/11 @ 2:37 pm (reply)

Member

julis120 (message) 115 posts, Blushing bee

I made an Excel spreadsheet and Dropbox. I have myself, the Future Mr., my MOH, and whoever else wants access to it. We also plan on making RSVP notes in there when the time comes.

9/19/11 @ 3:15 pm (reply)

Member

lisamarieloves (message) 447 posts, Helper bee

Oh no… I am not very spreadsheet-saavy. My guest list is just in a plain ol’ word document. I haven’t even begun to put in addresses. Yikes!

9/19/11 @ 3:15 pm (reply)

Member

HaveGroomWillTravel (message) 65 posts, Worker bee

Google docs…and maybe a glass of wine?? Good luck!

9/19/11 @ 3:19 pm (reply)

Member

KatieJean (message) 371 posts, Helper bee

Google Docs! I can get it to anyone anywhere. It’s perfect.

9/19/11 @ 3:20 pm (reply)

Member

MistyLuv79 (message) 33 posts, Newbee

I bought the iDo Software, which seems to be pretty good for contact info, etc… But I’m sure I will run into issues if I get corrections and am not near my home laptop.

9/19/11 @ 3:20 pm (reply)

10.

Member

Coffee cup (message) 1,843 posts, Buzzing bee

I have it all on Excel, that way I have a column for family names (invites), number of adults in the family, number of kids… and it all adds to a programmed cell of total guests. Organization freak.

9/19/11 @ 3:25 pm (reply)

11.

Member

kate02121 (message) 448 posts, Helper bee

I second Dropbox and Excel, but great tip about keeping them updated correctly. I’m so the type that would do the text to get the right address then forget about updating the actual spreadsheet.

9/19/11 @ 4:30 pm (reply)

12.

Member

Future Army Wife (message) 1,110 posts, Bumble bee

We’re doing an Excel spreadsheet that I sent to our mothers. I’ll just copy and paste from their versions to the master. Also sent Facebook messages to our friends to get their stuff. It’s worked for the most part, but I have to start tracking folks down.

9/19/11 @ 4:51 pm (reply)

13.

Member

Miss Godiva (message) 1,847 posts, Buzzing bee

I’ve been avoiding making our guest list document extrordinaire. Right now it’s all on college-ruled paper, with headings at the top “FI mom, FI dad, my mom, my dad” haha … very organized

9/19/11 @ 5:07 pm (reply)

14.

Bee

Miss Porcupine (message) 429 posts, Helper bee

Thanks for all the great ideas! We have an Excel list now but something about it pisses me off. I definitely need to check out google docs- I’ve heard of it but never thought about it for the guest list!

9/19/11 @ 8:33 pm (reply)

15.

Bee

Miss Kettle (message) 909 posts, Busy bee

Don’t feel bad!! Three of our STDs that we sent out in July came back. And um… I still havent sent them to the corrected addresses… I need to get on that, I guess.

9/20/11 @ 3:21 am (reply)

16.

Guest

Colleen

I started my guest list in Excel and developed a number of Worksheets within the one document. The first was the Guest list count (a list of all our guests and the number to be invited - including plus ones). The next was the STD addresses - These are worded a little differently than the invites. Then I have the invite addresses in another worksheet.

I printed up labels for STD envelopes and did so through a mail merge with Excel and Word. It takes about 6 steps, I did it in 10 minutes - SUPER EASY!! Then we just had to peel and stick! Plus the labels were clear and a few people asked if we hired a calligrapher for out STDs!

9/21/11 @ 5:52 am (reply)