Who to Invite?

Choosing the dress, looking at reception centres and talking to photographers are all fun. But not all wedding planning tasks are quite so enjoyable. Preparing a guest list, and then arranging a seating plan for the reception, are probably the most stressful parts of a wedding. So, take a deep breath and try to keep calm in the face of any disputes that arise over who to invite.

Additional Groups

Once the “must comes” are listed, the following groups need to be considered:

Work mates ~ it's best to invite just the boss or an obvious favourite or invite everyone. Picking and choosing just leads to hassles!

Children ~ this is your choice, but make it clear if young children aren't invited so there are no embarrassing confusions.

“They invited me…” ~ it's not mandatory to invite someone just because you went to their (or their child's) wedding. Unless their wedding was last week, things may have changed between you and they'd know that. Otherwise, just explain that numbers are tight.

Ex-partners ~ leave it up to your fiancé; if s/he is comfortable they can be invited, otherwise steer clear!

Guests' partners ~ single guests don't have to be invited “with guest”, but all coupled guests should have their partner included by name on the invitation even if the partner is not really known. The exception may be a group of work colleagues invited as a group without partners.