Organizing Your Wedding: The Ultimate Guide To Guest Manage

Running a wedding is basically like running a public event. You somehow need to organize a large number of people and get through everything you need to do on the day. 

But how can you do that? Well, it takes project management skills. It’s not the same as organizing a birthday party or trip with family to a local destination. It’s much more complicated than that. 

This post seeks to provide you with advice on managing guests. We look at everything from dealing with invitations to counting who you’ll invite. 

Start With Your Master List And Whittle It Down

While you might like everyone in the world to come to your wedding, you can probably only fit so many people in the venue. Numbers are limited. 

Therefore, you’ll want to start with a master list and whittle it down. Write down the names of everyone you’d like to invite, and then cross some people off the list as you see fit. 

Don’t worry, you’re not being mean. It’s just that not everyone you know can always attend. 

Think about whether you’re going to allow plus-ones. If you can’t fit everyone in on a plus-one basis, don’t let some people bring their partners and others not. That’s a way to make everyone feel disgruntled. 

Use A Spreadsheet

Organizing all your guests into various groups like VIPs, bridesmaids, vendors, and so on is complicated. You don’t always know who’s coming and the proportions in the numbers. 

Therefore, try using spreadsheet software to keep track of everything. You could have a guest list with the rows as the individual guests and then the columns with various variables representing them, including whether they’ve responded, what dietary options they want, and so on. 

You can get something similar on so-called “wedding planning apps.” These try to make it more straightforward to manage every aspect of the ceremony from a single solution. 

Set Deadlines

When it comes to wedding invitations, don’t be polite. Instead, be direct and set deadlines. Don’t let guests wait until the last minute to tell you whether they’ll be in attendance (because you need to know who’s coming in advance). 

Generally, it’s a good idea to book for three or four more slots if you know a lot of people will respond late. This way, you can still grant them entry when they reply. 

If some guests don’t respond (which they often won’t), follow up with phone calls. Make sure you pile on the pressure and let them know it’s urgent that they reply. 

Arrange The Seating

Once you know the numbers and send out the invitations, the next step is to arrange the seating. Laying out who will go where ensures everyone is surrounded by people they know or who they can talk to. 

Make sure any seating you provide is comfortable and that guests have access to drinks and snacks while they wait for the wedding breakfast. The last thing you want is anyone going hungry or stomachs rumbling during the speeches.