Your wedding plans are underway and you’re dreaming about your absolutely fabulous destination ceremony. Before you start sharing the news about all the amazing-ness your big day will surely be, you should get prepared for the invitation inquiries that will be flooding in. Of course every friend and long lost girlfriend of your uncle wants to come…so how do you trim the invites and save yourself from a guest list filled with acquaintances? Consider these 5 ways to make the process a teeny bit easier and then pull up those big girl/boy panties and hold your ground. I mean you did opt for a destination wedding to kick the traditional wedding stress to the curb right?
Factor Guests Out
When planning who to invite look at your list of potential people and trim it by a few factors. Ask yourself these questions about each guest and set a parameter on what is acceptable for in invite to the big day. How often do you see this person? Do you chat with them on the phone often? If you had a party would they be invited? Does your significant other know them? Sometimes just going through these questions together for each guests will help you and your red pen get busy. I mean it’s kind of silly to fly someone to Hawaii or Fiji if you haven’t heard from them in a year and they didn’t call you on your last birthday.
Family Obligations
Just because you’re family doesn’t mean your invited. Keep it simple and invite immediate family only, parents, grandparents and siblings. Maybe make an exception here or there for the favorite cousin. Seriously though, most people know when you plan a destination wedding it’s to cut the crazy and basically have a “wed-cation”. Yes, we made that term up and we are proud of it!
Drop Kids from the List
Sound harsh? Nah…think about it this way, you’re giving all the moms and dads on your list the okay to vacay solo. Trust us, most parents will be ecstatic to take take a quit adults only trip. Having lots of kids at your wedding can add up cost-wise and also change the vibe of your wedding. The only exception of course is if you have kids and then you might want to consider limiting the list to age appropriate playmates for them.
Limit the Options
Pick a location that doesn’t have five million suites available. Then it’s much easier to say we only have X amount of capacity. There’s nothing better than to only be able to accommodate who you really want to accommodate.
Less is More
Don’t invite people you really don’t know. Destination weddings hold a very romantic, cozy vibe that can easily be mucked up by a few “strangers” along for the ride. There’s no need to invite people for the purpose of appeasing anyone. Do you really want someone in your most treasured photos that might not be around next year or even next month? Just be cool with saying “no”. It might take a few times but the message will get through. You’ll be thankful you had the day you really wanted with the love of your life and your very closest peeps.