Is it wrong to cut off booking at a certain number of guest ???

Speaking as a non-bride, I can't help but think of this from a guest's perspective. Imagine if this was you. You get a "Save the Date!" in the mail, and think, "Yeah! I deserve a vacation, and I'll get to see my friend/ family member get married too! How nice!"

And when you try to book, you are refused... because the bride "didn't think you would really come"?? I would be so hurt and feel like a second-class person. There is little sense in inviting people if you don't really care if they come or not, and start to fret about how much they are costing you if they dare to take you up on the invitation you made.

I honestly think you have to live with however many people do decide to come, and that there is no way to "politely un-invite" people. Sorry.

I’m going to have to say yes it would be wrong ( sorry for being so blunt)… I would personally feel a lit hurt if I got invited to share one of the happiest days with someone and then was told I was no long able to go. I understand that it may blow your budget a bit but hopefully you stay under 80 :fingerscrossed: I think that SSNM made some pretty good suggestion. I hope it all works out.

Destination weddings are a little tricky. We sometimes invite people just out of courtesy even if we know they can't/won't attend. But we should all be careful... we may in for a surprise. We invited about 150ppl and we plan to have around 50 people attend. We won't request the RSVP's until the spring so we have to wait and see. I say, "The more the merrier" but I also feel the more we have the less we can do( welcome dinner vs. welcome reception, oot bags, nice favors, etc.) So if we get half of our guest list=75/80 we will have to pay more and I will have to save more but if people are willing to travel and pay so much for us, I will have to make it happen( I already got a second job).

Once you send out the STD's it would be poor etiquiette to not to send an invite or turn away a guest.

For me I had planned the budget, reception location, decor, gifts, excursions for our guest, a welcome dinner etc.... so the reason it affects the budget is not just the reception food, because when you add more guest it affects the cost of everything such as OOT bags, favors, reception cost, ceremony and reception decor, entertainment, excursions, the welcome dinner, etc... we had planned on making this a fun filled event for our guest by doing alot of extra little things for 50-60 people so we have to definitely adjust.

I will be rearranging some things lol..... I have already started looking at ways to do things differently and how we can cut cost in other areas. I have discussed this with my family and they are willing to help with anything necessary to make this work. I do think it will be super fun with alot of people and we will have the time of our lives.

I don't want anyone to think I am not happy or grateful for all the love that are family and friends have for me and FI... and it truly is a blessing. It is just very stressful sometimes when plans change, whether its money, location or details, etc....

I love this forum because it allows us to encourage each other and helps us get through the stressful times. thank you all for the advice it really has help me. I feel confident that things will work out and I will not be cutting booking off.

have they put down deposits? So many people told me they were planing to come, but almost all backed out. The truth is, I was relieved. I didn't really want many more than 30 people. We ended up having something like 24 including us. But, at one point I was panicing that 65 were going to show up.

I'd just come up with areas to cut, like OOT bags. You can do just a travel mug with a few things inside it instead of a full blown bag. You can charter a van for a group excursion instead of pay per person.

A way to cut down on the reception, would be to have a sunset ceremony. The sun will set late on your wedding day (around 830pm). You can have a 730 ceremony and a party on the beach as the sun sets. Then everyone will just grab dinner at the hotel before the ceremony. I think a beach party with drinks & a band would be much more fun than a big dinner together.