Destination wedding acceptance rates? Mexico and other locales from the U.S.?

Like most of you, I'm struggling with my guest list, as I have an optimal number of guests that I want to hit for our destination wedding in Playa del Carmen. I know what the expert books say (you can invited 20 percent more than your actual number), but can any of you who have already gotten married give me a sense of what percentage of your invited guests actually came? This information would be much appreciated! 

I think our invite list was about 75-80, but we never expected that many.We began talking about a destination wedding when we got engaged with all of our friends & family. So we had a good idea that the 35-40 was pretty reasonable based on their responses at that time. Then we sent paper invites to all of our friends and family anyway - I felt like that was the right thing to do, even knowing many of them wouldn't be going.

Our final number was right at 35 after the last minute dropouts and such (we had a couple of guests with family emergencies that weren't able to make it - plus a hurricane that screwed up flights! it's always something..). 

It's guesswork... and knowing your friends/family.

Originally Posted by brownsugarbride 

Like most of you, I'm struggling with my guest list, as I have an optimal number of guests that I want to hit for our destination wedding in Playa del Carmen. I know what the expert books say (you can invited 20 percent more than your actual number), but can any of you who have already gotten married give me a sense of what percentage of your invited guests actually came? This information would be much appreciated!