Determining how many people will come prior to booking your venue?

sleepywarlord · December 19, 2011

Hello! Excuse me if there's another thread on this somewhere, but I was unable to locate it.

I was hoping for some advice of what-to-do.

I'm planning a destination wedding (still in the early parts), after deciding that a local one wasn't for me, but I'm facing a bit of a dilemma. I easily have probably... 150 people I would like to invite. I realize that there's little chance that so many people would attend (for whatever the reason). Is there a way to put feelers out to see how many approximately might consider attending to a destination wedding without actually sending out invitations?

I have no intention of asking people I don't plan to invite but I'd hate to say book a venue that holds 150, and 20 people come (and it would feel really large), or worse, book a place that requires atleast 10 rooms be rented and like, maybe 4 people attend. On the other hand, I'd hate to guess 20, and then end up with 150 people attending (as some of the venues I've been looking at have some sort of cap on how many they can seat).

I've asked a few friends informally if they'd be interested (and money pending) they would, but I can't fathom simply calling up distant relatives (that our parents have asked us to invite) to ask, some of them we haven't seen in over a decade (but very well may like to attend).

Thank you for your time

SS2012 · December 24, 2011

hi there! yes there is definitely a way to get feelers without actual invites! you send out save the dates. there a few options you have! you could send out save the dates and ask for RSVP's from those who are interested in coming. you could send out save the dates and ask people to RSVP if interested to an email or website you set up. ooooor you can send out electronic save the dates, again asking for RSVP's from those who plan to join you! here are some ideas:

LOTS of passport save the date ideas (some w RSVP cards): http://www.bestdestinationwedding.com/t/22754/the-boarding-pass-std-thread

postcard save the dates: http://www.bestdestinationwedding.com/t/41486/my-postcard-save-the-dates

message in a bottle save the dates: http://www.bestdestinationwedding.com/t/67102/my-save-the-date

electronic save the dates: http://www.bestdestinationwedding.com/t/54329/electronic-save-the-dates

just to give you some ideas! good luck

krenae · January 4, 2012

A lot of our close family and friends said from the beginning that they were coming without being asked. I started off by booking the venue. From there, I got room rates and sent out an email to all that were interested as well as a few more people that I knew we wanted to invite. I simply gave them a breakdown of the room costs and asked them to respond to one of three options (will be attending, unsure, and not attending). Once their responses were received, we reserved a wedding room block. And once they put their deposit down, we booked the reception.

cantstopsmiling · January 5, 2012

I sent out an email to get a rough idea of numbers ages ago. Then we sent out STDs about a year in advance, it looks like we'll have about 55 - 60% of the guests at the wedding! Cant complain though, its hard in these times of recession!