Creating and narrowing down a guest list might not be as fun as shopping for a wedding dress or cake tasting, but creating a wedding guest list to perfectly fit your budget, venue, and taste will help make your wedding day run so much smoother.

So, how exactly do you cut your guest list to a reasonable and affordable number? 

Good news—there are a few techniques you can use to do this quickly, sans drama. To help you get started, here are nine people you can easily eliminate from your save-the-date pile and why they shouldn’t be invited to your big celebration in the first place.What are your goals? What are your goals for your wedding? Tiny and intimate? Huge and intimate? A celebration of community? What does that mean for your guest list?What are your goals?

What are your goals for your wedding?

Tiny and intimate? Huge and intimate? A celebration of community? What does that mean for your guest list?

How many people are coming?

Realistically, for each of you, roughly how many people do you have to invite? How many people will each of your parents want to invite?

Is there a guest list limit?

Will you be setting limits on how many guests your parents can invite? (Related: Are your parents paying for the wedding? How much of the wedding are they paying for?

What else should you be thinking about?

Will you be including plus ones for single guests? Will you be including kids? How many of your guests are local? How many of your guests will be traveling for the wedding?

Making a wedding guest list can certainly introduce some potentially awkward situations. You may run into someone who says “I can’t wait to go to your wedding”, even though you’re not so sure about inviting them. Having a clear, firm, but kind response along the lines of: “Of course we would love to invite everyone, but with the venue space and budget, that won’t be possible”.

Schedule your venue tour of Greenwood Springs Event Center in Joplin MO today!