The key to not throwing your caution to the wind is knowing your budget and guest count, advises wedding planner Jove Meyer (via POPSUGAR). No matter what your dream wedding reception looks like, a cozy party around a beach bonfire, or in a glamorous venue that looks straight out of a Disney movie, you must have a ballpark figure. And to make sure that you don’t overspend, you should first lay out an overall budget. After that, discuss openly with your partner and your family members to see who can pitch in and how much they can contribute to the wedding fund.
After you get a rough idea of how much you can spend, compile a list of the people you would like to invite, using your budget as the reference. Throughout the process, you might want to trim the list to ensure you can afford the wedding. The easy way to do this is to classify your guests into three groups; the must-haves (your immediate family and best friends), the priority group (your co-workers and relatives), and the negotiables (referring to those whose absence won’t break the party vibe). The science behind a rational guest list is that food and beverage expenses play a big part in the overall wedding costs. The fewer people you invite, the less money you have to spend on catering and on other important things, Hitched suggests. Besides, more people means you need a bigger venue to accommodate everyone. Venue rental can also be very expensive.
