Mistakes To Avoid When Inviting Wedding Guests

Inviting your guests is an important step when planning your wedding. It’s important that you think carefully about who to invite and also how to invite them. To help the invite process go smoothly, here are just a few common mistakes you should try to avoid. 

Sending invites too late
Don’t wait until a couple months before your big day to send out invites. A lot of people may already have plans, so you want to let your guests know earlier. Most couples begin by sending a ‘save the date’ invite about 8 to 12 months before the wedding. About four to six months before the wedding, it’s then customary to send a full invitation with times and extra details on it. This will maximize the amount of guests that are able to attend.

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Not confirming guests
It’s important to confirm exactly who is coming. Caterers will likely need a specific figure - especially if you’re having a sit down meal. Similarly, during the ceremony, it could be important to know how many chairs to put out. Putting an ‘RSVP’ note on your invite will encourage people to respond, however you will likely need to do some chasing up. This will ensure that you’re not paying for guests that aren’t coming. 
Getting ceremony/reception guest invites mixed up
When designing and ordering wedding invitations, you’ll need two separate invites: one for ceremony guests and one for reception guests (unless all your guests are coming to the ceremony and reception). A common mistake that couples make is getting these invites mixed up. This could result in you accidentally inviting reception guests to the ceremony or vice versa. Make sure that you double check exactly which invites are going to which people. 
Not specifying who is invited
If you’re sending an invite to a friend or family member and they have a partner and kids, you’ll need to specify whether they are invited too. If you’ve planned for a strict number of people having food, you don’t want this to be messed up because a guest decides to bring their whole family. Alternatively, you don’t want to invite an entire family and only have one member of that family attend because they thought they were the only one invited. 
Failing to check dietary requirements
The invitation process is a good time to check whether certain guests have any strict dietary requirements. Some guests may be vegetarian or vegan and you don’t want to serve them a meat dish. Other guests may have allergies, and it’s worth checking this too. You may already know about the dietary requirements of close friends and family, however if partners or children are coming along and you don’t know them well, it could be important to confirm what they can eat so that all your guests are happy.



Seating people together that don’t get along
After finalizing your guests, you may need to consider a seating plan if you are going to have guests served food at their tables. If there are conflicts in the family or there are friends that don’t get along, you may need to carefully consider where to seat them. Your guests should hopefully behave for your special day regardless of where you put them, however a well thought out seating plan will reduce the risk of unnecessary drama.