College is a struggle for anyone. Students attempt to balance their class schedule, homework for said classes, extracurricular activities, sports, clubs, studying and social time. It's even more difficult being a senior, adding in graduate school visits, meetings with advisors and various other department heads, and trying to meet graduate school application deadlines. Imagine trying to plan a wedding while doing all of this. Welcome to my world.
My fiancé and I are getting married next summer. I thought that this semester was going to be a bit easier on me since I only have one online class. With the added stress of planning a wedding, I feel as if I have a full-time class schedule again.
The first step is trying to figure out exactly who to invite, so you start writing down both sets of parents, any siblings you may have, and then extended family. These people are pretty much no brainers. Next, you start listing friends, coworkers, and people who have had a significant impact on your life. You were hoping for a smaller number of guests but, upon first count, you come up with a total of 300 people. There is no way that your venue will fit that many people.
Microsoft Excel is an excellent tool to utilize when creating a guest list. I added the guest list in its entirety under the first Sheet. Next, I broke down my complete list and my fiancé’s complete list under the next two Sheets. I finished up by breaking my fiancé’s complete list down into groups (work, friends and family, and organizations) under the next few Sheets. For me, this made it a lot easier to whittle down our numbers.
I looked at my guest list and started looking at my acquaintances. Some of them I have classes with, but wouldn’t be seeing them anymore on a regular basis. Would we still be as close by next summer? Probably not, so I crossed them off the list. I did the same with friends from different jobs where I am no longer employed. I also considered the fact that if the tables were turned, would they have invited me? Again, probably not, so this made it fairly easy to make eliminations. My list is down to below 100 people. My fiancé is not having as much success with his list as I had. He knows many more people than I do and is having a pretty difficult time with figuring out just who to cut.
Once your guest list has been finalized, it will be time to start collecting addresses. This part seems so daunting and tedious, but you may have some good outlets to try first. Talk to both sets of parents to see if they have contact information for family members and friends. Most parents I know send out a plethora of Christmas cards, so you know they have the information you need. Next, utilize social media to private message friends for their contact information. A few of my older college friends who I haven’t seen in years are on my Facebook, so I private messaged them to get their addresses; they were very excited for the upcoming event. Finally, if you are a member of a large club or organization, consider sending out a mass email or even posting information in a meeting room.
Establishing the guest list is the first major step in planning a wedding. Once this has been done, then the real fun begins: save the dates, venue, caterers, music, photographer, invitations, the dress, hair salon consultations and decorations. Don’t worry, I’ll help you through it.
