Image by Luna Wilde Photography.

My Lover and I have booked our venue! It’s intimate, cool and… small. Intimate is what we wanted however it is slightly more intimate than our original drafted guest list. Leaving us needing to cut our wedding guest list ever so slightly. So how best to do this? We decided to set some boundaries on our guest list and to decide on these boundaries we asked ourselves the following questions…

1. When did you and your Lover last see them? 

Was it over 2 years ago? Did covid have an impact here? For us some friends who live overseas still made the cut as covid really did stop us seeing one another, outside of this however, we cut.

2. Do you want children at your wedding?

This was an easy one for us: No, Thank you! If you are needing to cull your guest list, removing kids is an easy win.

3. Have both you and your Lover met them?

Again, Covid could have had an impact here. For me there are some interstate very close friends that my Lover is yet to meet. This is a great line to draw if you need to draw them. You can always still invite them to your hens or bucks - read our tips on inviting people to your bucks or hens when they are not invited to your wedding here.

4. Work colleagues?

This is another easy line to draw to cut your guest list down. We decided not to invite work colleagues (don’t worry Team TL gets it! You know full well the whole Two Lovers team will be on the dance floor at the Hens Party!).

5. Are you happy to invite partners of friends and family you have never met before? 

Plus ones are tricky! It can be hard to draw a line here as not all plus ones are made equal. I recommend approaching these on a case by case basis.

6. Are they only invited because they are your parents' friends?

This question is loaded with follow up questions. Did your parents contribute financially? Do you know the friends they want to invite? I recommend discussing expectations with your parents and who they want included on your guest list. Agreeing on a number early in the wedding planning journey will save you heartache further down the road.

7. Are you only inviting them because you feel bad? Or because they invited you to theirs a few years ago? 

In this instance - I recommend cutting. It may be a hard conversation - you can read how to tell someone they are not invited to your wedding here - but in the end you will be happy to look around on your wedding day and see only those you really wanted to be there.