Executing the "B List"

With a never-ending guest list and a venue that holds exactly 200, the Seashell crew had to come up with a way to accomodate all parties involved. We were scared to excessively over-invite for risk of filling our venue beyond capacity. We also were reluctant to invite too close to the 200 number and come in with a half-empty venue and many people we wished we'd have invited "if we'd only known".

Simply put, the numbers game with acceptances and declines is just that: a numbers game.

Here's how we made it work:

We divided the guest list 50/50. This meant each side got to invite 115 people (we left a little room for declines). This was our "A List". Invitations were sent on June 25, 2010 with a response card date of July 25, 2010.

People who didn't fit on the "A List" were placed on the "B List". These people did not receive Save the Dates. Also, these were people we genuinely would have loved to have at the wedding all along, but with 100 invites on each side, family and close friends took priority. B-Listers included Mama Seashell's hairdresser, friends of friends, and second and third even fourth cousins. For the most part, we were able to keep this list relegated to people who may not have immediately heard from others, "Oh, I got the Seashell invitation in the mail today! I'm so excited!". (Because, of course, everyone is totally excited for our wedding.) These invitations were sent out as declines arrived, with the bulk on July 25, 2010 and a response card date of August 25, 2010.

Our goal was to include as many people as possible and also preserve the appearance of our invitations (as in, "Wow! I CLEARLY got B-Listed with this 2-day response turn around date!"). We certainly didn't want to make anyone feel as if they were less than invited, but we were also in a bind with a limited number of slots at our venue.

Our final numbers worked as such:

• Total initial people invited: 233

Held our breath as we awaited 33 declines, and then waited for additional declines so that B List invites could be sent

• Additional B List guests invited: approximately 30
• Current Projected Attendance: 190 

Papa Seashell recently asked, "Should we get working on a C List?" He cracks me up. No, Dad, I think we're good.

Did you execute a B List? How did you manage it?