Wedding Guest List

A guest-list example

For a 120-person reception, begin with 68 invitation households rather than a loose total. After invitations go out, record 74 confirmed seats, 19 declines and 27 pending responses. That distinction lets a couple review the actual attendance pattern without treating every invitation as a guaranteed chair, meal or hotel room.

Count people separately from invitations

A household of four may need one envelope but four seats. Create the named people first, then group their invitation details. If an invitation includes an unnamed plus-one, keep that place identifiable until the guest confirms a name; do not silently convert one invitation into one attendee.

Resolve a partial household reply

Suppose two adults accept and two children decline. Record the individual replies before sending a catering total. Keep unanswered people pending, and ask the caterer which deadline and payment rules apply to unresolved replies. A forecast for budgeting and a contractual final headcount serve different purposes.

Check a CSV import before replacing your list

Export a backup, import the new file, and compare a few known households, accented names and meal notes. A column named status may use different values in another service. Review the imported statuses and the total number of people before using the new list for seating.

Give each recipient the fields they need

Catering usually needs attendance and meal information; the person posting invitations needs addresses. Build those handoffs separately. Label the export with its date, and send changes made after the final count directly to the recipient: an already downloaded CSV cannot update itself.

How we make these planning assumptions: Counts come directly from the people and statuses you enter. A pending invitation is not treated as an accepted seat until you record a confirmed response.