How To Be A Rebel Bride - Guest List Edition

Every one says how important it is to get a guest list together before you get too deep into wedding planning. Those people would be 100% right. Because we only had a tentative guest list of ~250 people, we felt confident that all the venues we were looking at would work no problem.

Me, Mr. Kettle, Momma and Daddy Kettle, FSIL Grand, and Mima and Dad Kettle, all sat down and hashed out a preliminary guest list. But then the numbers began creeping up. Mima Kettle thought of more people who had to be invited. Most were family, so we added them.

I have no idea what the total number of people were who were suggested to be on the list. But I think between the 7 of us, that list had the potential to be almost 500 people had we included everyone. That definitely wasn't going to work.

In that first meeting, I saw my dreams of a smaller guest list wedding going away and never coming back. I re-assessed my priorities and realized it was probably better to include more people if it fit in the budget because that meant a bigger party and more people there we cared about.

So, you must be asking, where does the rebellion come in? The fight I had on my hands to get everyone's addresses required a bit of rebellion on my part and Mr. Kettle's part too.

I had a certain date I wanted to send out the STDs by. When that date came and gone, it was time to send out e-party invites as well. We wanted to send them out 6 weeks before the e-party. That date came and gone.

We had to do a bit of... arm twisting to get all our addresses. People's addresses change, they move etc. But we still needed addresses.

Neither Mr. Kettle nor I make a habit of treating our parents like anything other than parents. But when they weren't coming up with their addresses, we had to make some tough choices.

• People we had fought to keep on the list got taken off when their addresses weren't found by the time we had to print off our envelopes.
• Mr. Kettle had a pretty heated conversation with Mima Kettle about taking off some of their cousins and church members. He was amazing in getting the list cut down to less than 325 people total.
• I e-mailed numerous e-mailed to Momma and Daddy Kettle to get their addresses.

It was an uncomfortable time, but we got it done. And at least it's done now. Unless more people move in the next 3 months, we're done tracking down hundreds of addresses.

Momma Kettle and I were still struggling with how we would organize a seating chart for all those people into the two rooms at Chateau Bu-Sche. Every person that could come off the list was only a benefit.


Personal photo: Our ceremony will be here, but also our reception.




Personal photo: We will also use this adjoining room because our gargantuan wedding won't fit into just the atrium above.



I'm still mystified as to how we ended up with an invite list of over 300 and there wasn't a single person on that list who could come off. It's mystifying.

Did you have a hard time getting your guest list done? Did your family have addresses for the guests they wanted to invite?