How Many Wedding Invitations Should I Order?

You know you are going to have a wedding, and you know you want to invite your family and friends to share the day with you. Maybe you have even picked out which invitations you will use. But now you face an important question: how many invitations should you order? It’s a Goldilocks-type dilemma; you don’t want to have a case of too few or too many invitations – you want it to be just right! So what should you be considering in order to get the right number of invitations?

Thinking About Your Guest List

As you would imagine, an important first step is working out your guest list. It is time-consuming to work through all the friends and family of you and your future spouse, so don’t underestimate this part of the process. One way to come up with names you might have forgotten is to also make your seating chart for the reception – as you think of how to group different people you are likely to remember someone you had previously forgotten.

However, just looking at your guest list is not going to give you the number of invitations you need. You will still want to have some flexibility in the number of invitations you order. Part of planning ahead as much as possible is planning for unexpected circumstances and for your own possible slip-ups. New (or previously forgotten) guests have a way of slipping onto your list at the last moment. You don’t want any 11th hour embarrassments by not having an invite for a new friend or an old family member. Always overestimate by a fair margin.

Staying Within Budget

But what is a “fair margin” of overestimation? You will want to keep your budget in mind. There is no reason to go overboard and order a huge extra amount. After all, you want to be green savvy – and that means saving trees as well as saving dollars. Your budget is obviously an important part of all of this.

Be sure to note if you are ordering invitations that require a minimum amount, or that can only be ordered in certain intervals of perhaps 25 or 50. In this case it may be necessary to order up to the next interval anyway, which might be enough to account for that margin of error.

Invitations are Memories

Finally, as you work out your count between having some extras and staying within budget, remember that you might want a few invitations as souvenirs. Your invitations will be beautiful creations, and will always conjure up fond memories of inviting all your loved ones to the biggest moment in your life. Have some on hand for scrapbooking or giving out to guests who might want one for their own memory books.

So How Many?

Still considering what your exact number should be? Just remember what we’ve talked about in this article. Overestimate to account for last minute invites and for having a few left over, while still staying within your budget and not taking down a whole forest unnecessarily. Happy inviting!