Congratulations on your engagement! You just posted your first status as a fiancé and everybody from your bestfriend to your childhood babysitter is sending their well wishes. While the love and support you are receiving is appreciated, creating your guest lists just became more intimidating. Well, the Posh team hopes these guidelines will help simplify the process.
Your Happiness Matters Most!
First off, everyone's wedding ceremony and pre wedding itinerary looks different. Some have bridal showers and choose not to have bachelorette parties. Others forego all pre wedding activities and just go straight to "I do." No matter what you and your future spouse determine, understand that you are the authors of your storybook wedding. Therefore, your happy beginning is at the forefront! This goes especially for the guest list(s). Do not feel that you are obligated to invite everybody that you have ever had contact with. A wedding is one of the most significant ceremonies of one's life, and you and your fiancé deserve to be surrounded by the people you love and enjoy most!
Bridal Shower
A bridal shower is usually exclusively for the women guests of the wedding. The attendance is comprised of friends, family and your bridal party. While "friends" ranges from coworkers to lifelong pals, family is a less broad category. Under good circumstances, your immediate female family members should have definite invites. More importantly, the women in the groom's immediate family should receive invitations. When you marry someone, your two families become one. Welcoming them in the celebration and creating memories is very important! Lastly, your bridal party will act as your right hand throughout the wedding process. This includes the events leading up to the nuptials. In fact many bridal parties are actually hands on in planning the bridal shower.
Bachelorette Party
Your bachelorette party is the time to let your hair down. After strenuous months- years of planning, your wedding is right around the corner. Many view this event as a night or weekend to commemorate a bride to be's last few days of freedom. Others just want to celebrate the adventure that lies ahead. Either way, you more than deserve the right to unapologetically enjoy the moment. This means that this guest list is extremely short. The people that surround you at this event are your bridal shower and closest friends and family members. Note that the common family members that attend are sisters and close cousins. The elders of the family should probably sit this one out.
The Rehearsal Dinner
This soiree is the ice breaker of the weekend. The rehearsal dinner produces a relaxed environment which is ideal for bringing your families together and building cohesion before the wedding. Invites are also usually extended to out of town guests. This gesture is seen as an act of gratitude for their travels and support. While quality time is always amazing, the dinner also serves as a rehearsal for your ceremony. Therefore, guaranteed invitations should be sent to your wedding party and their plus ones.
The Wedding
Your wedding day is supposed to be one of the dearest memories of your life. It is a day of sheer emotion. Though laughter, tears of joy and extreme joy are usually always present at nuptial ceremonies, everyone else who is blessed to witness your union is completely up to you. A couple of things to keep in mind while making this guest list are whether or not you want children present and the sizes of your venues. We hope this blog has given some insight and we truly wish you the best!
