When you’re planning a wedding, one of the hardest things you will do is decide who to invite. Guest lists are tricky for multiple reasons. First, feeding all your guests will eat up the largest part of your budget, and secondly, it is hard to decide who to invite.

Before we get into the nitty-gritty of who you can leave off the list, let’s get one thing clear. You are going to offend someone… it’s unavoidable. Go into this process knowing that you can’t make everyone happy and it will be much more enjoyable for you. With that being said, here are a few people you can absolutely leave off the list.

1. All of your Facebook ‘friends’: We get it. In the age of social media, more and more relationships are starting online, friendships included. But, if you’re like us, you likely have WAY more Facebook friends than you do in real life. So, unless you feel a deep soul connection with the person, you can probably afford to leave them off the list without offending them. A general rule of thumb is if you have never actually met in person, they don’t need to be invited to your wedding.

guest list

2. Your parent’s random friends that you’ve never met: This one is a little bit trickier, especially if your parents are helping to pay for the wedding. That being said, if these invites would take away from people you actually want to invite, then leave them off the list and explain to your parents/in-laws that there isn’t enough space on the guest list for their acquaintances.

3. Your childhood/high school best friend: Unless you’re still super close, don’t feel obligated to invite them. Sure, you might have been inseparable as kids, but it’s okay if you’ve fallen out of touch over the years and it’s okay to leave them off the guest list.

guest list

4. All the obscure relatives: If there is a “twice removed” after you say cousin… you don’t need to invite them. It’s generally a good idea to invite immediate family, but if your extended family is fairly large, feel free to leave them off. A good way to get around this is to throw a special shower just for the extended family so everyone can hangout, but you’re not footing the bill for a huge guest list.

5. Random co-workers: This one is also a bit tricky, especially if you work in a small office. Realistically, if you invite one person, it would be rude not to invite everyone. The best way to handle this is to either invite no one or invite everyone. The people who you’re close with will make it, and the people you’re not close with will likely get the hint and not come.

You May Also Be Interested In

If you’re still unsure if you should invite someone, ask yourself these three questions:

  • Have I seen them in the last year?
  • Am I directly related to them?
  • Am I going to cause irreparable damage to a relationship if I don’t invite them?

If the answer to all three is ‘No’, feel free to leave them off the list, guilt free. Happy planning!