Your Guest List Is the Only Budget Decision That Matters

Couples spend months choosing between two florists whose proposals differ by four hundred dollars, then add twenty guests without a conversation.

Twenty guests is two tables, two centrepieces, twenty meals, twenty chairs, twenty place settings, more bar, a bigger room requirement and, frequently, a different venue entirely. In Cleveland that is comfortably five to eight thousand dollars.

This is not an argument for a small wedding. Large weddings can be wonderful and some families require them. It is an argument for treating the guest list as the budget rather than as an input to it.

Decide the number first. Then choose the venue. Everything after that is comparatively cheap.