Deciding on your wedding guests is a task that can easily spiral out of control. Your intentions start out well enough. Your immediate family leads to your third cousins, which then extends to your best friend in kindergarten!

Whoa! Let’s back the wedding guest train up a moment. While it would be wonderful to have a wedding filled with everyone you have ever met, reality will quickly curb your best intentions.

Depending on your wedding venue, you may not be able to accommodate all of your favorite people at your wedding ceremony, or even your wedding reception. Then, you must figure the costs of wedding invitations, wedding favors, and food for each of your wedding guests.

So how do you decide who makes the wedding guest list? Here are some pointers to see you through the chaos.

• Make your dream wedding list first, and then attempt to cut back. This way, you won’t forget any critical wedding guests that you must have.
• Consult your wedding budget. If you have a set amount for your wedding reception or invitations, you can estimate how many people your wedding can include.
• Figure out who won’t be able to make it to your wedding day. While you can still send them a wedding invitation out of politeness, if you know they won’t make it, you won’t need to include them on the guest list.

What other tricks are you using to pare down your wedding guest list? How have you dealt with disappointed loved ones who didn’t make the cut? Share your wedding wisdom here!

Kimberlee Ferrell is our wedding planning writer and a freelance writer and blogger at Beautiful Wedding Invitations.

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