List A | So no one feels left out, you can invite all extended family right down to your 3rd cousin Robert Eugene. This should produce about a 50% return. Inviting everyone takes all the guesswork out of whether someone should be invited or not. However, you do take the risk of having picked a truly desirable destination like the Colorado Rockies to get married.
In fact, one bride shared with RMB a destination dilemma. The bride’s Aunt and Uncle brought their neighbors to Colorado with them AND to the wedding. They actually sent their RSVP in for four instead of two. These situations certainly can add to your overall wedding costs and can be tough to manage.
List B | If you want to narrow your list just a bit, we suggest you cut you invitations off at a certain relative-level. Invite immediate family on both sides, of course, your aunts and uncles, first cousins and grandparents. Then, each of you agree to a certain number of close friends. This list will do what they can to attend and you will yield about 75% positive return on your RSVP’s. You can follow the event with a marriage announcement to those that were eliminated from the list.
To narrow things even further, you may want to invite only those you have personally talked with about your destination wedding. (This is what I did and there were no hurt feelings and we were able to afford more extravagancies for less people.) After calling your immediate family and ten of your closest friends, say only seven of them can make it. You then may be able to call a few more of "his "friends. This allows you to be in control of your entire guest list and of course, those associated expenses. Using this invite method, you will certainly want to send out a marriage announcement to all of your extended family and friends.
Invite Recommendation
We really encourage all brides and grooms to share their destination wedding events, blogs and photos online through a personalized website. This way, loved ones who couldn’t attend can still be made to feel included and in your thoughts.
List c | Otherwise known as the "Perfect List":
Traditional hometown weddings receive an 80-90% return on RSVP’s. Most destination weddings, unless you have only invited those you know can attend, will receive about a 50-75% return. There are several ways to go about creating your guest list.