10 Great Reasons to Limit your Guest List to your Very Nearest and Dearest

 
10 Great Reasons to Limit your Guest List to your Very Nearest and Dearest

By Meredith Hams and Joanna Yninas Saltz

1. Fewer guests equals less stress. Arrange the seating chart can be the most difficult part of your planning. Start with all the dramas-you want to seat your eight school buddies together, but two of them aren't speaking. Or you have random guests who don't fit in anywhere. A more intimate gather saves you the stress of finding seats that'll make 200 people happy-and may allow you to have your guests sit where they want.
   
2. You'll save your saliva. You'll be cutting the number of invitations, so you won't have to lick so many envelopes. You'll also cut postage and calligraphy costs.
   
3. You'll have more room at the tables. Less can mean more in other ways: more booty-shakin' space on the dance floor, more cake to pig out on. While the space is always a plus, the "more" that you'll appreciate most of is time-you'll have more of it spend with each of your special guests.
   
4. Everyone can get up close and personal to your ceremony. No one has to sit all the way in the back and have her view obstructed. Everyone will be able to hear every vow.
   
5. You don't need to rent the convention center. With fewer guests on your list, you can celebrate at a more inventive reception site-a charming inn, a new art gallery, or an old Victorian home.
   
6. Caviar for 50 guests beats chips and salsa for 300. Cutting guests lets you serve more elegant foods or bigger portions. You can spoil your guest with shrimp and foie gras, or a 12-ounce filet mignon instead of eight.
   
7. When the best man gives an embarrassing toast, fewer people will hear it. Need we say more?
   
8. You'll be cutting all the lines. Guests are always waiting in line-the receiving line, the buffet line, and of course, the bathroom line. Fewer guests means more dancing and fun time.
   
9. You'll have no post-wedding laryngitis sufferers. Loud music and a lively crowd make for an entertaining, but noisy party. Cut the guests and you'll be cutting the decibel level as well.
   
10. You might actually know everyone. How great it would be to look around the room and recognize everyone? You won't need name tags (or parental help) to know who everyone is.
    
    

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