The answer to how many friends to invite to wedding depends on the size of wedding you’ll have and the other people you’ll invite to the wedding. We’ll also discuss if your parents can bring their friends and how many are expected from their guests.
But for couples who desire a small wedding, you can read what is an intimate wedding.
How Many Friends To Invite To Wedding?
You can invite as few as five friends to more than ten, as weddings vary in size. You should also consider the other people you’ll ask at the wedding before invitations to all your friends.
To start, consider your budget and the reasonable guest list size. Then, write down the immediate family members from both sides, so you and your partner are satisfied with the people you can invite.
From here, you can determine which friends to invite. Intimate weddings can sometimes only have family and friends from the wedding party.
Bigger weddings, on the other hand, can have more friends of the couple, which can be ten to twenty people more than a small wedding. While the bride and groom might have an unequal number of friends, it’s best to invite equal numbers to the wedding.
Types of friends to invite to the wedding
Family friends are usually invited to the wedding as these are the people you grew up with. They are likely to know your family as well, which makes some of them invitees by your parents.
We have school friends from kindergarten, elementary, high school, and college. Because we spent a long time with them, we are usually solid friends with them.
Work friends are the ones we’re close with in our workplace or profession. You interact daily, which may have nurtured a strong bond.
And while most weddings usually only invite the couple’s inner friend circle, more significant celebrations can have casual friends. They can be acquaintances from school, work, or on social media.
Which Friends Should I Invite To My Wedding?
Do you know who is the friend you’re inviting to your wedding? Here are some tips to help you consider to who you’ll send an invitation:
- Friends that you know you’ll love to see at your wedding and will surely make you happy and feel supported on your big day
- Bridal party/wedding party members like the maid of honor, best man, bridesmaids, and groomsmen
- Friends who are invited to the engagement party, bridal shower, bachelor/bachelorette party, as it’ll be rude not to invite people who attended your pre-wedding events to your wedding
- Friends who helped you celebrate before the wedding as there might be people who surprised you with a party to commemorate the engagement
- Friends you’ve given the save the dates as it’ll be rude if they were invited beforehand and then uninvited the wedding
- Close friends who you think won’t be able to attend the wedding as even though they have schedule issues and prior commitments, they’d still appreciate being invited to the wedding
- Close friends who also invited you to their wedding
How Many Friends Should Your Parents Invite To Your Wedding?
The couple’s parents can each get a quarter of the people from the guestlist to invite. Some would also say that since the bride’s parents traditionally pay for most of the wedding, they’ll get more.
The size of your wedding will help you know how many people to invite. However, it’s only fitting for your parents to invite people such as a friend or more, especially if they paid for the wedding.
It’s polite to ask if they want to invite people, but they’ll also understand that you’ll have more guests than them. For example, a 100-person wedding will have 50 guests for the couple, 25 for the bride’s parents, and the remaining 25 for the groom’s parents.
You can also read how to have a small wedding with a big family to manage your guest headcount.
Is it normal for parents to invite their friends to your wedding?
Parents are usually allowed to invite their friends to your wedding as they are hosting. If parents are divorced, you might even need to accommodate more sets of friends.
But of course, you can always talk to them if you feel that it’s being unreasonable and you and your partner are sacrificing some close friends to open the guest list for people you don’t know. You can always have a loving talk with your parents and tell them that you can’t accommodate many guests.
Reasons Not To Invite Someone To A Wedding
To further help you decide who to invite, here are the people you don’t need to send an invitation to for your wedding:
- Ex partners, which don’t need explanations
- People who are obliging you because they feel that you owe them despite not being close
- Friends who tend to instigate an argument
- People who are openly in bad blood may fight upon seeing each other
- Friends or relatives are known not to handle their liquor well to avoid issues
- Coworkers that you barely talk to
- People who aren’t supportive of your marriage and were expressive or vocal about it
Conclusion
Was this guide helpful? There’s no specific number on how many friends to invite to wedding as weddings vary in size.
However, you should always invite your closest friends and allow your parents to invite some of them. People who celebrate with you during pre-wedding activities should also be invited.