As you sit around blissfully staring at the beautiful engagement ring, suddenly it will dawn on you that there is a guest list that must be created, a seating chart that must be worked out, and a place big enough to hold everyone found at a price you can afford, without you ripping your hair out, or turning into Bridezilla!  Ack!  What is a bride to do?  Seek out the help of your groom of course, find out from him who he wants to invite and get started.

Tip #1.  Both the bride and the groom should make their own separate guest lists; they should add anyone and everyone they would like to attend.  Once each of them has created a separate list, they should sit down and work on one large master list that combines both lists, minus any duplicates, or anyone that they absolutely refuse to have in attendance.  Hint- it is never a good idea to invite an ex to your wedding.  This goes for ex-boyfriend or ex-girlfriend.  Tends to make your new partner a bit upset.  Once you have omitted the duplicates you can easily start working your way down the list to make your guest list fit your targeted guest list size.  For example, bride and groom decide they can afford a wedding with 200 people, however they each have 125 people on their list, that’s 250 people total, however for this example we will say that 20 slots were freed from duplicates that were on both the brides list and the grooms list.  That leaves an additional 30 people over the wedding budget.  The bride and groom must now decide, which 30 people to cut, or how can they add to the budget to accommodate the additional 30 people.  If you choose to cut the 30 people for example, do not just cut from one list, try to split the cuts between both the bride and grooms list to keep from having harsh feelings. 

Tip #2.  If you cannot afford to have a large guest list, be fair and stick to only immediate family, and the closest of friends.  This will keep harsh feelings down amongst all of the acquaintances that you have, who are upset that someone else was invited and they were not.  This can cause a great amount of stress, and strain when planning a wedding to have people pouting and upset that they were not invited.  If you do go the small and simple route, simply tell others that ask, that you and your groom have decided that a very small personal affair is what you have opted for with only immediate family involved.  This keeps the story straight for everyone and reduces hard feelings that friends may have. 

Tip #3.  Seating charts can be harsh and brutal however ensure that everyone is seated next to someone they like.  The last thing you want is for people to sit next to someone they dislike and cause a scene on your big day.  Enter the seating charts, be prepared to spend some time on this, keep older guests away from speakers, if you have any family members in a feud keep them separated as much as possible, also consider setting up a special place just for the kids to sit if you have decided to allow kids.  Not all couples allow kids at their wedding so the choice is yours. 

Weddings are stressful enough to plan without making it harder on yourselves than you must.  Take these suggestions to heart and enjoy the reduced stress level you should immediately feel knowing that some of the hardest tasks are really quite simple and manageable.