What would be more meaningful to you

[godaime]

Beautiful Venue & Fewer Guests or Not as nice venue & more guests. I am having to choose between somewhere less expensive as not as beautiful of a hotel for my reception or a more expensive and beautiful of a hotel but less guests. What would be more important to you. The price difference is major like over $40 dollars a person. But I would also like really nice pictures of my reception....ahhhh decisions decisions decisions.

 

[MustangFan]

are you talking a lot less people, like important ones? I wouldn''t sacrifice quality or quanity you''ll regret it because you''ll never be able to mingle with all the extra people anyway.

 

[Jas12]

For me, location was very important. I could of easily made a 200+ guest list in my hometown, but I tailored my list to what would include all my closest friends and family and then chose the best location to accomodate them. I have a guest list of about 132 and a great spot, so this approach worked for me.

 

[labbielove]

if it were me i would stop and ask myself what it is that you want for your wedding day-
even if we had a limitless budget, i would not want more than the # of guests we are having (80-100), 40 of which are our immediate family.
more than than means less time with my fi and close family/friends. i know the day will go by in the blink of an eye anyway, so i want to really be present and treasure every minute.

i would treasure the photos of those people regardless if we got married at city hall or the most expensive venue you could find.

if you have the budget, and you want that many people, then go for it

if your day won''t be complete without the larger # of people, then you have your answer as well

 

[anchor31]

I would prefer better venue and less people. I always prefer less people anyway.

 

[neatfreak]

Date: 6/5/2007 9:11:03 AM
Author: anchor31
I would prefer better venue and less people. I always prefer less people anyway.

Hehe, my thoughts EXACTLY. But the major thing to ask yourself is whether you''ll be skimping on people you really WANT there. For us, we had few enough people that we really wanted there to have our dream venue as long as we didn''t invite a lot of "extra" people. But I would have chosen a less nice venue if it meant excluding people we actually wanted there.

 

[San Diego Bride]

i agree with most of the other posters. i would go for a nicer location and less people, as long as the people who are most important to you both are there. we had ~45 guests at our wedding and had a beautiful venue which we could not have afforded if we had had more guests. we were able to really enjoy all of our guests and we have amazing pictures and memories!

 

[KimberlyH]

If by more guests you mean 2nd cousin Sal and all his brothers and sisters that you haven''t spoken to in 20 years I vote for smaller venue, if your bigger guest list consists of people who are meaningful in your life I vote for larger guest list, less expensive venue.

 

[monarch64]

Another vote for fewer people, better venue!

 

[zoebartlett]

I always prefer fewer people in general, so I''d probably choose that option. Like Kimberly said though, it may depend on who you''re thinking of not inviting. If those people are close to you and you''d miss them if they weren''t there, think about inviting them. If they''re more acquaintances than close family or friends, it may not mean as much to you to include them. I''m curious about the venues and what they look like. Would you feel comfortable posting pics or links to their website?

 

[jcrow]

Date: 6/5/2007 9:11:03 AM
Author: anchor31
I would prefer better venue and less people. I always prefer less people anyway.

agreed. maybe it''s selfish, but that''s what i''d do. we had a wedding on the smaller side and i am still thankful. all important people we there and i was able to look around and remember everyone that was at our wedding.

 

[godaime]

Guests: I was thinking of having about 100 guests, if we go with a more expensive place we probably need to cut the guest down to 75. Reception Venues: Renassiance Hotel $$120 pp vs Radisson $$60 pp. Money: one is double the price of the other.. but they both include the same things...its just one is in the nicer hotel. (they''re both in pittsburgh.. I havent figured out how to post pictures)

 

[Fancy605]

I am in the minority here, but for me, I would go with people over location. I wanted to have a small wedding at this GORGEOUS venue, which I could only afford if the list was limited to 100 or so, but when I started to try to make cuts, it just didn''t work! FI and I both come from huge families, and we are close to many extended members not to mention our friends and coworkers (who we are lucky enough to adore)... so, I went for a slightly less grand, but still very pretty venue to save money and to accomidate the guest list that I want. I just didn''t want to leave anyone out! We ended up inviting over 300. It is a little daunting, but I''m glad we did because I love all of them.

As far as your photographs go, I think a great photographer can make any venue look AMAZINGLY gorgeous with the right shots. I have seen photos of some weddings at local venues, and could not believe how lovely some of the less stately ones ended up looking in pictures from certain photographers.

 

[ChargerGrrl]

amazing venue & less guests!

we had our wedding at our "dream location" - a winery. the space was kinda small, and could only fit about 75 people, which was perfect for us.

we learned a good lesson at our engagement party. It was tough to make the rounds, and there were only 40 guests present! We resolved right then and there not to have our wedding be more than double the amount of folks that were at the e-party.

 

[Blenheim]

I''d sit down and come up with a preliminary guest list before responding. Knowing that you can invite, say, 100 people to a certain venue is a lot more abstract than knowing where lines have to be drawn. I''d then go with the option that allowed me to have everybody I wanted to have. If I could fit them all in the nicer venue, I''d go with that.

With us, we wanted our wedding to be on the smaller side anyway, so we chose to have 80 guests and splurge on a great venue.

 

[diamondfan]

I would prefer fewer guests so I could spend real time with them, so that is really a plus to me, not a negative. And the setting is something I would always look back on, so it would really be a win win for me!

 

[dmamsquared]

I''m familiar with both. Seems like your comparing apples and oranges. If you are paying, then you get what you want. That''s always the bottom line. Anything over 50 is a production, in my opinion. I say keep it simple.

 

[aljdewey]

Less people.....because I''d rather spend more time with those I''m close to instead of only a few minutes with a bunch of acquaintances.