A simple guide on whom to invite on your wedding

A wedding is truly a big occasion, and sometimes you can't help but invite everyone to your big day. But costs are high nowadays, and one solution to stay within the budget is to trim down the number of guests. So how do you determine who are the people in your guest list's priority?

Let this simple flowchart I found over at Tumblr help you:

Hope this makes it easier for you to create your guest list for your wedding day!

What to wear as a wedding guest

Let's talk being a guest at a wedding this time. Now, once being invited by the soon-to-weds, the next question would most probably be what to wear for the event. Most of the time couples already put the desired attire in the invitation. It may be semi-formal, formal, or black tie. Based on this, what should a wedding guest pick for his or her outfit?

If the invitation says casual, then you probably can wear something like a party dress or a casual suit. Of course, stay away from jeans and t-shirt unless the couple says you can wear them for their wedding.

AK Anne Klein Abstract Floral Print Pleated Dress and John Varvatos Star USA Two Button Seersucker Suit, both from Nordstrom.com.

For a daytime wedding, the ladies can wear a pretty pastel sundress and the gentlemen can wear casual slacks and a dress shirt. Also take note of the venue; if the wedding will be held in a garden or beach, might as well do away with the high heels.

If it's an evening wedding, a short cocktail dress will be fine for the ladies. For the men, a dark suit is a good choice. Wearing a darker color, such as jewel tones or even black, is okay when attending an evening wedding.

Aidan Mattox Strapless Taffeta Rosette Dress from SaksFifthAvenue.com and Othello Suit from TheSuitShop.net.

If the invitation says black tie optional, you can expect it to be an affair to wear something formal. Ladies can wear a short formal cocktail dress or a long dress. Accessorize your look with a few jewels. For the guys, you have the option to wear a tuxedo, or if you don't have one then a dark suit and dark tie is what you should wear.

Style B21052 from SophiaTolli.com and Style ZSU003 from Spurling.com.au.

For weddings that say black tie, then this is the time to get really glamorous and formal. A long gown for the ladies with a bit of sequins plus a jeweled purse is a nice attire for this kind of wedding. The men will have to wear a tuxedo. Buying or renting one would be a must, if he does not have one.

John Yves Parisian (Notch Lapel) Black Tuxedo from FineTuxedos.com and Tiered Chiffon Gown with Side Broach, Style 151842 from Jovani.com.

While weddings can be your chance to dress up, just remember there are still a few rules to follow. Number one on the list is of course not to steal the attention from the bride and groom. Ladies should veer away from wearing a plain white dress (though if it has a printed design, it may be okay just as long as it's not predominantly white). As said above, too casual attires like jeans and t-shirt are not appropriate things to wear for a special event.

If you're opting to wear something black, remember that wearing such color should be reserved for evening weddings. Also, some cultures sometimes do not approve of guests wearing something black for a joyous occasion, so also consider that. Better ask the bride or groom if you could don a black dress for their wedding.

Ladies should also avoid wearing something too sexy or revealing. You're not joining a beauty pageant, you are attending a wedding, a special celebration of a union of two people. Besides, wearing a dress that shows too much skin can take the spotlight away from the bride who, along with the groom, should be the center of the day's attraction.

If the invitation you received does not indicate what attire the couple prefers, the look and feel of the invitation will give you a clue on what to wear. After knowing how formal or casual the wedding will be, I hope this post gives you an idea what to wear as a guest for a wedding.

Dress ideas for guests from Looklet.com

I found this very interesting site called Looklet.com. It's a site where you feel you're playing dress-up with a virtual Barbie. Though it doesn't have real wedding dresses in its selections, it's a nice site to find inspiration for what to wear if you're invited to a wedding.

At Looklet.com, you can mix and match looks. It has tops, bottoms, dresses, bags, accessories and more. You can create casual, corporate or formal looks. I tried making some looks and found myself addicted to it. :D

The only issue I have are the limitations in terms of the colors of the clothes and the choices for shoes and accessories. But otherwise, Looklet.com is a fun website.

Here are two of my creations which I would say can be worn by guests of weddings or special occasions:


If you want to save your creations, you can simply register at Looklet.com. It's free, so there aren't much hassles.

I'm telling you, it's a great site, especially if you want to satisfy the fashionista in you. Go get addicted to it like I am!

Handling the Guest List

One of the challenges we encountered during our wedding preparations was making the guest list -- and limiting the number.

It was quite a challenge in the sense that on my part, the bride, my families from both parents are particularly close. At the onset, hubby and I wanted only 100 guests -- that's like 50/50. But when I did a tally of relatives to invite, my list went to about 40, not counting friends. His? It was just above 10, as most of his relatives are in the province and couldn't make it.

We looked at our (relatively small) budget and saw that we could extend up to 150 max. That would count some of my friends and colleagues, as well as his (well, 50 spots were enough for him to fill). Then my dad invited his friends from high school. People whom I don't even know! What the --?!

So here are a few things we've learned about handling the guest list:

1. Invite only those close to you. So that's family and a handful of friends. Kids could be left with the babysitter. But of course you should include those who have a particular role in the ceremony -- flower girls, bridesmaids and the lot. If you could also do away with colleagues then do so (in hubby's case, he just invited his boss, no other office mates). And if you could do away with exes, then that's fine. Unless of course you want them to see you in full, blushing regalia...

2. Don't invite those who live far and would have to make time and spend money to go to the wedding. But this one is a case-to-case basis. For us, if they don't have any participation in the ceremony, we decided not to send an invite. Moreso if it had been a long time since we had communicated with each other.

3. Be firm in your decisions. This was the hardest for me, especially with my dad because he was the one who wanted to invite the whole neighborhood to our wedding (well, being the first to wed in the brood didn't help). There is the right time to say "NO." But if you couldn't say it, well you could enlist the help of another family member to do it for you, in this case my mom.

4. Make a worksheet of your guest list. You can use the MS Excel program in your computer or make a table and list all the names of your guests. Indicate also whether you will invite them during the ceremony, reception, or both. And don't lose the list. ;)

These are just some of the things we've learned through experience. I'm pretty sure you will have some of your own learnings, too, as you go through your preparations. If you have a clannish family like mine, better brace yourself for some rough waves with planning the guest list.

Photo credit: Write1 by woodsy, from sxc.hu