Guests

When we first started planning the wedding, we ballpark-ed 120 as a guest number. When we started writing down names and asking family, that number kept going up, but we were hopeful that people might be busy this summer and our number might stay somewhat true to our 120 estimate (and the quoted price for that number - our true motivation). Standard wedding knowledge (read: a number I found on The Knot) says you can expect about 20% of invitees will send regrets. We sent out 156 invitations, and 31 folks declined. Go ahead, grab the calculator. With a 19.87% decline rate, our wedding is pretty darn average! We are happy with the final numbers, and look forward to celebrating with close family and friends without feeling overwhelmed by the number of people.

In finalizing the guest list, I did not anticipate losing any guests, but to our great sadness we lost my grandfather a week and a half ago. I will be forever thankful that I trekked to Maine two weeks ago, despite a lot going on in Boston that weekend, to spend time with my family, accomplish plenty of wedding tasks,  and celebrate my grandparents' 60th anniversary. We ate, laughed, and ate some more in true Baker fashion and, in hindsight, celebrated him out with style. I'm still trying to think of an appropriate way to memorialize my grandfather at the wedding. Grandpa had several thoughts about the wedding, none of which guests will see. We will not elope to save money (though, realistically, it might have been a good idea for the bank account!), there will not be a porta-potty in the middle of the dance floor, and we will not be married by a minister preaching fire and brimstone. We will, however, dance up a storm, have cocktails at 3, and "paint the town red" after the reception. We're less than three weeks out now, and we absolutely can not wait!