Guest list is more than expected

Unfortunately, if you sent out more save the dates than what your caterer can accommodate, it sounds like you are going to need to find a new caterer ASAP

You can't count on any regrets, but that said, chances are you will receive some. How many depends and can vary widely. Is the wedding local or at a distance from most guests? If at a distance do most guests have the budget to travel? Is it destination or local to you or either family? How large is the wedding? Are you close to the people you are inviting? What day of the week/time of day or year? Is it a holiday weekend?

On average you can expect a 15%-20% decline rate, but it could a lot more or less. We were right about 15% with a local, average sized wedding on a Saturday night at a time of year where people generally have fewer conflicts with travel or vacation. Guests were a mixture of local and out of state and we were close to everyone invited.

Have you approached the caterer yet to see if they are willing to work with you? Maybe there is some buffer room built into the advertised numbers. If not, I agree you'll need a new caterer and possibly a new venue. Another thing to keep in mind is you typically don't want to be anywhere near the maximum capacity for a venue.

I'm confused why all of your guests didn't receive a save the date. Unfortunately this is exactly why I recommend that brides and grooms always make a complete guest list as one of their first steps. At this point you will likely need to find a new caterer because you can't rely on guests declining.

View Quoted Comment So about 90% of the people are traveling, including parents and our bridal party. We do have older relatives and people our parents want that we aren't super close to that would have to travel that we are hoping will RSVP no. We aren't a lot over, maybe 5 or 6 people, and we'd still be under capacity for the venue but not the caterer

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How many invitations did you send? What is the caterer's maximum? If you are talking about an average size wedding, and only 5 or 6 over I think it's highly unlikely you will have a problem. Talk to your caterer. I can't imagine this being a deal breaker unless you were talking about a very small affair. That said I wouldn't count on friends or relatives close to your parents not coming. But chances are some people will run into a conflict by the time RSVPs are due.

View Quoted Comment We were initially talking vendors about 110, since our original list we had had about 100, so it's not too far off from what we told her. Plus, we're still far enough out that that number might go down a few (hopefully). Naturally when I saw the number I went into panic

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Again, talk to your caterer. I think you will be fine.

If you’re only 5 or 6 over I think you’re fine. More often than not, you’ll end up with at least 10-15 who don’t make it.

View Quoted Comment That's what we're hoping for plus it's a "destination" wedding for just about all of the guests.

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If it's only 5 or 6 people you should be fine.

5 or 6 out of 100, you’ll be fine.

We been stressed ever since we started planning and fighting I hate it

View Quoted Comment Same here!! It feels overwhelming

View Quoted Comment Yes it does

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I know others said that you cannot count on regrets but that being said the general average is that about 30% of invited guests will not come. I think if you're only over by 5-6 guests you will be covered just fine.

Always prepare for 100% attendance. Once the save the dates are sent, invitations must be sent as a follow up. The caterer receives a final headcount when you confirm anyone who forgot to reply a few days after the rsvp due date. Nothing you can do at this point now except prepare for all of the invited guests to attend and adjust your budget to cover them.

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I would not count on this advice. I've seen people hedging the numbers only to end up over the capacity. Then they come here asking how to uninvite people.