Wedding Guest List Template
A free wedding guest list template with one row per household. Build your list on this page and see who fits your venue and budget, or download it for Excel or Google Sheets.
By Grace · Updated
Build your wedding guest list
Paste a list you already have
- No households yet. Add the first one above: a couple, a family, or one guest with a plus-one.
What’s in the Wedding Guest List Template
Twenty-one columns that take one list from the first draft to the last thank-you note. Delete any you won’t use.
| Household | Seats | Side | List | City | RSVP | Attending |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Carol & Tom Reed | 2 | Emma | A | Charleston, SC | Yes | 2 |
| The Okafor family | 4 | James | A | Atlanta, GA | Yes | 3 |
| Aunt May | 1 | Emma | A | Savannah, GA | Waiting | |
| Priya Shah & guest | 2 | Both | B | Durham, NC |
Who is invited
Household is the name as it goes on the envelope or the invitation: “Carol & Tom Reed”, “The Okafor family”. Seats is how many people that invitation covers, plus-ones and children included. Side, List and Group say whose guest they are, A or B list, and family, friends or work.
How to reach them
Email and phone for a digital invitation, and the mailing address split into street, apartment, city, state, ZIP and country, the way printers and address labels want it.
Where things stand
Save the date sent, invitation sent, RSVP, how many are attending, and meal or dietary notes: everything you need for the final count and the seating chart.
After the wedding
Gift and thank-you sent, so the last job on the list is as easy to track as the first.
One row per household, not per person
A couple gets one envelope, and with a digital invitation one link, so one row holds their address, their invitation and their reply. Seats says how many it covers; each person’s meal choice comes back with the RSVP. It also keeps the count honest: the list adds up seats, not lines.
How to Make a Wedding Guest List
Start ten to twelve months out, before the venue is signed if you can: the number of guests decides the size of room you need.
Start from a number
Your venue’s seated capacity and what you can spend per guest set the size before any names do. Put both into the template above and it tells you whether the list fits.Each list everyone, separately
You, your partner, and each set of parents if they are paying or hosting. Writing separately is faster and avoids negotiating name by name too early.Merge it into households
One row per couple or family, with the number of seats. Duplicates show up quickly: the cousin both sides added.Sort into an A list and a B list
A is everyone you cannot imagine the day without. B is everyone you would love there if room allows. Cut from the B list first, then from the A list until it fits.Collect addresses
Fill in the gaps before anything goes out. A free wedding address collection link lets every household type their own.Send, then track replies on the same list
Save the dates to the A list first, then invitations. Our guide to when to send wedding invitations works out each date from yours.
Who to Invite to Your Wedding
Most guest list arguments are about the same six questions. Settle each one as a rule, then apply it to everyone.
Plus-ones
Spouses, fiancés and long-term partners are invited by name. For single guests, a common line is a plus-one for anyone who won’t know other guests. Whatever you choose, apply it to everyone.
Children
Decide once: all children, family only, or adults only. The invitation shows it by who is named and how many seats the household gets, not by a line saying “no kids”.
Coworkers
All of a small team or none of it; inviting half causes more trouble than inviting no one. Your manager only if you’d invite them without the job.
Your parents’ friends
If parents are contributing, agree on a number of seats for their guests early, and let them fill it.
“They invited us to theirs”
A reason to consider someone, not an obligation, especially if their wedding was years ago or much bigger than yours.
The one-year test
Have you seen or spoken to them in the last year, and would you in the next? If not, they belong on the B list at most.
How to Cut Your Wedding Guest List
Cut whole groups, not people one by one: a rule is easier to explain than a choice, and nobody can say you picked them.
- The B list. Nobody on it has been invited yet, so nobody is uninvited.
- Plus-ones for guests who will know people there. Keep them for partners and for anyone coming alone.
- Children outside the immediate family. It can free a whole table, and it’s the easiest rule to explain.
- Coworkers you don’t see outside work. All of them, so no one compares notes on Monday.
- Relatives you haven’t seen in years. The one-year test, applied to family as well as friends.
- Parents’ guests beyond the agreed share. Give them a number of seats and let them choose.
- Invite-backs from long ago. Their wedding five years ago doesn’t set your list now.
When someone asks why they weren’t invited
“We had to keep it small, so it’s family and the friends we see most. We’d love to celebrate with you after.”
Say the rule, not the reason, and don’t apologise twice. Then follow through: dinner, drinks or photos once you’re back.
How Many Wedding Guests to Invite
More than your venue seats, but not by much.
For a local wedding, plan for 10 to 20 percent of invited guests to decline; for a destination wedding or a holiday weekend, more. So a room for 100 can take an A list of about 110, and the template above does that sum for you.
Price the likely head count, not the invited one: catering, rentals and favors are paid per person who comes. Put your cost per guest into the template and it prices the range.
When to invite your B list
Keep the B list in order of who you’d most like there. As declines arrive, invite from the top, one for each seat freed. Stop about six weeks before the wedding, so B-list guests still get two weeks to reply by the same date as everyone else.
- 8 weeksA-list invitations go outEveryone on the A list, all on the same day.
- 7 weeksFirst declines arriveInvite from the top of the B list, one for each seat freed.
- 6 weeksLast B-list invitationsLater than this and the invitation reads as an afterthought.
- 4 weeksRSVP deadline, for everyoneOne reply-by date on every invitation, A list and B list alike.
- 2 weeksFinal count to the catererHead count and meals from the replies.
Google Sheets or Excel for Your Guest List?
The template works the same in both. Pick by who else needs the list.
Google Sheets
Best when your partner and parents are adding names. Everyone edits one live list from their phone, and the version history shows who changed what. Make your own copy of our Google Sheets template and it comes with the dropdowns and the summary tab.
Excel
Best when one person keeps the list, or you want address labels: Word’s mail merge reads the address columns as they are. It works offline, and the file is yours.
Either way
Keep one list, not one each. When it’s time to send, save it as a CSV and import it, or build it on this page and send it straight to your invitations.
From Guest List to Invitations
Send the list you built here straight into idovite, or save the spreadsheet as a CSV and import it: the Household, Seats and Email columns are read as they are. Then send online wedding invitations by text or email and watch every reply arrive on the same list: who is coming, how many, their meals, and who still needs a reminder. Your first 5 invitations are free.
Once the replies are in, seat everyone who’s coming with our free wedding seating chart maker.
Wedding Guest List FAQs
How do I make a guest list for my wedding?
Start from a number, not names: what the venue seats and what you can spend per guest. Then each of you, and each set of parents if they are contributing, lists everyone you would like there. Merge the lists, put the people you cannot imagine the day without on the A list and the rest on the B list, and cut until the A list fits.
Is there a free Excel template for a wedding guest list?
Yes. Ours comes as a Google Sheet you can copy, an Excel file or a CSV, with one row per household, columns for addresses, save the dates, RSVPs, meals and thank-you notes, and a summary tab that counts guests as you go. It is free and needs no sign-up.
Should a wedding guest list have one row per person or per household?
Per household, if you are sending invitations. A couple or a family gets one envelope or one invitation link, so one row with the number of seats keeps addresses, invitations and replies together. Meal choices per person are collected with the reply.
How many wedding guests usually decline?
Plan for 10 to 20 percent of invited guests to decline for a local wedding, and more for a destination wedding or a holiday weekend. That is why the A list can run a little over your venue, and why a B list is worth keeping.