After getting your license, or at least getting the ball rolling, the next thing only you can do, or a task that you shouldn't assign to other people is the creation of the guest list. When undecided on where to start planning a wedding, many people think of who they want to invite, and it usually gets them started.

      This is actually a task you should probably do with your fiancée. Creating your guest list is a major part of planning a wedding. From your guest list, you will be able to determine how many invitations to print out, how much food and wine to order, how many wedding favors need to be made, how large your venue should be... and the list goes on. The point is, so many details of your wedding are dependent on how many people you will be inviting, and how many people can attend.

      To create a guest list, seat yourselves down and begin writing down names. Start with your immediate family members, then move on to your close friends. Your parents may have their own list of people you “have to” invite, and you can ask them for these names in as well.

      Next, count how many people are on your list. It's a rare occasion that you will have fewer intended guests than what you planned for. If this happens, rejoice! If it doesn't happen, and you have more guests than you wanted, begin weeding them out. Have a specific target number of guests in mind, and start working on getting down to that number.

      For example, you may not want to invite ex-spouses, ex-significant others, and so on. You may not want to invite your very young cousins. You may not want to invite all of your fellow office workers or your entire high school class. Begin removing these names from the list. An alternative method is to begin choosing names off the first list you created. Choose the people who are the most important, people that you will definitely want there. This will lead to the creation of a new list that ends with your targeted number of guests.

      Keep in mind that there are some people who will not show up to your wedding. Many times, these are the friends of your parents who are invited out of formality's sake more than anything else. In the case of these people, you can send them an invitation just for the formality of it, knowing that they probably will not accept. These type of people include your great-aunt Eliza who lives across the country and has severe arthritis. She is very unlikely to come, but will probably really appreciate having been thought of. You can make a separate list for this type of guest, so you know how many extra invitations need to be printed.

      Always remember that a guest list is like a head count. Because your wedding details are dependent on how many people will be there, do not forget to include yourselves, your entourage, and other members of the immediate family in the head count. There have been a few weddings where the bride and groom themselves had nothing to eat because they ordered only so many meals and had forgotten to include themselves in the final count!

Next Article: Where to Start Planning a Wedding - Agreeing on a Date