I’m a wedding planner – why you DON’T have to invite guests just because you went to theirs & how to cut cash on food

BETSY and Elyse Dawn are Chicago-based sisters who have been in the wedding planning business for nearly 10 years.

They opened their company, Two Sisters Events—which offers both full-service planning or just floral décor—in 2013, and take on about 100 weddings per year with the help of their team.

TikTok/@theweddingplanningguideA wedding planner revealed her tips for slimming down your guest list[/caption]

GettyShe shared her tips to ensure you have an epic wedding[/caption]

In December of 2020, the duo began posting to their TikTok account, @TheWeddingPlanningGuide, and quickly amassed a following of over 200k users.

Only one day after creating the account, they went viral, receiving nearly two million views on a video that offered tips for cutting down your wedding guest list.

They suggested asking yourself about your relationship with the person in question: how would you feel if you weren’t invited to their wedding; how would you feel stuck in a 15-minute conversation with them; and have you talked to them in the last six months.

Speaking to The Sun, the planners also said the rule of reciprocation shouldn’t apply for weddings:

“If you are trying to keep your wedding intentionally more intimate, you don’t have to invite someone to yours just because they invited you to theirs,” Elyse said.

“Maybe they were having this big, 300-person wedding and invited all their coworkers, but your wedding is going to be more close family friends. It’s ok to say that.”

Handling both extravagant, 300-person events along with smaller, budget-friendly ones, Elyse and Betsy say no matter what the size, your number one priority should be to organize the timing of your wedding day.

“The first thing you should do when you hire your planner is create a timeline, because that will be the backbone of your day,” Elyse said.

“Getting that timeline in order will help everything start falling into place.

“You can communicate with all the other vendors to make sure that their services do fall into your plans for the day.”

As for your spending, where you allocate your money depends on what your preferences are – though they say you can cut back costs on things like fancy food.

“If you can’t slim down your guest list to save money, my tip would be to cater in some good food that is a good price,” Elyse explained.

“Sometimes people will do barbecue food because everybody likes barbecue.

“So, you’re still giving your guests a good meal, give them an open bar for sure, and have a really great DJ that matches the music you and your friends like.”

Both planners believe a combination of those three things make for an epic night.

GettyIf you need to cut back on costs, she recommends choosing foods with a lower price tag[/caption]