Number Crunching

Working on a guest list for the big day and i'm trying to figure out how many people travel to an out of town wedding. The misters's family is closest at about 3-4 hours away and my family is about 15 hours away. We're inviting about 100ppl and wondering how many should we "really" expect to come. All of our guests are from out of town.
Anyone have any experience in this?

that's tough to answer period; as far as I know- there's no REAL rule of thumb. But some things to consider which might influence how many people will come:

- how far it is? is it an easy or inexpensive trip?
-how close these people are to you (some families are closer than others)
- how well off the guest list is. I would think if people's budgets are tight, it makes them less likely.
- when is it? some dates for some locations are easier than others.....

I agree with the dame. It is a hard thing to predict. There were people we were sure were going to come and others that weren't and we have been surprised by both sides. Since most of our guests were traveling we knew that some people would not be able to come but some of those people have really treated it like a vacation and are coming for the whole week.

I'm hoping some people end up saying they can't make it because we're really pushing our venue's limit... but who knows. We had to have a DW because of the military so I've been shocked by the people that said they would come after receiving the save the dates! I think it really depends on how much advanced notice you give. People need to plan out vacation time, graduate school, etc. Budgets are definitely a concern. Airfare is not going to get cheaper and area hotels are also a consideration. That being said I think a majority of family will show up because they feel obligated to be there. I've heard that the rule of thumb is 20-30% generally will decline but that decreases with a smaller wedding.

For Destination Weddings you can generally count on about 50% or less of the guest list attending (also factors include cost to travel, time of year, etc.). For local weddings I think the number is closer to 70% of invitees will attend. Again, this is a total GENERAL number. My advice is to mail STDs and then informally poll guests about whether they think they'll be coming or not. This can be done casually...like in an email or phone call (hopefully they'll initiate), as in:

"We received your cute Save-the-Date card in the mail today..."

Then you can ask if they think they'll be able to attend. Friends and family can also help "take the temperature" of who might not be able to make it.