Wedding guest list template
Copy the structure below into any spreadsheet. It is built around the two questions a guest list has to answer all year: who is invited, and who has said yes.
Eight columns, and what each one is for
Most templates give you twenty columns and you fill in six. These are the ones that earn their place — each is either a decision you will make or a number your venue will ask for.
| 1 | Name | One row per person, never per couple. Numbers stop adding up otherwise. |
| 2 | Side / group | Whose guest this is. Decides the seating plan and, later, the cut. |
| 3 | Tier (A/B/C) | The single most useful column. See the method below. |
| 4 | Invite sent | A date, not a tick. You will want to know who to chase and when. |
| 5 | RSVP | Yes / no / no answer. "No answer" is a real state and needs its own value. |
| 6 | Plus one | A separate column, not a note. It is a headcount, and headcount is money. |
| 7 | Dietary | The caterer asks for this in one message, usually with two days notice. |
| 8 | Address | For invitations and thank-you cards. Collect it once, use it twice. |
The A/B/C method, which is why the list stops growing
Every guest list starts too long. Cutting names one by one is slow and personal; sorting them into three tiers is fast and reversible, and it turns the cut into arithmetic instead of an argument.
A — the wedding does not happen without them
Family and the people you would call first with any news. These are invited whatever the number ends up being.
B — you want them there and the budget decides
Friends, wider family, colleagues you actually like. This is the tier you resize when the venue quotes you a per-head price.
C — invited if space appears
Sent as declines come in from A and B. This is not rude, it is how every planner works — send C invitations early enough that they do not read as an afterthought.
Four mistakes that cost real money
- Counting couples as one row. Your venue counts people, and so does your caterer.
- Treating "no answer" as a no. It is the group that turns up anyway.
- Leaving plus ones undecided until late. Every undecided plus one is a seat you are paying for or a person you are turning away at the door.
- Keeping the list in one person’s head or inbox. Two people should be able to open it at the same time.
Questions about wedding guest lists
There is no reliable percentage — it depends on how far people travel, how much notice they get, and the time of year. Rather than apply someone else’s decline rate, use the A/B/C tiers: invite A and B, and release C as declines arrive. The list then adjusts to your actual response rate instead of a guessed one.
Your caterer’s final-numbers deadline is the only date that matters, and it is usually one to two weeks before the day. Work backwards from that, not from the wedding date.
A spreadsheet, unless you already live in a planning app. The list needs to be openable by two people, sortable by any column, and exportable when the venue asks for it in their own format. That is a spreadsheet’s job description.
You do not need to. A shared album collects what guests upload without anyone ticking a list — and the guests who never post to social media are usually the ones with the photographs you have not seen.
Not for the invitation, but you will want them for thank-you cards. Collecting addresses while people RSVP is much easier than chasing them in the week after the wedding.
Your guests get the whole album — and can download it.
- Photos, videos and voice messages, all on one page.
- Guests open the link and download whatever they want.
- Public, or behind a password — you decide.
From $49. Pay once, per event.
No subscription for hosts. Free to start, upgrade only when you need more.
- 60 photos, videos & voice notes
- 5 GB storage included
- Unlimited guests — no app needed
- 30 days album
- Video up to 30 sec · voice 30 sec
- No Gathmo badge on your media
- No original-quality download
- Unlimited photos, videos & voice
- 50 GB storage included
- Download all originals (ZIP)
- No Gathmo badge on your media
- 90 days album
- Video up to 5 min · voice Unlimited
- Host moderation tools
- Everything in Essential
- 100 GB storage included
- Live photo wall at the venue
- 6 months album
- Video up to 10 min · voice Unlimited
- Priority support
- Everything in Celebrate
- 250 GB storage included
- Live stream for guests who can’t attend
- Voice messages transcribed for you
- Custom link — gathmo.com/c/your-name
- 1 year album
- Video up to 15 min · voice Unlimited
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The list gets you the people. This gets you the photos.
One QR code on the table cards collects every guest photo, video, and voice message into one private album. No app for your guests, free to start, hosted in the EU.