Final few spots on the guest list... how to decide?!

My thoughts are:

Why are this couple so keen to be invited? Are you close? The important things is whether you are keen to invite them.

Depends how strong these feelings of 'not a fan of' is, why would you invite someone to your wedding that you don't like?

Would you feel awkward in future engagements with that group if some had been invited and others not?

Depends how new these other halves are as they may not still be around in a year. Are you likely to meet them before the wedding so you don't have strangers there? Do the already invited half know other guests as I don't think it's fair to invite someone alone if they will only know the bride and groom?

Ultimately you should think about who is going to make your day better by being there.

If your wedding is a year away and your total number is fixed anyway, why do you need to finalise the guest list now? Can you delay using up those last few invites?

If you can, I would hold off and invite the 'newer' other halves if they are still together. You may find that by your wedding day, some of them are even engaged or married themselves! It's one thing not to invite a partner of 3 months, but quite another not to invite a fiance/e or spouse.

View quoted message We need to invite now really because the wedding is in a popular holiday area Cornwall - unfortunately the area books up so far in advance that many places we’ve recommended people stay are already fully booked over our wedding date! 😮 Don’t want to leave it any later and find me don’t have many guests because there wasn’t anywhere for them to stay.

View quoted message

Thanks for your response! So, to answer your questions...

1) It is a bit weird that they're so openly keen haha - partly I think it's because our wedding is in the same month as theirs and they have invited us, but I also think they don't have that many friends and there's a bit of in balance in how close we feel we are to each other (which would throw some awkward light on if we didn't invite them!), ultimately we've held off inviting them because we didn't want to give them spots only to regret it if we felt we'd actually grown closer to newer friends

2) They used to be a super strong dislike but she has been making a notable effort recently. Generally she's quite marmite amongst the group, a lot of the girls don't like her because she's very inappropriate with other people's partners, but has toned down a tad since getting married herself. The guys typically do like her - probably because of the ego boost/being a bit oblivious!

3) The other halves are on FH's friends side, one seems very on/off so I'm erring on not inviting them... generally I'd prefer to leave the newer other halves that we seem to have no sign of meeting as potential B list spots to be filled (as their partner will be booking a room anyway so easy for them to just share a bed!)

It can be tough to choose the final guests, especially when every person feels important. I recently had to make a similar decision and realized that practical priorities can make planning much easier. For events where guests may need proper documentation, knowing about the NBI Clearance Application Online process can also help avoid last minute concerns. Taking care of requirements early gave me more peace of mind and helped the event planning stay organized.