How to Tastefully Navigate Your Wedding Guest B-List

It’s thrilling to dream about celebrating your marriage with your closest family and friends by your side. Less exciting, though, is actually making the final guest list. Even if you’re trying to keep your wedding on the smaller side, there are always a few people you wish you could invite but ultimately can't, simply because it could mean going over capacity at your venue—or going over your wedding budget.

This is where creating a wedding guest B-List comes in. The process is a little nuanced, but with some extra prep on the front end, you’ll be able to navigate it without any guest list faux pas.

Here, find tips from a wedding expert that will help ensure that the guest list process goes as smoothly as possible.

Make B-List Decisions Early

If you think you might need to separate your guest list into an A-List and B-List, make that decision as soon as possible. This will give you time to decide who is on which list, as well as figure out arrangements for invitations and RSVP deadlines.

Organize Intentionally

More than just making a B-List, you’ll want to organize it in order of priority, putting those who feel really important, but just didn’t make the cut, at the top, and those who would be nice to include (but not absolutely necessary) toward the bottom.

Hanna Ramleth, an event producer at Posh+Folk, explains: “For example, if 10 people from your A-List RSVP ‘no,’ you’ll want to know who the first 10 people on the B-List are, so you can send them an invitation.”

Make a Separate List for Family and Close Friends

The last thing you want is a couple of friends comparing when they were invited and figuring out that they may have been on the B-List. This may be unavoidable, but to decrease the chances of this happening decide what qualifies someone for the A-List versus the B-List, and apply that logic across the board to keep things consistent.

Send Invitations Early

Etiquette states that the RSVP deadline should be around three weeks before your wedding date, with invitations getting mailed six to eight weeks in advance (giving guests plenty of time to check their calendars and mail back their RSVP cards). If you have a B-List, though, using that timing for your A-List means B-List guests could get their invitations after the RSVP deadline has passed. If you have tiered lists, mail your A-List invitations around 12 weeks in advance, which will give you plenty of time to see who can’t make it before getting your B-List invites in the mail.

Have Two Sets of RSVP Cards

Of course, you’ll want the RSVP deadline to match up with the timeline of the invitation. Print two sets to make this easier. The first, going out with the A-List invitations, should have an RSVP deadline of roughly eight weeks before your wedding (giving guests four weeks to receive and reply to your invitation). The second set, which will go out with the B-List invitations, should have an RSVP deadline around three weeks before your wedding (lining up with traditional etiquette and still giving you plenty of time to get a final headcount to the venue and/or caterer).

Mail the B-List Invites at Once

Choose a date as the deadline for adding B-List guests to your “invited” list, and mail all of those B-List invitations on the same day. This will help you keep track of who you’ve added, as well as ensure that invitations are arriving in a more timely and predictable manner. Even if you find out two weeks later you’ve got five more spots you could fill, leave it be. It’s those straggling invitations that go out a week before the RSVP deadline that will tip your guests off to the multiple guest lists.