Mr. Feather and I have always been on the same page as far as the number of guests goes. We both want a ?small? wedding of between 50 to 70 people, preferably less. This is definitely considered a small wedding by New Jersey standards, where most weddings I?ve attended fell in the 100–150 guest range.
Our reasons for wanting a small wedding were partly financial and partly because, as Miss Horseshoe so eloquently explained, walking down the aisle is already going to be a little terrifying. I can?t explain why the idea of 70 pairs of eyes on me is less intimidating than 100 pairs of eyes, but it is. I also want the opportunity to spend one-on-one time with as many of our guests as possible, something that wasn?t likely to happen unless we deliberately kept things small. Our first step involved sitting down together with single column spreadsheet and writing down the names of everyone who we really, really wanted to be there. This wasn?t too difficult. After moving four times in the past few years, it?s become clear who our closest friends are.

We decided on our plus-one policy at this time too, which started off as inviting all married couples, all partners that at least one of us had met before, and anyone coming from out of town so they had a friend to hang out with while we were busy entertaining other guests. This resulted in almost everyone having a plus-one, so we thought ?what the heck!? and just gave plus-ones to everyone.

And YOU get a plus-one! And YOU get...