How many invitations do you need to order. - White Cherry Invitations

How many invitations do you need to order.

How many invitations do you need to order.

This is one of the most commonly asked questions I get asked when a couple is planning their wedding invitations and the answer is not as simple as you might think.

And if you get it wrong, you could be spending a chunk of your wedding budget unnecessarily.

Here I am going to share with you, a few handy tips that I share with my own couples when they first enquire.

Do not order an invitation for every guest
If you have 120 guests, you will not need 120 invitations.

You will only need approximately 70 invitations, roughly 60% of your total guest count. This is because your guest list will include the following combinations of guests.


You only need to order 1 invitation per:

  • Couple
  • Family. Children who are over 18 years old or living out of home should receive their own invitation.
  • Single guest, with or without a plus one
Yes, you should send an invitation to your bridal party
Just because they are in the bridal party and they will know more particulars about the wedding day, doesn’t mean they don’t receive a formal invitation.

By sending them an invitation you are; 
  • formally inviting them, just like everyone else
  • getting them excited for your big day in which they will play such a huge part in
  • the invitation also invites their respective partners

Think of any “just in case” invitations you might need
It is common for situations to arise along your wedding planning process where you will need to send out a few more invitations that were not initially included on your guest list.

For these situations, it always good to order approx 10% of your total invitation count as spares. If you feel that is too many, then arrange for at least 3 - 5 invitations which might just get you through.

Reasons you might need them are:

  • Invitations do get lost in the mail. It happens and yes it is annoying. It can happen for a lot of reasons (wrong address or an issue at the receivers end).
  • you forgot to invite someone - yep happens sooooo much more than you think it does
  • your parents want to invite more people. You may not agree, but sometimes the argument just isn't worth it. Pick your battles.
  • you may have a high number of guests unable to attend and you want to send out invitations to a ‘B’ list

Think about your wedding day
The invitations are sent out months before your big day, which means they are generally a forgotten element by the time your wedding day comes around.

Wouldn’t it be nice to have an invitation or two handy for your photographer to capture and include in your wedding album?

Do you have other stationery items for your reception which you could look at photographing all together?

Try and give your photographer 2 copies of your invitation. There are different angles and inclusions that your photographer will want to work with to be able to really show off your wedding stationery.

What about keepsakes?
Will both sets of parents want one to keep unopened (in addition to their main invitation)?

Will you want a keepsake to frame and keep unopened. Maybe to show your kids one day? Or your grandkids?

Whilst you are going to the huge effort of planning your wedding, other than your photos or your wedding video, a few keepsake invitations will one of the few elements you will get to physically look back on to remind you of your wedding day.

The rest will just be memories, and your kids can’t share in those.

So how many invitations do you need to order?
To summarise all of the above information and to help you put a number to how many invitations you should order, see below a short equation based on a 120 person wedding.

Of course these numbers are a guide, but it is a great start for you when you are at the beginning of your planning.

Guest Quantity - 120 people

Invitations (60%) - 72
Spares (10%) - 7
Wedding Day Photos - 2
Keepsakes - 3

Total = 84

I hope this has helped you figure out what you need to order when it comes to your wedding invitations and what you might need additional copies for.

It might seem that you have your guest list and planning down to a fine art at the beginning, but trust me - things always change and it is so nice to know you have such an important element under control when there are so many other tasks to plan for your wedding you need to take care of.

Happy planning!
Any questions or comments, please leave them below or send me an email!

Bel x
hello@whitecherryinvitations.com.au