wedding
Four numbers cover most of the planning. Each one links to the page it came from.
A good rule of thumb that many wedding professionals agree on is 20%.
Type your invite count and pick local or destination. The local setting uses Zola's 75-85%.
Uses the attendance rates on this page
150 invited x 75-85% = 113 to 128 guests
75-85% is Zola's range for invited guests. A list heavy with travelers sits near the low end, a mostly local list near the high end.
Distance moves the number more than anything else. Split your list by how far each guest travels, then use the matching row.
| Guest group | Zola estimate | Destify RSVP yes | Destify in seats | Invite divisor |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Local guests | About 85% | 85% or more | About 80% | 0.85 |
| Out-of-town guests | About 55% | 55-65% | 45-55% | 0.55 |
| Destination-only guests | About 35% | 35-50% | 30-45% | 0.35 |
| Whole list, traditional wedding | 75-85% | Not given | 80-85% | 0.80 |
| Whole list, destination wedding | Not given | 60-70% | 60-70%, often 5-10% lower than RSVPs | 0.60 |
Swipe for more guest groups
Sources: Zola (updated Nov 2025) and Destify. The divisor is the rate you divide your target by, as in section 05.
The 75-85% who make it each carry a phone. A shared gallery keeps every angle they caught, not only what your photographer shot.
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UPLOADING
THE ALBUM
June 21, 2026
647 photos · 95 guests
About 150 to 170 at a local wedding. The table runs the same sourced rates for five list sizes, rounded to whole guests.
| Invitations | Likely RSVP yes (83%) | Likely declines (17-20%) | Local wedding, in seats (75-85%) | Destination, in seats (35-60%) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 100 invited | 83 | 17 to 20 | 75 to 85 | 35 to 60 |
| 150 invited | 125 | 26 to 30 | 113 to 128 | 53 to 90 |
| 200 invited | 166 | 34 to 40 | 150 to 170 | 70 to 120 |
| 250 invited | 208 | 43 to 50 | 188 to 213 | 88 to 150 |
| 300 invited | 249 | 51 to 60 | 225 to 255 | 105 to 180 |
Swipe for more list sizes
Illustrative math. Rates from RSVPify (83% yes, 17% no), The Knot (20% no), Zola (75-85%) and the calculator's destination band.
Divide your target headcount by the attendance rate that fits your list. Each card below works it out for 100 seats.
Zola's figure for local guests.
118invitations
The Knot's 80% sweet spot.
125invitations
The low end of Zola's 75-85%.
134invitations
The low end of Destify's 60-70%.
167invitations
If nearly everyone has to fly, Zola's 35% for destination guests means about 286 invitations for 100 seats. Results rounded up.
Jamie Wolfer walks through guest list rules, useful before you divide anything.
Do You HAVE TO Invite Them?? | Wedding Guest List Rules, Jamie Wolfer on YouTubeA deadline set too late is the usual reason couples guess at their headcount. This order comes from The Knot and Zola.
Sources: The Knot's RSVP timeline and Zola for save the dates.
Travel and closeness decide most answers. The rest is removing small reasons to say no.
Sources: RSVPify, Destify, The Knot, Zola. Items without a named source are planning judgment, not statistics.
Some late cancellations are certain. A little prep keeps them from showing up in the room or the budget.
Illustrative: at that average, 8 empty seats stand for about $2,336 of the budget. See the study
Once you know who is coming, give them one place to drop every photo from the day, no app required, just a QR code on the table.
SHARED GALLERY
Beach house wedding, everyone staying the whole weekend. The album has everything from arrival day through goodbye brunch. People were uploading pics of Sunday breakfast lol. Genuinely the best thing we paid for
We had a wedding hashtag and asked people to post on Instagram. Maybe 30 people did. Put Pix QR codes on the tables a week before and the difference was night and day. Hashtags are dead fr
City hall ceremony then 35 of us for dinner at a little Brooklyn restaurant. The album feels like a tiny documentary of our night. The live slideshow on the restaurant TV kept everyone uploading
Everyone who came
Their photos, one shared album
Once your RSVPs settle, set up a shared gallery so everyone who shows up can drop their photos in one place.
Guest voice note
Scan to join the album
No app, no account
UPLOADING
THE ALBUM
June 21, 2026
647 photos · 95 guests
SCAN TO TRY
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your-wedding
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Month-by-month planning checklist.
15+ games with rules, supplies, and timing.
15 creative alternatives guests enjoy.
Attendance, decline and RSVP rates, destination and out-of-town guests, and what to plan for.
About 75-85% of invited guests attend a typical wedding, according to Zola. RSVPify saw 83% of guests accept across weddings on its platform, and The Knot puts the RSVP sweet spot at about 80% yes. For 150 invitations, plan for roughly 113 to 128 guests.
The average wedding decline rate is 17-20%. RSVPify saw 17% of invited guests decline, and The Knot says a good rule of thumb many wedding professionals agree on is 20%. Destination weddings see far more declines, since only 30-45% of destination-only guests attend (Destify).
Around 80-83% RSVP yes. RSVPify recorded 83% acceptances, and The Knot names about 80% as the sweet spot, noting it can dip to 60% or reach 85% depending on the guest list.
Most of them. Destify puts late cancellations at about 5-10% of the guests who said yes, so 90-95% of yeses end up in a seat. With 150 yes replies, expect roughly 8 to 15 empty chairs.
Destify reports that destination weddings average 60-70% attendance. It splits by guest type: local guests still attend at about 80%, out-of-town guests at 45-55%, and destination-only guests at 30-45%. Zola uses about 35% for destination guests.
Zola estimates about 55% of out-of-town guests attend. Destify sees 55-65% of out-of-town guests RSVP yes and 45-55% attend, so a list heavy with travelers lands well below the 75-85% local average.
For a local wedding, about 150 to 170 people (75-85%). For a destination wedding, the calculator on this page uses a cautious 35-60% band, which gives 70 to 120 guests. These are illustrative ranges built from the sourced rates.
Between invitation and seat, a local wedding typically loses 15-25% of the list: 17-20% decline at the RSVP stage, and 5-10% of the yeses cancel late (Destify). Plan your catering conversation around that range rather than the full invite count.
