Wedding Guest List Tracker
Build your list by household, track plus-ones, children and dietary needs, and watch the headcount that drives every other wedding number. No account, nothing uploaded.
Guests
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Households
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No guests yet — paste a list or add them one at a time. Everything stays on this device.
Got your list? Seat them or see what they cost.
73How to build a wedding guest list
The guest list is the first real decision of wedding planning and it silently sets almost every other number: catering, rentals, table count, floor area, and the size of venue you can even consider. Build it before you tour venues, not after.
Work in households rather than individuals. A household is anyone who arrives together and gets one invitation — a couple, a family, a single friend. It keeps the arithmetic honest (four people, one invitation) and it matches how invitations, place cards and seating all actually work.
- 1. Write the A list first
- Everyone whose absence would genuinely change the day. Do it separately from your partner, then merge — the differences are the conversation worth having early.
- 2. Add the B list, and label it
- People you would like there if the numbers allow. A labelled B list lets you send a second wave as declines come in, which is normal and nobody notices.
- 3. Decide the rules once, apply them everywhere
- Children or not, plus-ones or not, colleagues or not. Rules applied inconsistently is what turns a guest list into a family argument.
- 4. Get the count before the venue
- A venue that fits 120 is a different search from one that fits 180, and a deposit paid against the wrong number is expensive to undo.
Plus-ones, children, and the rules that avoid arguments
Two rules cover most of it. Give a plus-one to anyone in a long-term relationship, engaged or married, and to anyone who will otherwise know nobody at the wedding. For everyone else, apply whatever you decide uniformly — the offence is almost never the rule itself, it is the exception someone else got.
For children, pick one of three positions and state it on the invitation: all welcome, immediate family only, or adults only. If you go adults-only, say so early enough that people can arrange childcare, and expect a small number of declines — that is the trade, and it is a legitimate one.
Tracking what you will actually need later
Four fields save the most work down the line: household, party size, dietary needs, and how to reach them. Party size drives every headcount you will be asked for. Dietary needs will be requested by your caterer with less notice than you expect. And a current email or phone number is what makes chasing RSVPs a five-minute job rather than an evening.
Everything you enter here stays on this device. When you create a free account it moves into your wedding workspace, where the same list drives RSVPs, seating and the budget rather than being retyped into each.
Frequently asked questions
Is this guest list tracker free?
Yes, and it needs no account. Everything is stored in your own browser — nothing is uploaded. A free account keeps the list permanently, syncs it across devices, and unlocks CSV export.
How many people should we invite?
Work backwards from the two constraints that bind: your venue's capacity and your per-guest budget. Expect roughly 10-20% of invitations to decline for a local wedding, and considerably more for a destination one — so a list slightly over your target usually lands on it.
Who gets a plus-one?
Anyone married, engaged or in a long-term relationship, and anyone who would otherwise know nobody there. Beyond that, apply one rule uniformly. Inconsistency causes far more upset than the rule itself.
Should we invite children?
Pick one of three positions — all welcome, immediate family only, or adults only — and put it on the invitation rather than leaving it implied. Adults-only is entirely reasonable; just give people enough notice to arrange childcare.
How do I track dietary requirements?
Ask on the RSVP rather than chasing later, and record it against the guest. Caterers usually want final numbers and dietary breakdowns two to four weeks out, and reconstructing them from memory at that point is miserable.
What is an A list and a B list?
The A list is everyone invited in the first wave; the B list goes out as declines come in. It is standard practice and nobody can tell, provided the second wave goes out early enough that the invitation does not arrive after the RSVP deadline.
Can I import a guest list I already have?
Paste it straight in — one name per line, or comma or tab separated, which is what you get copying a column out of a spreadsheet. Names containing commas are handled if they are quoted.
Does the guest list connect to the seating chart?
Yes. Build the list here, then open the seating chart maker and paste the same names to arrange them — or create a free account and the list flows into seating, RSVPs and the budget without being retyped.
Other free wedding tools
Seating chart maker
Drag guests into place, auto-arrange a first draft, and keep feuding relatives apart.
Table calculator
How many tables, linens and centerpieces you need — and the floor area they take up.
Budget calculator
A category breakdown from your total and guest count — with what each guest actually costs.
RSVP tracker
Who has replied, who hasn't, meal choices, and the headcount your caterer needs.
Planning the whole wedding?
These tools are part of Vows & Volts — guest list, RSVPs, budget, vendors, and an AI floor-plan designer, in one place. See what's included