My baby boom guest list

It’s been four days since the RSVP deadline–or in my case, the ‘book by’ deadline. The procrastinators have finally been mobilized.

The count is now up to 59 attendees which seems quite modest if you were thinking this was a traditional wedding, but really is quite astronomical for a destination wedding.

Based on my extensive (as-of-late, anyway) experience lurking on destination wedding forums, the average number is more like 20.

At first I was really, really excited. For me, the best part of a wedding is not the invitations, not the favors, not the centerpieces or aisle runners or name cards or pomanders or the groomsmens-ties-that-match-oh-so-perfectly-to-the-sash-on-the- flower-girl’s-dress-AND-the-ribbon-trim-on-the-escort-cards or any other of the million and one sometimes silly (but also addictive) wedding websites are obsessed with.

For me, it’s always been about the people that are there. After all, that’s what you remember.

After having been to some weddings that had good intentions which flopped once the reception began and no one got the hilarious jokes during the wedding party’s speeches and no one hit the dance floor, I vowed my wedding guest list would be 90% made up of OUR friends, not people who our parents or family invited because of *shudder* obligation or, maybe worse, because they wanted to show off. (Not that my parents would EVER do that, mind you; they’re not like that. But I’ve seen some weddings that clearly were influenced by this type of thing.)

We sent out about 120 invitations, give or take. I say ‘give or take’ because there were a few last minute “ooh shit, I forgot to send one to so-and-so” moments. I’m not sure if this happens to everyone or just to people who have destination weddings because at the end of the day, our budget is a bit more flexible based on the type of wedding we’re having (more on that in a future post) and so our lists are a bit more flexible.

So 59 was pretty damn good. Or so I thought. Then I started thinking about some of our friends that haven’t booked yet or had let us know they couldn’t make it. And there were… a LOT. So who ARE all these people?! I’m still not too sure, even though I look at the list all the time. I think I will have to make a pie chart to make sense of it all (’cause yes, I’m dorky like that); I mean, I know we have a lot of family that’s coming and quite of few of Mr Purple’s parents’ friends… but really? That many?

Then I started thinking about our friends who RSVP-ed (or not but I can make an educated guess) that they can’t make it.

And I’ve realized that there is one MAJOR thing thwarting my aspirations of having a friend-heavy guest list that I hadn’t previously accounted for…

BABIES!

Seriously… what the heck?! Am I really that old? Are we really all ‘grown-ups’ already?? I had to sit down and make a list. So here it is: of all our invited friends, the number of couples who either have/will have tiny babies (less than 2 yrs) or are going to be very pregnant by the time our wedding rolls around in November is… (drumroll please)… SIXTEEN.

That’s 16 couples, mind you, which equals 32 people on my guest list. Currently 3 of those couples are coming anyway (immediate family who wouldn’t miss it for the world!) but the rest probably aren’t.

What is with all these babies??

I mean, I noticed there’s a lot of baby-bump watching in the celebrity world lately but I thought maybe I was just noticing it because I’m ‘of a certain age’. And maybe my friends are all preggers also because I’m ‘of a certain age’.

But it can’t be just that? Lately it seems there an above-normal count babies all over the place.

I remember reading something related to the baby boom in the Globe and Mail a little while ago but can’t find the full article, and there is scant to be found on this topic online. Yet. (Or so I’m convinced.)

Seriously. Is it just me, or did you also have a lot of people decline your wedding invite because of baby issues? Do you think we’re in the middle of another baby boom?