Why You Shouldn't Plan Your Wedding Guest List in Excel

• No Automation
• Free Collaboration
• Zero Integration With Other Wedding Planning Tools
• No Clear Visualization of Information
• Difficulty in Printing and Lack of Export Tailoring
• Use the Right Planning Tool for the Job & Elevate the Guest List Process

No Automation

When using an offline spreadsheet program such as Excel, you are expected to make every update by hand. Which means, if you've sent out 200+ wedding invitations, you'll need to manually change every single status. Updating each cell with their attendance, meal choices, dietary requirements, and whether they require a hotel or transport to the wedding... Depending on the level of information you've requested, and the number of guests invited, this can be a laborious task.

Not only does the act of manually updating every guest on your list waste time, but it can also lead to mistakes. We've spoken to countless couples who've gotten names wrong, written allergies down incorrectly, or simply inputted information in a column they shouldn't have. All harmless mistakes if caught early, but quite catastrophic if not.

Use our linked wedding website builder with built-in RSVP form, and all of your replies will be automatically updated on your guest list. All you need to do is approve the RSVP notification email you'll receive from us when someone does reply, and our intuitive platform will fill in every piece of information on your behalf.

Free Collaboration

Yes, both Excel and Google spreadsheets off collaboration. Meaning you, and whoever else you choose to be on your wedding planning team, can access and edit your guest list. But, anyone hoping to help you will need to either have a Google account or own Excel. Plus, they will also need to have prior experience with either spreadsheet program to effectively edit the sheet.

Our wedding guest list tool, on the other hand, requires no purchase (it's free!) and there is no sign up required by either you, or your team. Not only that, but we also allow you to create multiple versions of your wedding planning project, each with its own set of users and services available. Invaluable if you know someone great at handling finances, and you want them to help with your budget, but you don't want/need them to see your reception seating chart. Simply create a separate budget project in a couple of clicks, and avoid Uncle Clive finding out where he'll be sitting before the big day!

If you're not precious about information being shared within your team, you can easily copy and paste your project link into a shared WhatsApp group, email, or use your very own project QR code. Perfect for wedding planning collaboration on the go!

Zero Integration With Other Wedding Planning Tools

Our guest list software sits at the heart of our interconnected suite of wedding planning tools. Working in harmony with our RSVP system, automatically updating according to user input.

The information stored on every guest list is synced with our seating chart maker, allowing you to seamlessly start placing guests at your reception or ceremony without any need to leave your project. We even offer a simple designer platform for seating cards, name cards and table numbers. All linked to your guest list.

In just a few clicks, upon completing your guest list, you could be downloading all of your place cards, a seating chart for both venues and a tailored list of guests for every vendor. And all of that is possible because our guest list is fully integrated with almost every other tool in our suite.

No Clear Visualization of Information

Take our advice, don't stare at a spreadsheet of data too long, you'll almost certainly get sleepy! Or, at the very least, confused! Visual representations of information within Excel are of course available, but notoriously difficult to create. Which often leaves wedding planning couples with just a list of names and details. A spreadsheet that's difficult to understand, and visually unappealing.

Straightforward, attractive visualization of information is built-in to our guest list software. We offer multiple ways to view information, easy to identify icons and labelling, alongside clear summaries of where you're up to. Making it easy to understand, at all times, how many guests have RSVP'd, who needs a nudge and whether you really needed to hire a chef who specializes in vegan food after all...!

Difficulty in Printing and Lack of Export Tailoring

Have you ever tried to print a spreadsheet? If your experience was anything like ours, it was a nightmare. Too big, too tiny, spilling over onto multiple pages... Excel does not like you printing out your work. But when wedding planning, it's supremely useful sometimes to have a printed representation of your data. Or at the very least, be able to download your guest list, or budget spreadsheet, for example, and know that the person you forward it to will be able to print it. Something that's very necessary for caterers, as they typically like to print information so it can be viewed quickly and easily by the entire team.

We want our free wedding planning tools to be useful, from the beginning of your time with them, right through to the end. And that means ensuring you can easily print our files via Excel, or PDF. Either way, your information will be neatly presented and formatted to whichever page size you request. Not only that, but we offer multiple different export visibility options.

Let's say you need to send a version of your guest list to the hotel you've made a block booking with. They don't need to know dietary requirements, or travel info. They just require the full names of each guest, what type of room they need, and whether they have any special requests. That specific list and limitless others can be instantly created using our export settings, and emailed off to whoever requires it. You can even choose to only include confirmed guests on your exported list, or maybe just those attending the reception if that's more relevant.

With our platform, you control who sees what, and we make it so easy to do.

Use the Right Planning Tool for the Job & Elevate the Guest List Process

We all know how powerful Excel is a data organizational tool, but it's not designed specifically for guest list planning - our app is!

Upgrade your entire wedding planning experience today by creating your own free wedding project with us. You'll soon discover how useful not only our guest list app is, but also our free RSVP form, seat chart maker, budget planner and so many more!