Making a List and Checking It Twice

You'd think it was Christmas from all the people who want to be on the wedding guest list.  It's amazing how long-lost people who knew you when you were six months old are suddenly all excited to see you get married.  

Both our families have a lot of interest in the guest list, and understandably so.  They want to share details of our wedding with family and friends.  But it's tough to tell excited parents to keep mum about wedding plans in order that their friends' feelings won't be hurt.  Besides, word has a way of spreading around that your kid is getting married.  It can't be easy to deal with people who expect to be invited but simply won't be.  

So, our families want to know, do we have room for these kinds of guests?

Mom and Dad's best friends. Shouldn't parents be able to invite friends to enjoy the wedding with rather than a whole bunch of your friends?  

Random cousins. If we don't invite Cousin Izzy to the wedding, it'll remind Cousin Rosabel about the time that Cousin Ethel didn't invite Izzy's aunt to her wedding, and nobody will speak in our family for years!

We were invited to their wedding and had a lovely time.  They were so nice to us and went out of their way to make us feel comfortable.  We want to reciprocate!

We'd like to keep the numbers down, but we'd also like to keep everybody happy.  It's a delicate negotiation!