After you get engaged, you'll hopefully take some time to enjoy the glow of contentment with your betrothed before you dive into wedding planning. You'll need as much positive energy as you can muster. Getting ready for your wedding is a long and complicated process, and one of the things that can bring a great deal of frustration is the guest list. You probably cannot invite everyone you want to, so how do you choose who makes the cut? Here are four questions you should answer to help you simplify your wedding guest list.

What Is Your Budget?

The most important factor that comes into play when you're preparing your guest list is budget. With this step, you need to be realistic, not idealistic. Your dream wedding probably requires a budget that could take you years to meet. If you have years to plan and save, you don't need to worry about the guest list until closer to the date. However, if you're looking just one year in advance, then you need to work within your budget when it comes to your guest list. 

The number of guests you have at your wedding determines your budget when it comes to food, venue space, and party favors if you choose to have them. If you and your partner have large families as well as substantial numbers of people within your social circles, you need to decide together on the number of people you want to invite. Consider how much money you want to spend on your wedding and work backward to discover how many people you can feasibly invite while staying within your budget.

Who Are You Close To?

When you start your guest list, you need to prioritize the people you are close to. This could look very different for you and your partner because not everyone is close to their immediate family and not everyone has a large circle of friends. During this process, remember to move forward honestly and make your needs heard. 

You might feel a sense of obligation to fill out your side of the guest list with family members near and far regardless of your relationship. If you have a limited number of people you can invite to your wedding, make sure to choose people based on the relationships you have. 

Where Is the Venue?

Where you get married is going to make a big difference in the size of your guest list. For intimate ceremonies and destination weddings, you should limit the number of guests to 25 people. If you want to say your vows on a beach or in a park, make sure to check if there are restrictions on the number of people who can attend the event. 

For backyard weddings, you can expand your list to 50 or 60 people, depending on your budget and the type of space you use. If you're planning to have your wedding and reception in larger venues such as a church and a hotel banquet hall, then you will probably want to invite a maximum of 150 people.

You can also have two different guest lists, one for the ceremony and one for the reception. In that case, you will probably have the opportunity to invite more people to your reception.

Will You Allow Plus Ones?

Before you send out invitations to your guests, decide if you are allowing plus ones or not. When you say yes to bringing a plus one, it dramatically changes the number of people you're dealing with. Traditional expectations might make it seem like you have to allow everyone to bring a plus one, but ultimately this decision is yours to make. 

Before you settle on your guest list, think about what kind of experience you want to have for your wedding day. If you don't want to host and feed a group of people, you can always elope.