the a list

Or the b list, or the absence of either. It's not like we've got a Royal Wedding sized guest list to juggle and Elton and David to seat, but we did have a little bit of juggling to do.

We didn't want the numbers to get out of control, and so we had a list of invitees, and then a list of people we wanted to invite but weren't sure we could accommodate. Then it became clear that we were getting some 'no' RSVPs, mostly from my family. This was quite pleasing in a bizarre way at first. We could feel the budget shrinking, dropping with every 'no' card that dropped through the door. And rather meanly - some were invited out of a sense of duty and I felt relieved, rather than sad that they weren't coming.

But then we looked at the 'b' list and felt quite sad. J in particular seemed to have been enlivened by watching Kate and Wills (he really enjoyed it I think, sitting there drinking his way through a pot of coffee and eating a scone) and embraced the whole wedding thing - and said: sod it. We are asking them. What would the damage be? Hmm... a quick calculation: maybe 300-400 extra pounds. Or rather - back up to our original budget rather than the lower budget that had emerged.

We only do this once, he said, and I love these people. We will find the money. I'd rather have them there. I looked at our list and not-too-reluctantly agreed that I would rather have them there.

So that's it, no b list. It's not something everyone can do (hmm... we can barely...) but it's the right thing for us. These lovely people will be there, I hope. And now we've run out of invitations...