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This guide gives you that sheet: the columns and a header row to copy, the household rule, how to get the elders' lists in, phone numbers that work on WhatsApp, and how the same sheet becomes your invitations and your headcount.
The columns you need
| Column | What goes in it | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Name | The name as you will greet them: 'Sharma Uncle and family', 'Dr Meena Rao' | It goes straight into the message and the invitation's greeting |
| Phone | With the country code and no spaces: +91 and the ten digits | WhatsApp needs the full international number |
| Side | Bride's or groom's | Each side invites its own people, often on its own link |
| Relation | Mama, bua, Papa's office, college friend | To group them, greet them and sort the call list |
| Functions | One column for each function, ticked where they are invited | Decides which invitation or link they get |
| Count | How many people from that household | Catering is counted in people, not families |
| Stay | Yes or no, with arrival and departure dates | Rooms and station or airport pickups |
| Invited by | Who calls or sends: Papa, Mummy, Dadi, the bride | So nobody is invited twice, or missed |
| Reply | Coming, not coming or no reply yet, and how many | Your headcount for every function |
Name the function columns after your own functions. If the bride's side has a mayra and the groom's side a baraat, each gets a column of its own. The header row is ready to copy at the end of this guide.
Households, not people
Use one row per household, the way invitations go out: one card or one link for each family, with a count of how many are coming. A family of five is one row with 5 in the Count column, not five rows. That is also how you count printed cards, as our invitation timeline explains.
Give someone their own row only when they need their own invitation: a grown-up cousin in another city, a couple invited to different functions from their parents, a colleague invited without family.
Getting the elders' lists in
The slowest part of any guest list is the part that lives on paper. One family we worked with this season had 300 to 400 guests spread across paper notes and several spreadsheets, with elders who were not on smartphones. A bride living abroad found it hard to build the list at all without her family's contacts to hand. What works:
- Ask earlyAsk each elder for their list a month before the invitations go out, not a week. Their phone book is a diary, and copying it takes evenings.
- Take it however it comesA photo of a diary page, a voice note of names, a forwarded contact. Someone younger types it in.
- Give each elder their rows back to checkRead the names out to Dadi, or print her rows. She will catch the cousin who has moved house and the number that changed.
- Merge, then remove the duplicatesThe same uncle will be on three lists. Keep one row, and write down who invites him.
Phone numbers that work on WhatsApp
WhatsApp's own Help Center page on international numbers says to start with a plus sign and the country code, then the full number, and to remove any leading zeros. In practice:
- +91 and the ten digits for India, with no leading 0 and no spaces.
- The guest's own country code abroad: +1 for the US and Canada, +44 for the UK, +971 for the UAE.
- One number per row. Use the number that person has on WhatsApp, and put a landline or a second number under Notes.
- Check the doubtful ones by opening a chat with each before the sending day.
Our guest dashboard, Aangan, works the same way: one number belongs to one guest, a number entered twice is refused with the name it already belongs to, and Indian numbers are checked for their ten digits.
Tiers and functions
The function columns are where the sheet earns its keep. Close family gets a tick in every column, the wider circle in the wedding and the reception, colleagues in the reception alone. When it is time to send, filter by a column and you have that group's list. Our guide to inviting guests to only some functions explains how each group then gets an invitation that shows only its own functions.
If both families keep one sheet, the Side column lets each filter its own people. If they keep two, agree on the same columns so the counts add up at the end. Many families prefer one sheet per side, because each side's elders look after their own list.
From sheet to invitations and headcount
- Clean the categories before you importEvery value in a column should be spelled one way: 'Groom side', not also 'groom's side' and 'G'. In one family's import, a single inconsistent column created a stray group of 199 guests.
- Import into a dashboard, or sort by senderAangan (₹3,000 with an invitation) takes the list as an Excel sheet, gives every household a personal link with only their functions, and sends from your own WhatsApp. Without a dashboard, sort the sheet by the Invited by column and give each sender their rows, then follow our WhatsApp sending guide.
- Fill in the replies as they comeForm replies, calls and messages all go into the Reply column, so one sheet holds the count. Our RSVP guide explains how to turn replies into numbers for each function.
- Hand over the final numbersA week before the first function, give the caterer the count for each function and the hotel the stay list with arrival dates.
The header row, and the messages that fill it
Copy the header row and paste it into the first cell of a new sheet in Excel or Google Sheets: each heading lands in its own column. The messages help you collect the names and numbers.
Name Phone Side Relation Haldi Mehndi Sangeet Wedding Reception Count Stay Arrival Departure Invited by Reply Notes
Dadi, we are making the guest list for [Name]'s wedding.
Could you give me the names and numbers of everyone you would like to invite? A photo of your diary page is enough, I will type it all in.
[नाम] की शादी के लिए मेहमानों की सूची बना रहे हैं।
आप जिन्हें बुलाना चाहते हैं, उनके नाम और नंबर भेज दीजिए। डायरी के पन्ने की फ़ोटो भी चलेगी।
Hi [Name], we are sending [Name]'s wedding invitation on WhatsApp.
Is this the best number to reach you on, and how many of you should we count in?
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Questions people ask
What columns should a wedding guest list have?
Name, phone with country code, side, relation, the functions they are invited to, how many people, stay, who invites them, and their reply. Add arrival and departure dates if guests are travelling.
How do I count guests for an Indian wedding?
By household for invitations, and by people for each function for catering. One row per household, with a count column, gives you both.
Can I import my guest list to send invitations?
Yes. Invifest's Aangan takes your guest list as an Excel sheet and sends every guest a personal link from your own WhatsApp. Clean the columns first, so one stray spelling does not become a new group.
How do I manage guest lists for both families?
Either one sheet with a Side column, or one sheet per side with the same columns, so the counts add up. Many families keep two, because each side's elders look after their own.
How many people should we invite?
There is no right number. Start from what the venue holds for your largest function, count households rather than people, and remember that the reception list is usually the largest of all.
How should phone numbers be written for WhatsApp?
With a plus sign and the country code, then the full number, with no leading zero and no spaces: +91 and the ten digits for India.
