How to Tell a Friend That You Are Not Inviting Them to Your Wedding

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“Hey, I am so excited to go to your wedding! When is it again?”
“Well….”
So how do you tell them that you are not inviting them to your wedding? It is a challenge, to say the least. For no matter what your reasoning or how sound it is, no one wants to have to let down a friend and potentially damage a relationship. This will not necessarily be in your control, however, but there are ways to handle it that will give you the best chance of successfully telling your friend that you are not inviting him or her to your wedding. The following are some tips you may want to consider.
If there is a reasonable explanation, then share it. If your reason for not inviting him or her to the wedding is because you really don’t consider them a great friend, then you might not want to share it. If, however, there is something that makes a lot of sense, then you can tell them. For instance, let’s say it is one of your work friends. You are having an extremely small wedding because it is all you can afford and are only inviting your family and childhood friends. You do not want to invite anyone from work because that would add twenty people. This makes sense. Of course, he or she might still be insulted no matter what you say, but many people would be okay with this type of explanation. They might understand the money issues and how it is difficult to invite one person from work and not invite many other people. They probably understand that they are not the same as family or your childhood friends. If you have a different explanation that makes similar sense, then you can share that with them as well.
You might want to mention other people who are not coming to your wedding. For instance, again let’s say you are having a small wedding. Let’s say it is so small that you haven’t even invited some family or other people who are clearly closer to you than this friend. You can mention that. You can say something like “We are having such a small wedding that we didn’t even invite Bob’s cousin.” You do not have to mention that Bob hasn’t spoken to his cousin in seven years. It is the notion that you are not inviting people that you want to invite because of the money or for some other reasonable cause.
Be open to listening to them. The last thing you want is for them to say they are okay with it, and then hold a grudge forever or to let it destroy your relationship. If they are done with the friendship, then you will have no choice. Tell them gently and listen if they feel that they want to discuss it.
It is difficult to share bad news but sometimes it must be done. Try the above tips to give yourself the best outcome after telling a friend you are not inviting them to your wedding.
Updated On: 04/01/2010 Published On: 04/01/2010 Ways to show your preschoolers that you love them