Clean up a wedding guest list before you import it
A practical guest-list checklist covering names, households, duplicates, RSVP states and meal details.
By the You May Now team · September 11, 2026Keep one person per row
Individual rows make meal counts and seating assignments easier to maintain. Use a household field to keep families connected instead of placing several people in a single name cell. A plus-one should eventually become a named record when the identity is confirmed.
Agree on column names
Start with full name, email, phone, household, group, RSVP, meal choice and dietary notes. Add fields only when they will be used. A consistent header row helps a CSV importer map your spreadsheet to the right record fields.
Look for near-duplicates
Exact matches are only the beginning. “Sam Lee” and “Samuel Lee” might be the same guest; two people with the same name might be different guests. Review possible matches with the couple before removing records. Do not use a shared household email as proof that two people are duplicates.
Separate no response from declined
A blank response does not mean someone is not coming. Use explicit pending, attending and declined states so your follow-up list and catering count mean what you expect.
Check the export before uploading
Save the working file, export to CSV and open the exported file once. Check special characters, line breaks and leading zeros in phone or postal fields. Import a small sample first if you are changing tools or using a new file format.
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