How do I calculate pax for my wedding?

Start from the guests who have confirmed, not the invite list, and make sure each reply counted the children coming. Add the vendors the caterer feeds and family helping on the day. Then add the buffer your caterer recommends. For a banquet, seat everyone at tables of 10 and count the tables, because that is what you pay for.

Should I give the caterer the number invited or the number confirmed?

The number confirmed. Some invited guests decline, some come with fewer people and some with more. Give the confirmed total, children included, plus vendors, helpers and the agreed buffer, and keep anyone who has not replied out of the count until they do.

How much buffer should I add to my wedding headcount?

Ask your caterer rather than picking a percentage off the internet. They know how their portions run and what they can top up on the day. Ask what buffer they suggest, what an extra plate costs if you run short, and whether unused buffer is charged.

Do children count as pax at a wedding?

It depends on the caterer, so ask. Some charge children as full pax, some by age, and at a banquet every seat at the table counts whoever sits in it. Babies may not eat but still need a baby chair and space at a table.

How many tables do I need for a Chinese wedding banquet?

Divide confirmed guests by 10 for the minimum, then expect more. Families sit together and rarely come in tens, so a family of 4 and a family of 7 leave seats empty at two tables. Do the seating first and count the tables after. Ask the restaurant whether a table can take 11 or 12, and whether they can hold a standby table.

My parents invited the whole kampung. How do we get a headcount?

Split the list in two. Guests who RSVP are counted exactly. For the open invitation, sit with your parents and estimate group by group: neighbours, the surau or temple, the office, relatives from out of town. Use the last big family event as your anchor, and if you can, ask that caterer how many they served.

Caterer Asking How Many Pax? How to Get Your Wedding Headcount Right

The headcount your caterer wants is not how many people you invited. It's the guests who have confirmed, children included, plus the vendors and helpers the caterer feeds, plus a small buffer you agree with the caterer. For a banquet with round tables, turn that into tables of 10 after you've seated the families, not before.

Why your invite count is the wrong wedding headcount

An invite list says who you asked. Some will say no. Some families come with three when you expected five, and some come with five when you wrote three. If your parents invited their own friends, part of the list may only be a rough guess.

Give the caterer the invite count and you'll pay for empty seats. Give them a hopeful number and the food runs out before the last table eats. Neither ending is great on the day.

Step 1: Split the list by answer

Before you count anything, sort every invite into one of three groups:

Coming, with how many people
Not coming
No reply yet

Only the first group is a number you can hand over. "No reply" isn't half a yes. Chase them, which our RSVP guide covers, and leave them out until they answer.

Step 2: Check the children, then add the people who aren't guests

These are the ones couples forget:

Children. Check that guests counted them in "how many are coming", or ask again. Then ask your caterer how they charge for children: full pax, by age, or simply a seat at the table.
Babies. They might not eat, but a baby chair takes space at a table. Ask whether the caterer counts them.
Vendors. The photographer, videographer, makeup artist, emcee or band. Ask whether they eat from your count or get a separate crew meal, and get the answer in writing.
Helpers. Cousins on the reception table, the friend running the slideshow, relatives who come to help cook or set up. They eat too.

Step 3: Agree the buffer with your caterer

You'll find advice online to add 5% or 10%. Your caterer knows their portions better than any article. Ask them three things:

What buffer do you suggest for a wedding this size?
If we run short on the day, what can you top up, and what does an extra plate cost?
Is an unused buffer still charged?

Then pick the buffer with them, not on your own.

A worked wedding headcount example

Here's how the pieces add up. The numbers are made up to show the method, not a rule.

	Pax
Guests confirmed coming, children included	250
Vendors the caterer feeds	6
Family helpers on the day	4
Buffer agreed with the caterer	10
Number to give the caterer	270

The invite list for this wedding might have had 320 people on it. Giving 320 would have paid for 50 plates nobody ate.

Turning pax into banquet tables of 10

At a Chinese wedding banquet, or any dinner at round tables, you usually book tables, not plates. In the example, 250 guests need seats. That's 25 tables on paper. You'll almost always need more.

Families sit together, and they don't come in tens. A family of 4 and a family of 7 can't share one table, so one of them leaves seats empty. Do the seating first, keeping households together and the bride's and groom's sides where your families want them. Count the tables after that.

Ask the restaurant two things before you confirm: can a table take 11 or 12, and can they hold a standby table for late replies? Ask what a standby table costs if nobody sits at it.

The vegetarian count matters here too. Ask whether vegetarian guests get their own dishes at a normal table or need a vegetarian table, because that changes your seating. Our seating plan guide walks through it.

When your parents invite widely

A kenduri kahwin or an open house often works differently. Your parents invite the neighbours, the surau or temple, the office and relatives from out of town, by word of mouth. Those guests will never fill in an RSVP form.

Split the list in two. Count the guests who RSVP exactly, as above. Estimate the open invitation with your parents, group by group: thirty from the taman, a full van from the kampung, the whole department from Dad's office.

Anyone who quotes you a standard attendance percentage doesn't know your family. Your best anchor is your own family's last big event. If you can reach that caterer, ask how many pax they actually served.

Also tell the caterer how long the event runs and whether guests come and go. Over four hours, seats get used more than once, but plates don't.

Let the list do the adding

A sheet can do all of this with a few columns and a sum. Or let the replies add themselves up. On Gotchaa Lab's wedding websites, guests say how many are coming when they RSVP, up to a limit you set, and can give a vegetarian count and baby chairs if those questions are on. The guest list totals the pax who are coming and downloads as a CSV for the caterer. Each site is built on Convya, so its link ends in .convya.art.

A wedding guest list showing 13 attending pax, each reply's pax and vegetarian count, and the table each guest sits at The guest list that comes with one of our wedding sites, filled with demo guests.