Reunion Guest List Management Guide

The list is the product

Everything a reunion committee does flows through the guest list. Outreach adds names to it. RSVPs change their status. Payments attach to them. Name tags print from them. Check-in reads them. When that list lives in one live place, the whole operation runs smoothly. When it lives in three committee members' personal spreadsheets, a shared doc, and a pile of Facebook messages, you get double-counted guests, lost payments, and a headcount you cannot trust the week before the venue needs a final number.

Each name moves left to right. The paid column is your true, reservation-ready headcount.

What every name should carry

A useful guest list is more than names and emails. For each classmate, track:

Contact info: email, phone, mailing address, and current or maiden name, so no one is lost between reunions.
Status: invited, contacted, RSVP'd yes or no, and paid, the pipeline that tells you where each person stands.
Guest count and meal choice: plus-ones and dietary needs the caterer will ask for.
Payment: how much, by what method, and when, tied directly to the name so nothing goes missing.
Check-in: a simple arrived or not-arrived flag for the night itself.

Habits that keep it clean

One source of truth

Pick a single shared platform and make it the only place the list lives. Kill the side spreadsheets, they are where errors breed.

Let classmates update themselves

When people RSVP and pay through a form, their own record updates automatically. That beats a volunteer retyping messages into a sheet.

Reconcile payments to names

Every dollar in should map to a person. A list that tracks money separately from names is how reunions lose track of who paid.

Segment for outreach

Being able to filter to "invited but not responded" is what makes reminders targeted instead of spammy.

A reunion runs on exactly one number: how many people paid. Everything else is noise if you can't trust that.

Frequently asked questions

How do I manage a reunion guest list?

Keep one master list that tracks each classmate from invited to RSVP'd to paid, so you always know your real headcount at a glance.

What should the guest list track?

Track contact info, RSVP status, guest count, meal choice, payment, and check-in, all tied to each name in a single source of truth.

Why not use a spreadsheet for the guest list?

Spreadsheets fall out of sync across the committee and can't tie payments to names, so a shared live list prevents costly mistakes.

One live list from first invite to check-in

Class Reunly keeps every classmate's status, RSVP, payment, and meal choice on one page, so your headcount is always right and never lives in five spreadsheets.

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