For local guests, plan for 85% of guests to attend. However, if most of them are close family members who could do everything they can to achieve this, their estimate could be higher than 85%. There are several different ways to calculate attendance. Just take the number of people invited and multiply it by.
In general, calculate that the number of snacks is 6 pieces for each guest who attends. When planning your wedding calendar, consider how much time it will be before guests have dinner. If you have an extended interval between the ceremony and the reception, you may want to offer more appetizers. If you ask people to leave and come back later, it's best to offer fewer snacks.
Keep in mind that offering snacks often helps reduce the cost of the buffet, as guests will eat approximately 10% less at dinner when the snacks are served. In addition, the smaller the snack bite, the greater the number. If you're getting married in the morning or early afternoon, guests will be less inclined to drink than at an evening celebration. To do this, create a spreadsheet in which you will save the names, addresses and the number of members of each family that will attend the event.
If you divide the cake between tables and people, they are more likely to eat it than when guests have the option to go up and have a serving themselves. If you don't offer a dish where guests confirm their attendance with the main course of their choice, if you calculate 1.5 servings for each diner, you'll have an overall count of main courses. Remember to consider your vegetarian and vegan guests when planning your main menu, and be sure to consider that number as well. It's usually easier to hire a waiter to take care of the bar service than to manage everything yourself, although at more informal parties it's enough to put a bunch of six packs and bottles on the bar and trust that the guests are reasonable with them.
Once you have your overall workforce, you can start making estimates of how much food, drink, space, entertainment, and other details you'll need. If you calculate that there are too many guests, you'll lose money that you could spend on other things for your event. Getting to know your guests first, the type of reception you are going to hold and the type of dinner to be served is essential to be able to count on accurate catering. Guests who eat more are likely to compensate for those who don't eat, and how and when all desserts are served determines how much to eat.
For guests who are out of town, it is estimated that around 85% of the guests show up if they are close family members and 55% if they are not. I wonder if they wrote it from the standpoint of guessing how many people you invite to reach the target number of attendees, and not with the intention of saving money or being dishonest with the sellers about the number of people you invited. In general, it is recommended to consume 1 to 2 cups of water per guest and 3 to 4 non-aqueous drinks (tea, lemonade, soda), estimated at about 5 drinks per person or 1 drink per hour.