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Import a wedding guest list from a spreadsheet

Save your sheet as CSV, check the columns, and bring it into the guest list without losing anything.

Save the sheet as CSV UTF-8

  • Excel (Windows or Mac): File → Save As (or Save a Copy) → choose CSV UTF-8 (Comma delimited) (.csv). Only the active sheet is saved, so select the guest sheet first.
  • Google Sheets: File → Download → Comma-separated values (.csv). Only the current sheet is downloaded, and it is always UTF-8.
  • Numbers: File → Export To → CSV, and choose Unicode (UTF-8) as the text encoding in the advanced options.

Put one person per row and the column headings in the first row. Remove totals rows, merged title cells and empty rows above the headings before you export.

Columns we recognize

Headings are matched without regard to capitals, accents, spaces, punctuation or an “(optional)” note. The import preview shows which heading was read as what before anything changes in your list.

What Example headings Notes
Name Name, Full name, Guest name, or First name + Last name One full-name column or separate first and last names
Household Household, Party, Group, Family Rows with the same value form one invitation
Reply RSVP, Status, Response, Attending “Yes”, “Accepted”, “Attending” → accepted; “No”, “Declined”, “Regrets” → declined
Needs a seat Needs seat, Seat “No” for an infant on a lap
Needs a meal Needs meal, Meal needed “No” for a guest who will not eat
Meal Meal, Meal choice, Entree, Menu Becomes the guest’s meal choice
Dietary Dietary, Allergies, Diet Kept only if you turn dietary notes on
Table Table, Table number, Table name Seats the guest at that table
Age Age group, Age, Adult/child, Child “Adult”, “Child” or “Infant” (also “Kid”, “Baby”); in a Child column, “Yes” or “No”
Notes Notes, Comments Kept as a private note; never printed
Contact Email, Phone, Address (also street, city, postal code columns) Never printed on cards or the caterer sheet
Plus-one Plus one, +1, Plus one name “Yes” adds one unnamed plus-one, a number from 1 to 9 adds that many, a name adds a named one
More people on the row Partner name, Spouse, Partner first name + Partner last name, Additional guest 1, Additional guest 2 … Each filled cell is one more named guest

Replies, plus-ones and other people on a row

  • Replies: an empty reply, or one such as “maybe”, “?”, “tbd” or “awaiting”, becomes No reply yet. Reply text the import does not recognize also becomes No reply yet and is listed in the import report so you can check it. Nothing unclear is ever read as accepted.
  • Seat and meal: an empty cell means yes. A value that is not a recognizable yes or no (such as “maybe”) is also read as yes and listed in the report.
  • Age: an empty cell means adult. A numeric age such as “7” is not recognized: the guest is imported as an adult and the row is listed in the report, so write “Child” or “Infant” instead.
  • Plus-ones from a Plus one column start as No reply yet, with no table and no meal. Accept them in the guest list once they confirm, or the seat and meal counts come out low.
  • Partner and additional guest columns add named people to the same household as the row. They take the row’s reply and its seat and meal needs, but not its meal choice or table. Put names in these columns, not “Yes”: a “Yes” would become a guest called “Yes”. For an unnamed companion, use the Plus one column.

Columns we do not recognize are kept

A column such as Side, Gift or Shuttle is not thrown away. It is kept with each guest as an extra field and can be included when you export the list again. It is not printed on any card.

Same names are never merged

Two rows with the same name are two people: cousins can share a name, and so can a parent and child. The import report lists same-name rows so you can delete a real duplicate yourself, but nothing is merged automatically.

Next step

Open the wedding guest list and import your file. When the replies are in, continue with the seating chart.

Open the guest list editor

Frequently asked questions

Why does Excel show José instead of José?
That is what Excel often shows when it opens a UTF-8 CSV file by double-click, for example one downloaded from Google Sheets. The file itself is fine: import it as it is. If you saved it from Excel after that, the wrong characters are now in the file; fix them in the sheet or export again from the original. The import reads UTF-8 and UTF-16 files. A file in another encoding is read as Western European (Windows-1252), and the preview asks you to check the accents before you import.
Why did all my data end up in one column?
The separator was not recognized. Excel in many European languages saves CSV with semicolons; the importer accepts commas, semicolons and tabs. Check that the first row holds your column headings and that it uses the same separator as the rest.
Can I import an .xlsx file directly?
No. Save it as CSV UTF-8 first. CSV is plain text, so you can open it to check exactly what is imported.
Is my file uploaded?
No. The file is read in your browser. Nothing in it, not even the file name, is sent anywhere.
How big can the file be?
Up to 2 MB, 5,000 rows and 2 million characters, which is far more than any guest list. A larger file is refused with a message and nothing is imported, so nothing is ever cut off silently; split it into smaller files and import them one after another with “Add as new guests”.
I imported the same file twice. Do I have two of everyone now?
Only if you chose “Add as new guests”. An import always opens as a preview first; to start over from the file, choose “Replace my current list”. Guests are never matched by name, so adding the same file twice adds the same people twice.
Why are my plus-ones not counted after the import?
Plus-ones created from the file start as “No reply yet”, because the file says that a plus-one is allowed, not that they are coming. Set them to Accepted in the guest list when they confirm, or your seat and meal counts come out low.

Last reviewed:

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