“What of someone who comes from a family of 10?”
Ok, lets crunch some numbers:
Chosson = 1
Parents = 2
Grandparents (biz 120) = 4
Aunts / Uncles, father’s side, (all married) = 20 ppl
Aunts / Uncles, mother’s side, (all married) = 20 ppl
Cousins, father’s side, (some married) = 60/100 ppl <Average 80>
Cousins, mother’s side, (some married) = 60/100 ppl <Average 80>
Chosson’s married sibling = (all married) = 20 ppl
Chosson’s nieces / nephews = some married 60/100 ppl <Average 80>
Chosson friends (yeshiva, shul and camp) = 50 ppl
grand total = 357 (just a coincidence). Kallah has the same, so that’s a cool 700+ people.
But the reality is, in a family that size, cousins and neices / nephews come for 5 minutes (if at all) and rarely will the spouse come, as they likey have the same size family to deal with.
So knock the 80 x 3 down to 20 people total (selected at random, or whoever you’re close with) and you’ve got 137 ppl / double that for the kallah and you’re at 274.
That leaves 26 ppl for parents neighbors, shul freinds, country friends, etc.
Besides, if you have 700 people at your wedding,and the workable hours at the wedding are max 3 hours, that means you can only spend 15 seconds with each guest. And if your macheteneste corners you for 10 mintues so she can introduce you to her 20 best freinds, someone else is gettting ignored.
And I’m going to shlepp to Lakewood (4 hours r.t. including the meal) for a whopping 15 seconds of your attention? Thanks, but no thanks.
So yes, I really think 150 people per side is doable. (And spend a whopping full minute with each of your guests, but hopefully, they’ll understand)
If you want to, you can do it. With or without a takonoh.