Wedding Planning Template for US Couples Booking a Catered Reception — Guest List, Budget and True Cost per Guest (Excel & Google Sheets; CSV imports into Airtable)

The per-plate price on a catering quote is not what you pay: the venue's service charge is added on top of it, and in many US states the sales tax is then charged on the plates and the service charge together — so a guest list priced at the quoted plate figure lands under the real bill. This workbook does that stack from the numbers on your own signed contract: 3 sheets, 8 fields you fill in, 12 live formulas, and one figure that tells you how many guests you must cut to land inside your ceiling.

Your numbers

Invitations you are sending (count of guests invited, not households)Your own estimate of the percentage who will decline%Catering price per plate as quoted, before service charge and taxService charge percentage — copy it from your venue contract (this is a house fee, not a gratuity to the staff)%Sales tax percentage that applies at the reception's address — copy it from your contract or your state's department of revenue (the placeholder is New York City's combined state, city and MCTD rate of 8.875%; replace it with yours)%Fixed vendor costs that do not change with guest count (venue rental, photography, music, attire, flowers, officiant)Per-guest extras outside catering (invitation and postage, chair and place-setting rentals, favours, welcome bags)The ceiling you refuse to cross — total budget available for the wedding

Your result

Expected attendees after declines	-
Catering subtotal at the quoted plate price	-
Venue service charge on the catering subtotal	-
Sales tax, charged on plates and service charge together	-
Catering all-in (what the caterer actually bills)	-
Per-guest extras across all attendees	-
Total wedding cost, all in	-
True cost of one guest, fixed vendors included	-
Left under your ceiling (a negative figure means you are over it)	-

Everything updates as you type. Nothing is uploaded. This runs in your browser.

Get the full calculatorFull version: all tabs, your own file, works offline.