The sad, sad guest list

With this whole wedding business, I'm getting exposed to new wedding jargon that I find myself using in everyday speech. Here's the term that's bothering me the most these days:

Guarantee: the minimum number of guests that you agree to pay for at your wedding reception. This is a number that you have to be confident about because if you slip below your guarantee on the night of your reception, you still have to pay for the minimum number of guests. Also, you can't just pick a number out of thin air. Ballrooms have a maximum number that they hold and a minimum. Usually the site will pick the guarantee number and you need to meet it. Argh, it's all a tricky business.

I find myself completely depressed because I don't know if we'll be able to meet the guarantee to use the super pretty, big ballroom at Fox Hollow. What happens when two antisocial wallflowers get married? Their families use up a majority of the guest slots because Wallflowers 1 and 2 don't have enough friends. It's a sad, sad situation. The difference between The Garden Terrace and the Colonial Briar Fox is like the difference between Jacques Torres and Russel Stover. (That was for you, Moonie.)

Sigh. I want the pretty pretty room.