The dilemma is one that many young couples know only too well - just who to invite to the evening do at your wedding, when numbers are strictly limited.
And for Prince William and Kate Middleton, it is proving a particularly tough challenge.
The Mail on Sunday can exclusively reveal that the pair have been allowed to invite only 100 guests each to the lavish dinner and dance hosted by Prince Charles at Buckingham Palace after their wedding on Friday, April 29.
A Palace aide said: “The evening reception will be the most exclusive part of the day and it’s the invite everyone wants. The couple have so many friends that it is proving a real challenge trying to get the numbers down. They are really struggling.” It is expected that just 300 guests will be at the party - but 100 of those are being invited by Charles and Camilla, leaving William and Kate with a headache.
So who will make the final cut for this most exclusive of parties?
Here, using unrivalled sources and society contacts, along with insightful analysis of William and Kate’s social circle, The Mail on Sunday has compiled an authoritative guide to who might well make the guest list...
THE ROYAL SET
The Queen, 84, and Duke of Edinburgh, 89.
Prince Charles, 62, and the Duchess of Cornwall, 63.
Princess Anne, 60, and Timothy Laurence, 55.
Prince Andrew, 50.
Prince Edward, 46, and Sophie Wessex, 45.
Prince Harry, 26.
Princess Beatrice, 22, and boyfriend Dave Clark, 28.
Princess Eugenie, 20, and boyfriend Jack Brooksbank, 26.
Lord Frederick Windsor, 31, Prince William’s cousin, and wife Sophie Winkleman, 30. Lady Ella Windsor, 29-year-old daughter of Prince and Princess Michael of Kent.
Zara Phillips, 29, and her fiance Mike Tindall, 32.
Peter Phillips, 33, and his wife Autumn Phillips, 32.
Earl Spencer, 46, Prince William’s uncle and brother of Princess Diana.
Lady Kitty Spencer, 20, Lady Eliza Spencer and Lady Amelia Spencer, both 18, daughters of Earl Spencer.
Louis Frederick John Spencer, 16, son of Earl Spencer.
Lady Jane Fellowes, 53, sister of Princess Diana.
Laura Jane Fellowes, 30, daughter of Jane.
Alexander Robert Fellowes, 27, son of Jane.
Eleanor Ruth Fellowes, 25, daughter of Jane.
Sarah McCorquodale, 55, sister of Princess Diana, and husband Neil Edmund McCorquodale, 59.
Emily Jane McCorquodale, 27, daughter of Sarah.
George Edmund McCorquodale, 26, son of Sarah.
Celia McCorquodale, 21, daughter of Sarah.
Tom Parker Bowles, 36, son of the Duchess of Cornwall, and wife Sara Parker Bowles, 37.
Laura Parker Bowles, 33, daughter of the Duchess of Cornwall, and husband Harry Lopes, 33.
Nicholas Van Cutsem, 33, a close friend of the couple, and wife Alice Hadden-Paton.
Edward Van Cutsem, 36, Nicholas’s brother, and wife Lady Tamara Grosvenor, 30.
William Van Cutsem, 30, Nicholas’s brother.
Hugh Van Cutsem, 36, Nicholas’s brother, and wife Rose Astor, 35.
Tara Palmer-Tomkinson, 39, It Girl and daughter of Prince Charles’s best friends Patti and Charles.
Simon Sebag-Montefiore, 45, and Santa Montefiore, 40, authors and close family friends. Santa is Tara Palmer-Tomkinson’s sister.
Marie-Chantal, 42, Crown Princess of Greece, and Pavlos, 43, Crown Prince of Greece, Prince of Denmark.
Tiggy Legge-Bourke, 45, William’s former nanny and husband Charles Pettifer.
Ben Elliot, 35, nephew of the Duchess of Cornwall.
Katie Elliot, sister of Ben and friend of Kate.
Alexandra Knatchbull, 28, daughter of 8th Baron Brabourne. Heir to Broadlands.
THE GLOSSE POSSE
George Percy, 26, Duke of Northumberland’s son and Pippa Middleton’s flatmate at Edinburgh University.
Lady Catherine Percy, 27, daughter of the Duke of Northumberland and shooting pal of William and Kate.
Lady Melissa Percy, 23, daughter of the Duke of Northumberland, and boyfriend Thomas van Straubenzee.
Harry Soames, 25, son of Nicholas Soames MP. Went to Ludgrove school with the Princes.
Jack Mann, 28, polo-playing pal of William and son of ex-SAS officer Simon Mann, jailed in Equatorial Guinea for his part in the “Wonga’’ coup, and Sophie Mann, 26, sister of Jack.
Jamie Murray Wells, 27, owner of Glasses Direct and close friend of the couple.
JJ Jardine Patterson, 29, ex-boyfriend of Pippa Middleton.
Lady Mary Douglas-Home, 27, musician daughter of the Earl of Home, chairman of the Royal bank Coutts. Mary, pictured above, is in a rock group called Headland.
Natasha Rufus Isaacs, 27, daughter of the Marquess of Reading.
Viscount Erleigh, 24, Natasha Rufus Isaacs’s brother who introduced Harry to Chelsy Davy, and girlfriend Davina Harbord, 24.
Nina Vestey, 28, niece of 3rd Baron Vestey, and polo-coach husband John-Paul Clarkin, 32.
Thomas van Straubenzee, 28, went on tour with William to New Zealand in 2005.
Tom Inskip, 24, aka “Skippy”, William’s redhead schoolmate who is organising his stag do with Guy Pelly.
Victoria Inskip, 27, Tom’s sister.
Harry Aubrey Fletcher, 28, son of Sir Henry Aubrey-Fletcher, and wife Louise Stourton, 28, daughter of Edward Stourton, 24th Baron Stourton.
KATE'S FAMILY AND FRIENDS
Michael and Carole Middleton, Kate’s parents, owners of Party Pieces.
James Middleton, 23, Kate’s brother.
Pippa Middleton, 27, Kate’s sister.
Gary Goldsmith, 45, Carole’s brother and black sheep of the family. William and Kate have stayed at his Ibiza villa, La Maison de Bang Bang.
Alicia Fox-Pitt, 29, one of Kate’s oldest friends who persuaded her to join the Sisterhood charity boat race.
Ben Fogle, 37, presenter, and his wife Marina, 31.
Tom Bradby, 43, ITN political editor, and his wife Claudia Bradby, who designs jewellery and worked with Kate when she was an intern at Jigsaw.
Emily Bevan, friend from St Andrews.
Emma Sayle, 32, above, friend from the Sisterhood who was recently cautioned by the police for writing “racist” comments on her Facebook page.
Henry Ropner, financier and former Etonion who used to date Jecca Craig.
James Rothschild, 26, son of the late Amschel Mayor James Rothschild, and girlfriend Astrid Harbord.
Olly Hicks, 25, rower pal of Kate.
Willem Marx, 28, Kate’s boyfriend at Marlborough. Her “first love”.
Lady Laura Marsham, 26, daughter of Julian Marsham, 8th Earl of Romley. Has been skiing with Kate and William and is involved in William’s charity the Tusk Trust.
Belle and John Robinson, owners of Jigsaw who let William and Kate stay at their villa in Mustique, and their five children Jessie, 21, Izzy, 20, Jack, 15, Molly, 13 and Christina, ten.
Sam Waley-Cohen, 28, a jockey whose reputation was sealed when he reunited William and Kate after their split in 2007, and fiancee Annabel Ballin.
Trinny Lough, 29, best friends with Sam Waley-Cohen. Possible bridesmaid for Kate.
Rupert Finch, 32, Kate’s ex-boyfriend, who has remained loyal by not talking about her.
ETON PALS
Archie Keswick, 29, heir to the £644million Jardine Matheson Hong Kong trading house.
Ben Vestey, 32, polo-playing pal of Prince William.
Charlie Gilkes, 26, nightclub owner.
Drummond Money-Coutts, 24, set up a magic club at Eton and performs tricks for the Queen.
Ed Tollemache, 34, son of 5th Baron Tollemache.
James Tollemache, 30, brewery heir and one of William’s best friends.
Harry Meade, 27, right, son of Olympic gold medallist Richard Meade, and wife Rosie Bradford, 30.
James Meade, 29, brother of Harry Meade.
Lord Dunglass, 23, aka Michael David Alexander Douglas-Home.
Luke Tomlinson, 33, captain of the England polo team.
Mark Tomlinson, 28, Luke’s younger brother.
Patrick Valentine, City financier, and his fiancee, the Duke of Northumberland’s daughter Lady Catherine Percy. William was at his stag do in Blackpool recently.
William Rickards, 28, the son of a Cazenove broker.
David Jardine Patterson, 29, heir to a Scottish landowning family, whose wife Emilia d’Erlanger is one of Kate’s best friends.
Andrew Charlton, 28, commodities broker, and fiancee Edwina Palmer, daughter of Lord Palmer of the biscuit-making family.
Lord Edward Downpatrick, 22, son and heir-apparent of George Windsor, Earl of St Andrews.
Edward Innes-Ker, 26, son of the Duke of Roxburghe. Shared a flat at Edinburgh with Pippa Middleton.
WILLIAM'S EXES
Arabella Musgrave, 28, Head of Gucci PR. Father Captain Musgrave runs Cirencester Park Polo Club.
Davina Duckworth-Chad, 32, former model dubbed “Deb on the Web” when Country Life featured her on its website.
Rose Farquhar, 26, William’s first love and up-and-coming actress. Stole William’s heart after he left Eton in the summer of 2000.
Jecca Craig, 28, whom William met when he was 16 at her parents’ Lewa Downs game reserve in Kenya. Now a party events manager.
Olivia Hunt, 28, right, former Edinburgh University student who was briefly linked to William while he was at St Andrews University.
Anna Sloan, 27, American heiress from Tennessee. Met William through mutual friends while she studied at Edinburgh University.
Natalie Hicks-Lobbecke, 31, and husband Ed Milbank, 37. Natalie was first linked to the Prince when she was part of the Beaufort Polo Club set ten years ago.
THE ST ANDREWS CREW
Alice Warrender, 28, daughter of artist Jonathan Warrender. She is a clothes designer friend of Kate’s.
Annabel Glynne-Percy, 28, and husband Logie Fitzwilliams, the director at Harrow Development Trust.
Fergus Boyd, 28, Etonian and cricket club organiser and financier, and his wife Sandrine Janet, one of Kate’s best friends.
Sally Robertson, who was in the year above Kate and played netball with her.
Mark Hayhurst, William’s pal from Sandhurst who studied geography with the Prince, and his fiancee Liz Sebag-Montefiore, who studied History of Art with Kate. Liz is a cousin of Simon Sebag-Montefiore.
Henry Lowson, 28, a friend of William.
Jules Knight, 29, a contemporary who now performs in a band called Blake.
Laura Anne Barstow, 29, associate director at Henderson Global Investors.
Olivia Bleasdale, 28, works for Taylor Bennett, a corporate communications company.
Ollie Baker, 28, who works for Barclays Capital, and wife Melissa Nicholson, one of KateÕs best friends.
Katherine Munsey, 30, fellow resident of Hope Street who founded the Lumsden Club at St Andrews with Kate.
Emilia d’Erlanger, 28, interior designer for dÕErlanger and Sloan. She recently married William’s friend David Jardine Patterson.
Lady Virginia Fraser, 28, daughter of Lord Strathalmond.
Bryony Daniels, 29, hat maker who studied geography with William.
Leonora Gummer, 28, daughter of former Tory MP John Gummer.
Ally Coutts-Wood, 28, director of sales and marketing for Lansdowne, and his American fiancee Chelsea Rose, 28.
Graham Booth, who played rugby with William.
Richard Dennen, 28, features editor of Tatler and close friend of the couple.
Charlie Nelson, 28, who lived in the same halls of residence, St Salvator’s, as the couple.
AIDS & OTHERS
Helen Asprey, William’s, and soon to be Kate’s, personal assistant.
Ian and Jane Craig, parents of Jecca.
Batian Craig, Jecca’s brother.
Jamie Lowther-Pinkerton, 50, much-trusted private secretary to William and Harry, and his wife Susannah.
Mark Dyer, 43, former Welsh Guards captain who accompanied William on his gap year and remains close to the Prince. He now runs a chain of bars and gastro pubs.
Jamie Morrison, 33, polo player, son of the late Bryan Morrison, who in 1985 set up the Royal Berkshire polo club: The Prince of Wales is an honorary member.
NOT INVITED!
Carley Massy-Birch, 27, dated the Prince shortly before he fell for Kate Middleton, leading to a rivalry between the two.
Gemma Williamson, 29, a Marlburian who breached the code of silence and spoke about Kate’s schooldays.
Isabella Anstruther-Gough-Calthorpe, 30, whom Prince William pursued in the summer of 2004 when he split from Kate. Big question mark over whether Kate will allow William to invite her.
Jessica Hay, 28, Kate’s friend at Marlborough who talked to the Press and is no longer in the inner circle.
Sarah Ferguson, 51, Duchess of York, persona non grata at the Palace.
Tess Shepherd, 28, a glamorous PR girl and daughter of a pig farmer who caught Prince William’s eye at Boujis.
BOUJIS BUDDIES
Davina Harbord, 24, upmarket property agent and habituŽ of Raffles nightclub, and boyfriend Viscount Erleigh, 24, aka “Julz”, the future Marquess of Reading.
Astrid Harbord, 28,, older sister of Davina - together they are known as “the hardcore sisters”.
Arthur Landon, 26, son of the late Brigadier Tim Landon, who inherited a £200million fortune, and girlfriend Charlotte Cowen, 28.
Ed Taylor, 36, nightclub promoter who has holidayed in Mustique with Kate. Last year he helped raise £100,000 for children’s charity Starlight on a sponsored climb of Kenya’s Mount Kilimanjaro.
Guy Pelly, 28, nightclub entrepreneur and chief stag organiser.
Holly and Sam Branson, 29 and 25-year-old children of Sir Richard and close friends of William and Kate.
Sam Young, 31, their favourite DJ. Son of photographer Richard Young.
Susanna Warren, 22. Guy Pelly’s on-off girlfriend, she is the granddaughter of the Queen’s great friend and racing manager, the 7th Earl of Carnarvon, who died in 2001.
Jake Warren, 26, brother of Susanna.
Ollie Baines, 28, member of the band Blake, a schoolfriend of Kate’s and rumoured to be singing at the wedding.
Jake Parkinson-Smith, 32, former owner of Boujis in Kensington.
Charlie Savory, heir to Thorpland Hall, and wife - Daily Mail