Wedding Plus-One Etiquette: Who Gets One
A rule for deciding plus-ones that survives contact with your family, how to word the invitation either way, and what to do when someone brings a guest you did not invite.
Pick a rule and hold it
Same principle as cutting the list: apply a rule uniformly and the awkward cases resolve themselves. Deciding guest by guest guarantees someone finds out they were the exception.
Rules people actually use
Married, engaged, or living together. In a relationship over some length of time. Everyone in the wedding party. Anyone who will not know another guest.
The one that causes trouble
"Everyone gets one." Generous, and often the difference between a list you can afford and one you cannot. Show the head-count arithmetic.
Wording that makes it unambiguous
The invitation and the reply card both have to say it. Addressing conventions, and the named-guest approach that removes all doubt. Cross-link to the wording post.
When someone assumes a plus-one anyway
Scripts. Kind, early, and specific.
Tracking it without losing count
Named party members rather than a number, so "two of four" is answerable.
Run Your Wedding Guest List by Talking to It
Add guests, change party sizes and check who has not replied by asking, from the same assistant you already have open — no spreadsheet, no forms.
RSVPs for a Destination or Multi-Day Wedding
Why a single yes-or-no does not work when there are three events, how to collect per-event replies, and the earlier timeline a destination wedding needs.
Collecting Meal Choices and Dietary Requirements
How to ask for meal selections per guest rather than per household, which dietary questions to ask, and how to hand your caterer numbers they can actually use.