Inviting single friend to wedding

TripleAce

Hello,

quick one....I am going to invite a few single friends to my wedding, however I heard that it is not nice to send the invite only for him/her, so what's the standard way to put on invite he/she can bring another friend along?

Sorry for the silly question

afatbollix

+1 guest

bensoneb

If the single friends know other people at the wedding I don't see why you should ask them to bring someone. I asked a few single people to my wedding and they thought nothing of it as they knew people that were going and knew that I wouldn't make things awkward with the seating plan.

suimhneas

for the love of god put plus one on it or name + friend, When i was single i dreaded getting wedding invitations with just me on it sure fire way to make you mate feel like a looser. Might have no bother going on her own but give her the option

implausible

definitely "& guest". Most people I know (ok, mostly women) would be highly offended at the implication that they couldn't get anyone to go. If you give them the choice, they might not bring anyone anyway, but at least everybody's happy.

sweetie

Not everyone can afford or have the room to invite plus ones. I think in the times we are in that people can understand this and shouldn't take offence. If your single friends know each other they can share rooms. My wife and I went
to extra effort to make sure that our single invitees didn't have to pay for a full
room and were able to share with someone. Personally I wouldn't enjoy being a plus one at a wedding and not knowing anyone else but the person I am accompanying.

Redpunto

I'm putting down plus guest - I know my mates wont feel obliged to bring another person if they dont want to and they all know eachother but I'd feel awful just getting an invite for me.

Jesus Wept

This thread makes single people sound like a rare breed.

Clareman

Put plus guest down for definite, and don't forget to put it plus guest down for people who may have lost their husband/wife.

kayos

The-Rigger wrote: »

This thread makes single people sound like a rare breed.

They are on this forum!

To be honest we're doing the guest and unless they have a long term partner they aint getting a +1. We've had enough trouble trying to cut the guest list down to a reasonible size without having it bloat up again. We have sod all space for friends as it stands. Heavens sake we would of had about 50 kids if we didnt decide no kids!

The last time I was single and got an invite to a wedding that had + 1 it felt under more pressure to bring someone in fact I only asked a friend along for the afters.

At the end of the day its the bride and grooms day if asking every single along with a +1 means they are over streching on the money side (that +1 could add a decent whack onto the costs between dinner, wine, extra seat cover, round of drinks, etc etc etc) or having to axe numbers else where then dont give the +1. If you have the money and the space and are so inclinded then sure throw them a +1.

Clareman

Today is RSVP deadline day for me so I might as well chime in with my 2 cents

You will offend some people if you invite them on their own, you will also offend some people if you invite them plus guest, talking to friends and stuff you'd offend alot more people by not adding a guest than you would without, but everyone is different.

It's fine not inviting kids, but people will bring their kids, there's nothing you can do about it, personally I don't think kids should be at a wedding and would prefer no kids at mine, but there will be, nothing can be done about it. I'll give an example, my aunt got married when I was 10, there was a hard and fast rule that no kids were allowed, it put my mother under pressure to get someone to mind me but she managed, now, 20 years on my aunt has a 8 year old and is bringing the child, she has been told that children are no invited, "I've no one to mind her and if I'm invited she's invited", to which she was asked "but you didn't allow children at your wedding", reply was "that was different, I didn't know the impact it would have on people".

Of the 30 + Guest invites I've sent out, 2 have said + Guest, 24 have accepted on their own, 3 have declined and 1 I'm waiting back from. 4 of the plus guest are widowed people, 2 are coming on their own, 1 is bringing his son and the other I'm waiting to hear back from, I have to admit I wasn't sure how to invite widowed people so I asked both sets of parents (as they are their friends) and both said to invite a friend as they mightn't want to go on their own.

seamus

kayos wrote: »

At the end of the day its the bride and grooms day if asking every single along with a +1 means they are over streching on the money side

Me, for example. A third of our guests are single. So if we had a + 1 for every person who's single, it would up the cost of our reception (potentially) by a third. That's the difference between (for e.g.) a 9k reception and a 12k reception.

The way it is, every person invited who's single, knows a large number of the other guests. If I was inviting a single person who knew very few people or who only knew the others in passing, I'd give them a +1. But outside of that I see no reason to tell someone to bring a friend if most of their friends are already invited.

I don't think I would be offended if I was invited to a wedding on my own (if I was single!), but at the same time I wouldn't be very inclined to go if I didn't know anyone but the bride/groom.

galah

whatever you do, it'll be wrong anyway, and people do whatever they like...
We've invited all our single friends 'on their own' - at least those where we knew they didn't have a partner at the time, or are serial daters, you know the types who constantly change their girlfriends. But knowing full well that they would know other people at the wedding. That was grand, no complaints.

however, 3 weeks before the wedding, people are now ringing up, asking if they can bring their current 'long-term' squeezes (which means they've been going out three weeks max), or three mates, or if theirs son's girlfriend can come with. Nnnaajjjrg.
I suppose I should be happy with the fact that people actually ring up and ask, though. Small mercies, I guess.

TripleAce

Thank you all for your answer! I will put "& Guest" as there are only 5-6 single people coming anyway.

By the way, this wasn't meant to be a discriminatiory thread against single people - when I was single I had more women that I have now

pinkypinky

I'm in my late 20s and single and being that age, have been to a lot of weddings in the past few years. Only 2 (out of maybe 10) have invited me plus 1 and on both occasions I chose not to bring someone. Why? There were plenty of people I knew there already and I didn't want to have to baby-sit whoever I did bring, just for the sake of bringing someone! And on a shallower note, what if I met someone interesting at the wedding and was then stuck with a friend as well?