Plus one etiquette

Nope, not rude. As long as everyone in a relationship (regardless of how long or how serious you deem it to be) is invited together, then you do not have to give truly single guests a plus one.

I don't think you need to give them plus ones if they are truly single.

Talk to your guests about it. We gave everyone plus ones but several are coming alone.

You do not have to give them plus ones and people will not find it rude. My aunt got her invitation and messaged me about if bringing her husband was okay. In my experience, people assume that the invitation is for them and will ask to bring someone in advance. But all that determines what kind of invitations you send out.

For anyone in a relationship (regardless of length of time or seriousness) should be invited as a couple and/or "social unit." Plus ones are for truly single people, and it is up to you to give those out. It is not required. One guideline for whether or not to give plus ones is: will that guest know anyone else at the wedding? Will this person be traveling to come to the wedding? If they are travelling and/or won't know anyone else, it's a nice gesture to offer them a plus one, so they have someone to travel with, and aren't sitting alone at the wedding, not knowing anyone.

Anyone with a wife, girlfriend, husband, boyfriend, should be invited by name, i.e. Mr. and Mrs. Smith OR Mr. Smith and Ms. Jones, etc.

We're having a fairly small wedding (under 80 people). Most of our friends are in long term relationships, but the few that aren't will not be getting a plus one. All of our single people know other people that will be at our wedding so they won't be alone. My cousins who are bridesmaids won't even be getting a plus one unless they end up in a relationship before the wedding (our wedding is October 2020, so it could happen). I don't want to meet people for the first time at my wedding since it's such an intimate thing and we're also fairly close to the max at our venue.

Awesome, thanks for the reassurance!

We gave only 2 truly single people plus ones: my maid of honor and FHs best man. They're in the wedding so of course they're given the option of bringing a date. However, to keep it fair amongst all of our family members and friend groups, we elected for the "no ring, no bring" rule for our guests. We also have friends that are perpetually single so we didn't even bother with them.

Nope. Unless you're in an established relationship, your guest count and budget is too tight to cater (literally) to 18 random tinder dates who have the potential to ruin your wedding. They could be the person to get way too drunk even before the ceremony/lick the cake/etc.

Plus ones that are truly strangers scare me.

The only single people (not in a relationship) that are getting plus ones from us are those that won't know anyone/many people at the reception. If they're your friend group then they have enough people to socialize with and wouldn't have a need to invite a plus one.

I would give everyone in a long term relationship a plus one. I feel like after that you can go 2 different ways. Either don't give any of the other single people plus ones, if they decide they really need one they can ask. Or just upfront talk to them and say hey we're trying to get an idea of numbers since we have a cap, do you think you will end up bringing anyone?

But honestly, I would just skip the plus ones for anyone that does not have a long term significant other.

Plus ones for single guests are NOT necessary, but I would set a rule and be consistent across the board so no one gets mad. Guest comfort was 100% the basis for our decision— we did not do plus ones UNLESS that single individual was traveling alone and wouldn’t really know anyone there — which is to say, they’d probably have a bad time if they came on their own. And would have to put in a lot of solo effort to get there. No fun. This ultimately amounted to only 2 guests — they both brought someone and had a better time because of it. All of our OTHER single friends (or family) were with their whole crew so didn’t need that guest crutch. Some traveled together, some roomed together, and they all had their people around to hang out with.

Awesome thanks so much everyone!