Wedding Etiquette
On the basis of what criterion is it correct to decide whether the guests at the wedding can (or not) take their own half with them?
First of all it is a good idea to consider a +1 for each of the wedding guests who have a stable relationship (engagement, cohabitation, etc.) specifying on the invitation the name of the wedding guests + their respective guests at the destination wedding, even if they do not the eventual accompanist of our wedding guests is never known.
Moreover, if the invitation to a wedding does not specify “Mr. and Mrs. John Does” it must be understood as individual: in this way the wedding guests who will receive a nominative invitation will know that a single invitation is foreseen for them. In any case if, on the wedding day, one of the wedding guests showed up with an unexpected guest, no embarrassment! You should already have arranged with the catering a few extra seats for every eventuality
Wedding Etiquette: the guests at the wedding
If you already know in advance that one of the wedding guests will surely not be present on their wedding day, is it OK to send them the same invitation?
Consequently, since the invitation to a wedding goes hand in hand with the expectation of a gift, ( in Italy ) you will not want to trouble anyone among those invited to the marriage, even less that person who, from the beginning, knows that he will not be able to join to the festivities; informing politely, without excessive formalism, will be the best practice to follow with those people among the wedding guests who are unable to attend the day of the party. The Bon Ton is pronounced, therefore, also in this sense: the behavior of the spouses must follow a certain charm in such a way that, who receives the invitation to marriage, not being able to attend physically, does not feel obliged to pay homage to the future couple married couple with a gift. For this reason, it is a good idea to avoid sending the invitation to marriage to those persons, among those invited to the wedding, who are unable to attend the day of the event.
Warning!
However, it makes an exception to the case when it comes to relatives or close friends …
In this case, you can send the invitation to the wedding by attaching a note (written strictly by hand!) That specifies that the invitation to the wedding was sent to commemorative purpose as a souvenir-ticket linked to such an important date.
Wedding Etiquette: the guests at the wedding
Uuuups … Chatting, I escaped and talked about the upcoming wedding to an acquaintance (which, honestly, I have not counted among the potential guests at the party). Now I have to invite him to be invited to the wedding?
If the subject has escaped you, talking to some acquaintances more or less near / far, and you have talked about your imminent marriage, no problem. So, it is a good idea to avoid touching the subject with whom you plan to exclude from the festivities; in any case, we know that the wedding party is a party, already very expensive in itself, where the guests at the wedding are usually part of a more or less restricted sphere of friends and relatives. Consequently, in the eyes of any person of common sense, it is correct and not offensive to circumscribe the event only to a small circle of wedding guests, excluding, perhaps, more distant people, though linked by harmonious relations cordiality.
Having said this, however, common sense is not the most. Therefore, if you do not want to run into difficult gaffes, then, to straighten out, if you realize you have now touched on the subject, try to remain as vague as possible with those people you do not expect to include among the guests at the wedding. According to Bon Ton, therefore, it is possible to talk about marriage without, for this reason, to necessarily follow an invitation to marriage, as long as you speak softly and rather vague, purely informative, remaining rather vague on the date and on the list of the guests at the wedding.
If the topic escapes, then try not to give verbal invitations if you do not intend to follow a formal paper invitation.
