Wedding Etiquette: The Plus-One Dilemma

Name: Plus-ones.

Bringing a partner along has been going on a while, possibly since Noah invited a pair of every animal on board the ark …

Are we talking about boat trips here? Actually, weddings. Although we could just say, the wedding.

Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce’s, am I wrong? You’re not. We’ve known about their engagement since last summer. Now we have a date: 3 July.

Weirdly, I haven’t got my invite. They probably haven’t gone out yet. I’m afraid they have and one anonymous invitee has been moaning about it according to the Mail.

Why would you moan about being invited to the wedding of the year? This is about plus-ones, remember?

And they didn’t get one? Correct.

How do they feel about that? Not great: “What am I supposed to do? Go alone? That is so awkward. I don’t think I am going to attend because I don’t want to go by myself and I am not sure I will know too many people there. I mean, sorry, I am not friends with Gigi and Bella Hadid!”

Well, there has been a lot of talk about the rising costs of weddings lately. Er, hello, we’re talking about one of the bestselling recording artists of all time.

Fair enough. But wedding etiquette is always tricky, isn’t it? You mean whether to invite Inappropriate Uncle, or so-and-so’s new partner who you’ve never met (and by all accounts you don’t want to)?

Exactly! If only there was some kind of guide … Ta-dah! I give you Emily Post’s Wedding Etiquette.

Thank you! Who? American writer and socialite, born 1872 …

Well, it’s hardly going to be up to date, is it? Actually, Emily’s great-great granddaughter Lizzie Post keeps it updated.

And what do they have to say about plus-ones? Spouses, fiances and live-in partners should be invited.

Even if you’ve never met them, or you don’t like them? “Your guest is part of a package deal.”

So the person who didn’t get a plus-one to Swift’s wedding, why was that? It was, she told the Mail, “because I am a single woman”.

What’s the etiquette around singles, then? Have clear criteria, British Vogue suggests. “If you allow one single guest … to invite a more casual partner or friend, then you should allow all single guests to do so.”

So essentially Tay-Tay’s done nothing wrong? Especially since, as everyone knows, if you are single, a wedding is the best place to get un-single.

Do say: “If Tay-Tay’s doing it at hers, I’m doing it at mine.”