Once you finish finalizing your guest list, it’s now time to determine who you are going to give a plus one to. This can be stressful for some couples, but I’ve comprised three basic and essential rules to base plus ones on. This simplifies the process, alleviates stress, and avoids irritation with guests.
IF THEY’RE MARRIED OR IN A SERIOIUS RELATIONSHIP
It is definitely expected to also include a seat for a guest’s significant other. It is not only respectful but also ensures the comfortability of your guest. If you were invited to a wedding and your partner wasn’t welcome to come, you may be conflicted on going; and if you did attend you likely wouldn’t enjoy the evening as much. The key word in this, however, is significant other. This doesn’t mean that a guest should hop on a dating site and try to secure a date for the evening.
IF THEY WON’T KNOW ANY OF THE OTHER GUESTS
If someone will likely not know any of the other guests for whatever reason, you should definitely allot them a plus one. The day of the wedding, you and your partner will have a lot of people to make conversation and take pictures with, so you won’t be providing them company the entire night. So, if a guest doesn’t know anyone else, they will likely feel alone and awkward and may leave early.
IF THEY’RE FROM OUT-OF-TOWN
Similar to the above section, if a guest is coming in from out of town, they likely won’t know many others. Your out-of-town guests are making the most arrangements to celebrate with you on your special day with costs to hotel, flight, and time off work. You want to make sure they definitely enjoy themselves so these guests should of course be allotted a plus one. Note, however, that if you're have a destination wedding and pretty much everyone will be coming from out of town, I would ignore this section and just allot plus ones to those who won't know anyone or for significant others.