INVITATION

WORDING:

 I may not be Emily Post, but I think wedding invitation wording is pretty simple to decipher. 

 I’ve always been taught:

1. If the invitation is addressed to “John Doe Family” then it means John Doe and his immediate family are all invited to the wedding. 
2. If the invitation is addressed to “John Doe & Guest” then it means John Doe and one guest are invited to the wedding.
3. If the invitation is addressed to “John Doe” then it means that only John Doe (and no guest) is invited to the wedding. 

PROBLEM #3:

Apparently, not everybody is familiar with the simple rules of invitation wording – nor did they have the foresight to check these rules via the internet, or by asking their mothers.  Instead, they email the bride.  Now, nothing is wrong with emailing the bride, in and of itself, but read on. 

            A single girlfriend of mine, received her invitation in the mail.  It was addressed in the format of ‘Jane Doe” without the “and guest” included.  It wasn’t that I didn’t want her to bring a guest, but we were trying to stay in our 50 maximum guest range.  She emailed asking if she could bring a guest.  I politely said that would be fine, just asking her to please give me the name of this guest, so we could be sure to include them on our list for the guard.  Our wedding was being held in a gated community, where all guests had to be cleared via an approved list. 

            My single gal proceeded to email me a list of THREE other girlfriends of hers, and all of their dates, as her “guests’ to my wedding.  Not only did I not know ANY of these people, but I had agreed to her bringing ONE guest – not SEVEN!  

            I wrote her back and tried to politely explain that due to budget constraints, we could only allow her to bring one guest (singular not plural).  However, her friends were more than welcome to stay in the hotel with her for the weekend, but would not be invited to our nuptial events.

            Thankfully, she received this information very well, and apologized for the “confusion.” 

            What more can they do to the VSGAL bride?