Family, Friends & Guests Etiquette
- Question:
- My fiancé's brother will be in jail at the time of our wedding. Do we still send him an invitation?
- Answer:
There's always a guest or two who just can't make it: they're stuck on a Navy destroyer, in a nursing home or in maximum security. Even if there's no chance he'll get out (short of a last-minute jail break), send him an invitation. It's just a nice, thoughtful gesture that lets him know you wish he could be there.
- This content originally appeared in Modern Bride magazine.
- How can I uninvite a guest?
- Must shower guests get wedding invites?
- Should I invite a jailed relative?
- I've been snubbed—what do I do?
- How do we handle uninvited guests?
- Must single guests get a date invite?
- Will we get divorced because our parents did?
- How can I seat remarried parents so that everyone feels equally important?
- Can kids be excluded on the invite?
- When should we give our parents their gifts?
- I want a large rehearsal dinner and my fiancé's parents don't. What can I do?
- Is a small reception, big ceremony OK?
- How do we ask the in-laws to pay for the rehearsal dinner?
- Who should propose a wedding toast?
- Can I exclude stepparents from my wedding?
- Should my in-laws have unlimited invites?
- Can I exclude my in-laws' pals?
- Do I have to invite distant relations?
- Should I invite my fiancé's outcast aunt?
- How do we let guests know what our Plan B is?
- Do I have to call my fiancé's mother "mom"?
- How can I prevent my cousin from upstaging me at the wedding?
- How should I handle guests who RSVP with their kids when children weren't invited?
- Can I tell my cousin to stop seeing my married bridesmaid?
- How can we prevent our friends from playing a practical joke on our wedding night?
- Should I invite my fiancé's ex-girlfriend?
- How can I get my grandfather to behave at the wedding?
- Do I have to send invitations to everyone I verbally invited to the wedding?
Submit Your Own Etiquette Question
Have an etiquette question you'd like our editors to answer?
- How can I make sure that my fiancé's mom will be on time?
- How can I convince my fiancé's sister to accept me as his wife?
- Do I have to invite my cousin's boyfriend?
- Should I change my wedding date so that my grandfather can attend?
- What should I do about forgotten invites?
- Who should initate the get-together between our parents?
- How should we handle complaints about our Friday night wedding?
- Can I ask a friend to help things run smoothly on the wedding day?
- Must I invite my bad dad?
- Do I have to invite my co-workers?
- Should I invite people who can't come?
- How can I divvy up the guest list?
- How do we seat my divorced in-laws?
- Should we invite a recently divorced couple?
- Should we let one couple bring a kid?
- Must I invite my practical-joker cousin?
- Can I invite dad's parents, but not dad?
- How do we announce our two weddings?
- Should I invite my ex-husband to the wedding?
- Does dad have to be my aisle escort?
- When must I send thank-you notes?
- How should I handle a forgotten thank-you?
- Should we ditch a nervous toast-giver?
- Do I have to invite my five co-workers?
- How can I get his mother to back off?
- Should I allow one person to bring a guest?
- Should I plan extra activities for out-of-town guests?
- How do you prioritize your wedding guest list?
- Can we ask our guests to give us cash gifts?
- Which side of the aisle do guests sit on at a same-sex union?
