How To Be A Good Wedding Guest

Been invited to a wedding recently? Here's a list of things to keep in mind so that you don’t embarrass the couple or yourself.


RSVP.
If you're going to attend the wedding, it's only common courtesy to respond to the invite.  Keep in mind that the bride and groom are working with a budget and if you show up when you weren't expected to attend, you're putting the couple, the caterers and yourself in an awkward position.

Attend the wedding if you said you're going.
Unless it's a matter of life and death, make sure you actually pitch up at the wedding after you've RSVP'd.  Remember that you're being catered for and if you don't show up, not only are you being rude, you're essentially wasting money that's been spent on you. If you find that you won't be able to make it, make sure that you cancel well in advance

Bring the specified amount of guests with you.
Stick to what the invite says. If you're only allowed to bring one guest with, don’t bring three. And if no children are allowed, make alternative arrangements or just find a baby sitter.  Take seating considerations into account here.

If there's a seating chart, where are the guests you brought along going to sit anyway?

While you're at it… don't bring guests you specifically know the bride would not want to be there.
So let's just say you're dating someone you know the bride dislikes and doesn't get along with. Put them in a room, and the wrong kind of sparks fly.

If you want to ensure that she has a day she'll never forget (in the best kind of way possible), either come alone, or bring someone who doesn't inspire murderous glares. You'd be surprised at how the presence of an unwanted guest could impact on a bride's day.   

Be punctual.
Just because the bride is allowed to arrive late for her own wedding, doesn't mean you have to adopt the tradition and pitch up just as she's heading down the aisle.

Besides, why would you want to show up and miss out on sharing the moment when she first walks in? If, by some, chance you simply can't avoid being late, wait until she's walked down the aisle and slip in at the back.

Unless specifically requested to do so, don't wear white to the wedding.
Yes, Pippa Middleton did it and Kim Kardashian asked her guests to wear white, but  if you've received no request about what to wear, then you should safely assume that wearing white is completely out of the question.

In fact, while we're on the subject of clothes, don't try to upstage the bride by wearing a diamond-encrusted gown fashioned out of the most luxurious silk material you can find. Not only will you draw attention away from the bride, but you'll be perceived as the attention-seeking brat of the wedding party.

Don't get wasted.
Now I'm not saying you shouldn't enjoy a couple of drinks at the reception, we're just saying you shouldn't get wasted to the point where you:

a) become  so loud and obnoxious that you only succeed in agitating guests at every  turn,
b) can't even walk upright, and
c) become the most talked about guest because you drank yourself into such a paralytic state, that you had to rely on others to get you home.

A wedding is, after all, a day where everyone should be talking about the happy couple, not about you.

- Women24