Is Pippa Middleton’s ‘no ring, no bring’ policy for you?

St Audries Park Orangery

Without a doubt this must be one of the trickiest elements of planning a wedding – the ‘who to invite’ and ‘who to invite to the evening only’ people consume a lot of your thinking time during the course of planning a wedding. In addition to juggling those people on the guest list whom you know you should invite but don’t really have the budget for, your wedding guest list is a positive minefield of two families’ politics. This issue is only amplified if one, or both, of you has divorced parents.  Pippa Middleton has come up with a surprisingly effective, and slightly contentious, way of cracking this complex conundrum.

‘No Ring, No Bring’ has apparently been Pippa Middleton’s mantra when navigating the wedding guest list for her imminent nuptials with James Matthews. It might also be your saving grace, if you can cope with the rigidness of the rule as ‘plus ones’ must be engaged or married to the invited guest. Whilst it might make you worried about looking stingy, this is an excellent way to keep your wedding for your closest friends only, as well as keeping your costs down. Of course, you can just ‘sell’ the policy as being rooted in your desire for a small, intimate wedding day reserved for your most cherished chums only. Another advantage of the policy is that it minimises the risk of being upstaged by any unknown guests. Reputedly, this is why Pippa has adopted the policy. Apparently she is worried that she may be upstaged by Meghan Markle, as she would of course be Prince Harry’s plus one.

Whether or not Pippa will be strict enough as to enforce this rule to her brother-in-law’s girlfriend cannot possibly be guessed. However, implementing the rule for other less intimate members of your families might certainly save some pennies. But it might also raise some eyebrows too. What if they are a long term couple who have been together for fifteen years, own a house and have kids? What if they don’t believe in marriage? What if the couple in question is your brother and his partner? Your mother might not be happy having the mother of her grandchildren banished from her daughter’s wedding. It’s up to you to decide how strict you want to be with the policy but it certainly can help you keep a tight rein on the wedding budget. Whether you believe that Pippa is doing it in order to ensure that she hogs the limelight on her Big Day or just to keep the wedding intimate, adopting this policy certainly has to be done with common sense and tact.

There are plenty of other ways to ensure that your wedding stays in budget and reserved for the most important people in your lives, such as not inviting any work colleagues, not inviting children, or having the day solely for family members and inviting all friends to the evening do.

If you have any questions relating to having your wedding at St Audries Park, please don't hesitate to call Sally via the contact details below:

Sally

T: 01984 633 633
E: info@audries-park.co.uk

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