Dear Etiquette 101,

I have a sneaking suspicion that we'll have a few well-meaning crashers at out wedding, mostly third cousins who heard about the event from other family members and received an "invitation" through those individuals.

How can we handle this gracefully?

Signed,

Maria P.

Dear Maria,

Depending on the venue, you may be able to have a "just in case" table, where the staff can guide unexpected guests. This works well in you're serving dinner via buffet, for example.

At a seated dinner where you pay per plate, this may be less of an option. In this case, the best way is to leave a smattering of empty seats throughout, if possible, and otherwise squishing them in with the guests who brought them.

Your well-behaved guests, after all, should not be made uncomfortable due to the bad behavior of these boors.

Best of luck,

Etiquette 101