Corporate Event Invitations: Putting the +1 in Writing

Two days before a partner dinner, your phone buzzes: 'Quick one, can I bring someone?' The corporate event invitation with a plus one had said 'Managing Director + 1'. It never said who. Now you're counting chairs, and the answer is 'probably'.

Written as a symbol, a plus one leaves the door open. Written as a name, it closes. Here is how to put the companion on the invitation line, what to ask in the RSVP, and what to do when someone's plans change the night before.

The Plus One on a Corporate Event Invitation Is a Seat, Not a Wildcard

There is a difference between 'James Whitmore + 1' and 'James Whitmore and Marta Ruiz'. The first lets James bring whoever he likes, including someone you have never met. The second puts a name on the chair. For a dinner of forty, you decide the wording before you send it, not at the door.

• Pick one formula and repeat it everywhere: the invitation itself, the email subject line, the message that carries the link.
• Prefer a name to a marital status. 'Ms Okafor and guest' works when you don't know whether she's married or what her partner is called; 'Mr and Mrs Okafor' assumes both.
• Decide whether companions are welcome before you write the list. Forty seats are forty seats, and a generic '+1' fills one of them with whoever turns up.
• 'Mr [Name] and guest' is the standard English line. If your guest list is international, keep the same formula in each language version of the invitation.

How to Write the Companion's Name on the Line

In the editor you type into a field per piece of information: the label, the names, the date, the line, the place. A character counter sits next to it, so a long surname plus 'and guest' does not run off the edge of a phone screen. Preview the invitation the way your guest will see it, and if the line breaks badly, shorten it.

If you don't have the companion's name yet, write the line you plan to use and let the RSVP bring the name in. You can edit the invitation after sending it and the link stays the same, so 'and guest' can become 'and Marta Ruiz' without a second round of emails.

A plus one is not a courtesy line at the bottom. It is a chair, and a chair needs a name.

The RSVP Question That Settles the Headcount

You set the RSVP questions yourself, and two of them do most of the work: 'Are you coming?' with a yes or a no, and 'Are you bringing a companion?' with a yes or a no. If you want the name, ask for it in the same form. Answers arrive inside the invitation, in one ordered list, instead of scattered across message threads. If a companion drops out at eight the night before, you edit the invitation, the link stays the same, and nobody has to send anything again. Start with a free trial, write the companion line, and check it on your own phone before it goes out.