Workplace Wedding Talk: Taboo or OK?

June 18, 2008— -- Cecilia Stoffel's co-workers aren't too happy with her.

Stoffell is getting married next month and wants her closest officemates there to celebrate the big day. They've all worked together at a bank for four years and, like so many co-workers, see each other more than their spouses. The problem is, the reception room only holds 130 guests, and the couple needs to keep numbers down since they're paying for the wedding themselves. Inviting 13 co-workers and their husbands would put them over the financial edge; and it would be a really tight fit at the reception.

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Stoffel thought she came up with the ideal solution: She invited two women with their husbands, since they all socialize outside the office, and invited the other 11 sans spouses. She sent off the invitations without a warning about the solo invite. Needless to say, her colleagues were pissed. Five of the co-workers invited without their husbands declined to attend, and one shared some choice words about Stoffell with other colleagues in the office cafeteria. There were many days of the silent treatment.

Weddings are supposed to be a joyous occasion. But deciding which co-workers to invite without disappointing others is a dangerous balancing act. Upsetting a colleague can make your daily office life miserable and might even have ramifications on your career.

That's what Stoffell is contending with. "I thought people might be offended or taken aback at first but after they thought about the situation they'd look at the big picture--she wants us there," says Stoffel, who is getting married in Massachusetts on July 3. "I hoped they'd look at it as a girl's night out."

No matter what her intentions, Stoffell made a major faux pas, says Anna Post, an etiquette expert at the Emily Post Institute and author of Emily Post's Wedding Parties. One of the first rules of weddings: Always invite a guest's spouse, live-in romantic partner or fiancé. "It's a firm rule of etiquette," says Post.