A few years ago, back before I was unceremoniously banned from Tinder, I spent a summer fishing for a wedding date on the app using the bio: “My hottest high school friend is getting married and I need a plus one. You’re having the salmon.” Unfortunately, no one took the bait, perhaps because while dating app stigma had largely faded by that time, the idea of using one to bring a stranger to a friend’s wedding still raised some eyebrows.
A few years and a pandemic later, and it seems the world may finally be ready to embrace the Tinder plus one — or so Tinder seems to be hoping, anyway, with the introduction its latest feature. In partnership with WeddingWire, the dating app has launched “Plus One” for users specifically looking for a date to an event, and/or those who are willing to be arm candy.
“We know many of our members are looking for a Plus One for their next wedding and we’re excited to now give them a way to do exactly that on Tinder,” Tinder’s VP of product innovation Kyle Miller said in a statement.
Yet, there are still some traditionalists who frown on the Tinder plus one. “I just want to know what kind of person is going to invite a stranger to a wedding as their first date,” one naysayer tweeted, while another called the act of bringing an internet stranger to a wedding “desperate.”
Personally, as someone who is often (though not always) confused and unimpressed by Tinder’s usually gimmicky attempts to stand out in an increasingly saturated online dating space, I actually think Tinder Plus One is a good idea. Is it weird to bring a stranger from the internet to a wedding? I don’t know, maybe. But if you’re going to the kind of wedding where everyone gets a plus one regardless of their current relationship status, most of the plus ones in attendance will be strangers to the hosts and other guests anyway, so what’s the difference?
Meanwhile, as a plus one, even if you are already in a committed, long-term relationship with the wedding guest you’re accompanying, you’re still likely to be a relative stranger to most of the other guests unless your date happens to be a family member or close friend of the couple. As anyone who as ever been in this position knows, the anonymous plus one of a second- or third-tier guest is the best thing anyone can be at a wedding. Your only job is to show up, look hot, have fun and try not to make a scene. And even if you don’t quite nail the dress code, accidentally go a little too hard at the open bar or otherwise embarrass yourself, it’s not really that big of a deal, because no one really knows or cares who you are.
All of this freedom is only magnified if your date also happens to be a stranger. If you are the plus one of a random wedding guest who plucked you off the internet, you literally have no responsibility whatsoever. Should you still make an honest attempt to avoid straight up ruining the wedding? Yes, but other than that you pretty much have free rein to wear, drink and do whatever you want. Maybe it will go great and you and your Tinder Plus One match’s wedding date will be the beginning of a beautiful love story. Maybe you’ll get too drunk and embarrass yourself in front of strangers you’ll literally never see again. Or maybe you’ll just have an average time and get to enjoy some free food and drinks. Either way, you really have nothing to lose.
On the other hand, it’s admittedly a little riskier to be the wedding guest bringing an internet stranger as your date, but as I’ve often concluded before making dubious choices involving strangers I’ve met on the internet, it’ll be probably be fine.
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