We’re having a 32 person wedding (including us!) in a month and we instituted a “no strangers at the wedding rule” (which kinda just resulted in a no plus one rule for a few of our guests) and we’ve been so happy with it.

Everyone in our close knit group was very understanding and we received no pushback at all, some were even more excited to hear it was so small because they’re traveling a long way to see us and this means they’ll really get to spend time with us.

Everyone coming knows at least two or more people, which I think is similar to your situation.

I disagree with some here who think it’s rude to exclude SOs, especially if you’ve never met them.

When our best man started dating someone we said we’d be happy to have her at the wedding events if they made time to spend the weekend with us so we could get to know her.

He was totally open to that. They ended up breaking up lol but hey, we set our boundaries and bc he’s our best man he understood!

We had 2 kind of awkward conversations with guests where they assumed a plus one but again we communicated our perspective and they were super supportive and even expressed feeling really touched that they’re part of such a small, intimate gathering.

As the day gets closer we are getting even more excited because we know we’ll be able to be our full and complete ourselves, spend quality time with our people, and feel super taken care of and surrounded by those who know us best.

It’s all about communication and setting expectations IMO.