For Matanos L’evyonim donations Click Here

Uninvited Guest

Hi,
If someone is only invited to a wedding for the chuppah, is one allowed to stay for the entire wedding and eat the meal?
Usually, the baal simcha will estimate some extra plates for people who do this but…is it stealing to eat the food if you weren’t technically invited?

Answer:

If there are clearly designated extra seats for this purpose it would be permitted. However, by some weddings there are only sufficient seat for the invitees. Taking a seat may cause an invitee not to have a seat, and this should certainly not be done.

Join the Conversation

1 Comment

  1. Aside from the issue of possibly causing an invitee not to have a seat, there is another possible issue of THEFT.

    Even if there are an ample number of empty seats, many times the customer pays the caterer according to the number of guests that were served. Many times, I have seen the caterer walking around during the main course, counting how many people were seated, which is then multiplied by the agreed upon price per plate.

    So if the person was only invited for the chuppah, that means that the host was NOT interested in paying for a meal for this person. By sitting down and enjoying the meal, he is FORCING the host to pay for something he never wanted or intended to.

Leave a comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *