LOS ANGELES, Calif. (Oct 14, 2021) — After a year and a half of postponed ceremonies and celebrations, one of the busiest wedding seasons in history is upon us. And while the excitement of dressing up for an in-person party may be at its peak, many unattached attendees are quickly remembering the true cost of witnessing their college roommate say “I do.” Starting today, Tinder members will be able to join Plus One in Tinder’s Explore, signaling they are either looking for, or willing to be, a wedding date. Explore launched on Tinder in September and is a place for members to have fun experiences with people who care about the same things they do.

Tinder has also teamed up with leading wedding planning resource, WeddingWire, to help single guests cover the costs of wedding season with a Wedding Guest Grant giveaway. Between travel, gifts, and accommodations, WeddingWire found that guests spend an average of $460* to attend a wedding. Starting today at 2PM PT, the first 100 eligible Tinder members to join Plus One in Explore will receive a grant of $460 to help cover their costs as they embark on a marathon of travel, toasts, and tearing up the dance floor.**  

The partnership launches just in time to kickoff the next wedding boom. With roughly half of weddings being postponed during the pandemic, WeddingWire expects to see up to a 20% increase in weddings in 2021 and 2022, compared to typical levels. This impending uptick seems to have already been felt by unattached invitees, with mentions of “plus one” in Tinder bios increasing 45% since the beginning of the year. 

“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,” said Kyle Miller, VP of Product Innovation at Tinder. “We’re thrilled to partner with WeddingWire to help our members really enjoy this epic wedding season. After all, Tinder is the brand that brings more couples from app to aisle - last year alone we were responsible for more than 25%*** of all newlyweds who met online.”

“We are thrilled to join Tinder in introducing a new way to find a wedding date with Plus One, and also offer a fun way to help members get back into the swing of attending weddings with a Wedding Guest Grant. According to WeddingWire data, a top priority for wedding guests is permission to bring a date, and one-quarter would consider bringing someone they're casually dating or met on a dating app as their plus one,” says Jeffra Trumpower, Senior Director of Creative Marketing, WeddingWire. "By teaming up with Tinder, we hope to make this wedding season the best yet for guests and their dates."

Tinder and WeddingWire have also come together to offer us all tips on how to be a good guest amidst this wedding boom. A year of Zoom events has led many of us to forget how to efficiently prepare and attend a social gathering, especially with today’s new health and safety considerations. In fact, according to recent wedding guest data from WeddingWire roughly one-third of guests take health and safety protocols into consideration when deciding to attend a wedding. This guest guide also includes an update to plus one etiquette, as the traditional rule of only bringing a date if you’re in a committed relationship doesn’t fit modern dating habits. Gen Z prefers to see where things go, but that doesn’t mean they want to see where they go alone, as 35% of wedding guests ages 22-26 confirm if they’re allowed a date before RSVPing to a wedding. 

About Tinder

Tinder was introduced on a college campus in 2012 and is the world’s most popular app for meeting new people. Available in 190 countries and 40+ languages, Tinder is the highest grossing non-gaming app globally. It’s been downloaded more than 430 million times and led to more than 60 billion matches.

About WeddingWire

WeddingWire is a trusted online and app-based marketplace, connecting couples with local wedding professionals across the US and internationally through WeddingWire.in and WeddingWire.ca, with a suite of comprehensive tools that make wedding planning easier. Operating within the $250 billion global wedding industry, WeddingWire helps couples find the right team of wedding professionals to plan and execute a wedding celebration personalized to them. Couples planning their weddings can read millions of vendor reviews and search, compare and book from a directory of hundreds of thousands of vendors local to them. Visit WeddingWire online at WeddingWire.com, WeddingWire.ca, and WeddingWire.in and follow on social media: Facebook.com/WeddingWire and @WeddingWire on Instagram, Twitter, and Pinterest.

* According to 2021 WeddingWire Guest Study
**U.S. based Tinder members eligible for a Wedding Guest Grant will be notified via an in-app message with details on claiming their gift after joining Plus One in Explore. 

***According to The Knot 2020 Jewelry and Engagement Study