Partners hit with ‘no ring, no bring’ rule

WHEN Prince Harry and Meghan Markle wed on Saturday, millions will watch on their televisions at home. A lucky few will have an exclusive invite to the chapel, while others may gather to watch a screen at a public party.

A select handful will have a rather different experience: watching from their iPads in a farm shop car park.

The partners of some invited guests will be left out of the celebrations for reasons of space, with unmarried friends or those who do not know the couple so well asked to leave their girlfriends and boyfriends outside.

Guests will be dropped off for security checks at the Windsor Farm Shop and board buses to St George’s Chapel for the ceremony.

One guest, who said she “totally understood” the restrictions, noted that her husband would be watching the ceremony from a tablet in the car park where he will drop her off.

A source said that some girlfriends had been disappointed with their lack of an invitation, after holding out tentative hopes of attending the “wedding of the century” by virtue of their partners’ friendships with the couple.

The guest said that “it’s the only real sad bit about it”, adding: “For anyone who isn’t married, they’ve only invited the friend unless they’re really good friends with both of them.”

This rule, employed by many couples as they plan their wedding day with restricted numbers, has been colloquially called “no ring, no bring”.