Etiquette question

[j4]

If someone invites you to a party, and the invitation doesn't say "bring partners" (but does imply that it's okay to bring friends), and your partners are not on the invite list in their own right, is it rude to email and ask whether it's okay to bring partners? Would it be rude (even ruder?) to just bring partners anyway (on the basis that they are my friends as well)? Or should one assume that if the partners in question were welcome in the first place, they would have been on the invite list?

Comments

[taimatsu]

I would tend to alert the organiser to the fact that I was planning to bring *anyone*, friend, partner or pet giraffe. When I give parties I like to have an idea of numbers (though I tend to say that on the invite) so I try to do the same for others. If it were me I'd contact the organiser and say I'm planning to bring whoever. I think partners count as a subset of friends, too :)