DH goes off table hopping at weddings etc

I've been married nearly 30 years and DH has always done this so no surprise each time. When we go to weddings funerals etc he leaves me on my own to table hop, 'work the room' etc. I don't know most of the people (or have only met them superficially once or sometimes twice over the years). He says this is the only opportunity he has to get to know these relatives (he makes sporadic attempts to contact them by phone etc but it doesn't really come to much). I try to make the effort and chat to whoever's around but usually they're there as couples and soon ignore me and I end up on my own at a table feeling like an idiot or sitting in the foyer pretending to look at mobile (!) My solution now is to stop going to these events except for essentials eg father-in-laws funeral when it happens. I don't have family do's to go to - so its his family events. Should I keep pushing myself to go to these things or just not put myself thru this any more?