Ladie ladies,
I have a few friends getting married soon and when they shared their news the first thing I said after "oh my God, congrats!!" Was "you should really check out the knot. Along with some fun planning ideas, the message boards are where the best info comes from."
I got on here soon after getting engaged and learned a million things that I previously had never thought of. I received both criticism and support for my ideas. You all helped me navigate the etiquette minefield and helped me put together one hell of a wedding/reception. All the guests had seats, full meals, open bar, and prepaid taxis back to our hotel, should they need one. Our guests' comfort and fun was our upmost concern and I feel everyone really enjoyed themselves. DH and I knew from the beginning that the wedding is JUST ONE DAY and we wanted to focus more on a great party with family we never get to see and celebrating with our closest friends. All the rest of that stuff like flowers and table settings and wedding party attire and centerpieces is just stuff...I mean really, guests remember if the food was good, if alcohol was free, if they were comfortable, and the music was great. Allll that being said,
Many of the brides I know are throwing all etiquette out of the window, from planning their own bachelorette parties, planning bridal showers, planning way above their budgets and wanting to do those GoFund things, delegating tasks to bridesmaids, having cash bars, not enough seats for bums (people will be dancing so not everyone will be sitting at the same time) have a 30+ mile trip from church to reception location and not having music, anything to drink ( not talking alcohol) and nothing to eat while they wait....It's boggling my mind that they are sending all their wedding registry info with the save the dates and again with invitation so guests won't forget. And the oh holy of not cools....a PPD. This bride wants the whole shebang ( all parties included) since her courthouse wedding was all she could afford (which I attended) I mean what the hell people?? Anytime I mention, to them to check the knot about some of this, they say it really wasn't useful.....Aka someone told them their idea wasn't a good one.
I'm definitely not saying you shouldn't be excited about flowers or color schemes and cake designs or flower girl dresses...that's all great. Not my style and I didn't start this to say weddings should all be small like mine.( I got married in an old pub and walked down the isle to Blink 182...probably not everyone's cup of tea and that's cool) have your big wedding, it's cool. What I mean is, and where I guess I meant to go with all of this is...ladies, it's one freaking day of your life, yes it's an exciting day but it's not the end all be all of days. Contrary to popular belief, it is NOT all about you. It's about two people committing to each other and celebrating it. Think of your guests and their comfort and take a giant chill pill. At the end of the day, you will be married whether the napkins matched the table cloth or not. And, tomorrow you will be a wife and life goes on.
Rant done.
Sorry about some errors, it's a lot harder typing on an iPad than I thought. Miss my spell check.