@Novella1186 and other May 2 brides!

novella1186

mikenberger said:

novella1186 said:

plainjane0415 said:

novella1186 said:

plainjane0415 said:

badbnagdway said:

mikenberger said:

badbnagdway said:

Have you guys done your seating charts and room plans yet? 

Someone on these boards once said a seating chart is like a jigsaw puzzle, but with emotions. They could not be more right. The nightmare people for me are FI's mom and sister. They surely would like to sit together, but no one else in FI's family would want to sit with FI's mom. They have SO's but they won't tell me if they're bringing them. Therefore they are an undefined number of pieces that just won't fit anywhere. 

We just did our room plan last night with our venue coordinator and DOC. Well, they did it and told me why they made their choices and I wrote a check. I honesty don't care. My words were "I want a chair for every butt. And a few extra chairs should the butts not want to sit by each other." So we have 173 in the audience? tables? and we're doing 24 tables seating 8 each. No seating chart. So there are 2 extra tables to accommodate those that don't fill. 

I've actually only been to one wedding where the tables were assigned and it was terrible. I was not a fan, at all. And the friends I've spoken to are not fans of it either. It's helpful though that we frequently have parties so 95% of our guest list knows each other or at least has met each other.

It's great that no seating chart will work for you but most weddings would be better served with a seating chart/table assignments. It's pretty unusual in my experience for people to know each other that well and weddings I've gone to without some kind of assigned table have been less enjoyable than those where I was seated with people I knew or had something in common with. 

In our case we have people who CANNOT be near each other. Also, I don't think any of the tables are "bad" but I do want to make sure that, for example, my grandmother is not right next to the DJ. 

I've never been to a wedding where there was a seating chart.  Everything worked out fine. I disagree with the bolded. I think it's a case of knowing your circle.

Our wedding would be a mess without a seating chart. FI's mom's side apparently does not know his dad's side at all. Our different friend groups (high school, college, etc) don't know each other at all. Some of my dad's relatives don't know some of my mom's relatives. And we're not doing any sort of head table or sweetheart table; we're just sitting right in the middle of all the guests with the WP, but I wanted to make sure they each got to sit next to their SOs. 

I've been to weddings with this type of situation, with no seating chart. Some tables fill up fast and then 1 or 2 people from that friend group don't have a seat, so they snag a chair from another table or end up being stuck sitting with strangers. Or there's 3 people in a friend group so they go take over their own table, with 5 empty chairs, while a group of 6 goes and takes over another table but there aren't 2 strays to fill it in, and son on. It just gets confusing. 

Typically with the weddings I've been to sans seating charts, people just fill up the tables.  Sure, you may have a table that's completely full of a friend or relative group, and one table that has maybe two empty chairs or something, but all in all I've never really heard anyone complain about it.

FI and I try to find seats with our friends, but we have been in a situation before where we had to sit with people we didn't really know before, and it wasn't that bad.  We really just sat to eat, and then the rest of the night we are up talking, drinking, dancing, etc.. But, I know that doesn't work for everyone.

For some reason this just reminded me of the wedding of FI's friend that we went to a while back. It had assigned tables. Brad and his date were put at a table in the back corner, alone lol. I guess the other people that were supposed to be at that table were all related and ended up not being able to come at the last minute or something. It was kind of funny but really awkward at the same time. But it's Brad so... whatever. lol 

They heard they were going to sit with Brad. And promptly canceled their trip. #blamebrad

This just made me laugh a little too loud :P 

blabla89

You guys, I finally lost it. I called Gilt about the watch I had ordered as a wedding gift for FI, and they told me it will probably arrive EARLY THE WEEK AFTER NEXT. I spent literally hours picking out this watch for FI and was so excited to give it to him on our wedding day. And now that's not going to happen. I was nice to the guy on the phone because I know he can't do anything about it, but as soon as I hung up I burst into tears. At my desk. I was feeling great this morning but that triggered an avalanche of wedding stress.

I put on my big girl panties and got myself together, but I still don't know what to do about FI's gift. I actually have a men's Daniel Wellington watch that I picked out before I found the one from Gilt, but it's nothing special. I had been meaning to return it but hadn't gotten around to it yet. I'm debating whether I should give it to FI on the wedding day and let him know that the real one is coming later, or what. I will feel so awkward about opening his gift when I don't have one for him. This really stinks

plainjane0415

blabla89 said:

You guys, I finally lost it. I called Gilt about the watch I had ordered as a wedding gift for FI, and they told me it will probably arrive EARLY THE WEEK AFTER NEXT. I spent literally hours picking out this watch for FI and was so excited to give it to him on our wedding day. And now that's not going to happen. I was nice to the guy on the phone because I know he can't do anything about it, but as soon as I hung up I burst into tears. At my desk. I was feeling great this morning but that triggered an avalanche of wedding stress.

I put on my big girl panties and got myself together, but I still don't know what to do about FI's gift. I actually have a men's Daniel Wellington watch that I picked out before I found the one from Gilt, but it's nothing special. I had been meaning to return it but hadn't gotten around to it yet. I'm debating whether I should give it to FI on the wedding day and let him know that the real one is coming later, or what. I will feel so awkward about opening his gift when I don't have one for him. This really stinks

I'm so sorry!  I'm sure he would understand if you told him what happened. That really sucks though.

blabla89

plainjane0415 said:

blabla89 said:

You guys, I finally lost it. I called Gilt about the watch I had ordered as a wedding gift for FI, and they told me it will probably arrive EARLY THE WEEK AFTER NEXT. I spent literally hours picking out this watch for FI and was so excited to give it to him on our wedding day. And now that's not going to happen. I was nice to the guy on the phone because I know he can't do anything about it, but as soon as I hung up I burst into tears. At my desk. I was feeling great this morning but that triggered an avalanche of wedding stress.

I put on my big girl panties and got myself together, but I still don't know what to do about FI's gift. I actually have a men's Daniel Wellington watch that I picked out before I found the one from Gilt, but it's nothing special. I had been meaning to return it but hadn't gotten around to it yet. I'm debating whether I should give it to FI on the wedding day and let him know that the real one is coming later, or what. I will feel so awkward about opening his gift when I don't have one for him. This really stinks

I'm so sorry!  I'm sure he would understand if you told him what happened. That really sucks though.

I told him and he was totally sweet about it, but I still want him to have something to open. Now that I've calmed down long enough to think about it, I think I'm going to pick up a bottle of high end bourbon to give him on the wedding day instead of giving him the other watch.

novella1186

blabla89 said:

plainjane0415 said:

blabla89 said:

You guys, I finally lost it. I called Gilt about the watch I had ordered as a wedding gift for FI, and they told me it will probably arrive EARLY THE WEEK AFTER NEXT. I spent literally hours picking out this watch for FI and was so excited to give it to him on our wedding day. And now that's not going to happen. I was nice to the guy on the phone because I know he can't do anything about it, but as soon as I hung up I burst into tears. At my desk. I was feeling great this morning but that triggered an avalanche of wedding stress.

I put on my big girl panties and got myself together, but I still don't know what to do about FI's gift. I actually have a men's Daniel Wellington watch that I picked out before I found the one from Gilt, but it's nothing special. I had been meaning to return it but hadn't gotten around to it yet. I'm debating whether I should give it to FI on the wedding day and let him know that the real one is coming later, or what. I will feel so awkward about opening his gift when I don't have one for him. This really stinks

I'm so sorry!  I'm sure he would understand if you told him what happened. That really sucks though.

I told him and he was totally sweet about it, but I still want him to have something to open. Now that I've calmed down long enough to think about it, I think I'm going to pick up a bottle of high end bourbon to give him on the wedding day instead of giving him the other watch.

That sounds perfect! I'm sorry that happened, stuff like that is always super frustrating But a bottle of bourbon sounds amazing! 

mikenberger

I am running a current tally of how many times I am asked "You're getting married Friday? What are you doing here?!"

Right now my total is three. And it's only 9:30am. Last week, I got asked like four times. And that's when the wedding was over a week away.

novella1186

mikenberger said:

I am running a current tally of how many times I am asked "You're getting married Friday? What are you doing here?!"

Right now my total is three. And it's only 9:30am. Last week, I got asked like four times. And that's when the wedding was over a week away.

I've been asked this a few times too. It's like "Where else should I be? What would I be doing? Should I sit at home and stare at the clock? Should I spend 2 weeks painting my nails or something? Why can't I be at work???" 

mikenberger

novella1186 said:

mikenberger said:

I am running a current tally of how many times I am asked "You're getting married Friday? What are you doing here?!"

Right now my total is three. And it's only 9:30am. Last week, I got asked like four times. And that's when the wedding was over a week away.

I've been asked this a few times too. It's like "Where else should I be? What would I be doing? Should I sit at home and stare at the clock? Should I spend 2 weeks painting my nails or something? Why can't I be at work???" 

lol exactly. Because honestly, if I were at home, I'd be getting ready to go to brunch. And be drunk by 1pm.

blabla89

novella1186 said:

mikenberger said:

I am running a current tally of how many times I am asked "You're getting married Friday? What are you doing here?!"

Right now my total is three. And it's only 9:30am. Last week, I got asked like four times. And that's when the wedding was over a week away.

I've been asked this a few times too. It's like "Where else should I be? What would I be doing? Should I sit at home and stare at the clock? Should I spend 2 weeks painting my nails or something? Why can't I be at work???" 

Well shoot, I wish people are asking me that. The question here is, "Can you do this before you leave? How about that? I know you're probably busy but it would be great if you could do the other thing by noon, thanks."