Sunday, May 30, 2010

Ban Weddings on Holiday Weekends. Please.

Please, for the love of whomever you hold dear, do not schedule your wedding on a holiday weekend.

Honest. I mean it.

Do you have any idea how many people's long weekends have been  ruined because they know someone who thought the whole universe should come to a screaming halt and accommodate them? You are delusional if you really think everyone invited to your wedding is thrilled to be there (and I don't care where) for your special day.  They are just afraid to tell you.  They are afraid to say, "Listen, we work like dogs, we are tired, and we really look forward to these holiday weekends.  We want to be left in peace, to travel  where WE want to go (or stay home and lock the doors) and not have to spend the time and money to schlep to your wedding  and  sit through another three-day dog and pony show that passes for a wedding these days."

How do I know this? Besides being one of these people,  I live in a place where weddings are happening all the time -  especially around holidays.  I drive past the hotels and see the fatigued looks of your guests, a look that says, "I want to take off  this dress and high heels / suit and tie , pop open a cold one and relax.  RELAX.  Not sit there while you take 400 pictures, play a video of the bride getting her wedding hair done (and her mustache waxed) that morning, not wanting to hear the endless parade of  "and now the Father of the Bride will dance with the third cousin once removed.....".  They would honestly rather open a vein than view some PowerPoint presentation containing 800  photos of you and your beloved, dating from the cutting of your umbilical cords  to the present day.  I hear your guests  when they come in to my husband's store looking for a wedding card (or killing time)  and complaining about the "stupid wedding" and how "we could be up at (fill in the destination here) and enjoying ourselves."

Listen.  Seriously.   I've been going to weddings for a LONG time.  I even paid for my  books in college by singing at weddings, so  I have  been to more than most.  Here is my heartfelt, sincere and sober advice for how to insure a nice wedding:

1.  Do not schedule it on a holiday weekend.  If you need motivation, the surcharge your guests will have to pay on their  air travel and hotels will  definitely impact the quality of gifts you receive.

2.  Make up your guest list. Then cut it in half.  Honest, I already know you are over-inviting and I have never even met you.

3.  Look up the definition of a guest, and how they should be treated.   Really.  It's a concept 95% of weddings do not take into consideration. Email me if you need help with this one.

4.  Keep the church music in the church and the reception tunes at the reception.  Mixing them up (usually crappy pop songs in church) happens more often than you think. Additionally, it gives your guests douche chills.  I am going to burn in hell for singing Anne Murray songs at church weddings in the 80's, I just know it, but I needed the cash.

5.  If you are old enough and mature enough to stand before witnesses and take solemn vows promising your unending love and commitment, then you are too damn old to have stupid props and toys handed out by the DJ at the reception.  (Who, I guarantee you, is playing the music too damn loud.)  If your little friends can't make it through an evening without playing games and wearing stupid hats, rent them a party room at Chucky Cheese and stop by after the reception on the way to your hotel.

6.  Do not, under any circumstances, include those insipid bridal registry cards in your wedding invitations.  The retailers make them up BECAUSE THEY WANT TO MAKE MONEY.  It is tacky and vulgar and thoughtless. If your guests do not know you well enough to ask you where you are registered, please refer back to #2.  If you still  feel the need to dictate what your "guests" will give you, send them an invoice.  Then review #3 again.

7.  About the bridesmaid dresses - they will never, ever, EVER wear them again so just drop the BS and admit you are forcing them to buy some frothy, overpriced  piece of crap because you did it for their weddings.  A level playing field is best, and honesty is a good way to start a marriage.

8.  If you insist on wearing a sleeveless, strapless bridal gown that shows off acres of cleavage   and has some sort of  hooker-corset, lace up back, please have the decency to get a little satin jacket to wear  over your shoulders at the church.  There is nothing demurely bridal about coming up the aisle wearing something that  - in any other color - would look good next to a stripper pole.

There is more (um, much more) but we'll take baby steps here.  Thank you letting me speak for countless people who are this very weekend  trapped at holiday weddings.  They will never tell you these things.....but trust me, this is exactly what they are thinking.

5 comments:

  1. I cannot tell you how much I agree with this. It is why I practically eloped. We called our parents and said,"This is the day we are getting married. It would be lovely if you could come." Very small. Very personal. Very sacred. Fifteen years later, we are still married. I have been to "formal" weddings since, and none of them made me feel jealous, just tired. Standing before witnesses and taking solemn vows is certainly not an excuse to behave badly, as some people seem to think.

    By the way, with all the money we saved on the wedding, we bought a house. It was our present to each other. What a nice way to start a life together.

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  2. How wonderful! And using the money to purchase a house makes perfect sense. I know a bride who was given $45,000.00 by her parents for her WEDDING and she still managed to go over budget. There ought to be a law.....

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  3. [...] Posted on July 2, 2011 by Jo Major Ciolino It has been a while since my earlier installment of wedding and guest advice/etiquette.  I am reminded of this because as I wound my way around Gloucester’s beautiful back [...]

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  4. [...] Seriously, people are putting QR codes on their wedding invitations to “help” their guests learn ever so much more about THEIR SPECIAL DAY (TSD). While the average wedding guest already has to endure continuous updates on TSD, it seems to me that the first step is  a review of the invited guests and the whole procedure in general. [...]

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  5. [...] have already established how I feel about weddings on holiday weekends so you can imagine my chagrin when I was invited to one such event held this past Memorial Day [...]

    ReplyDelete