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54 40 or fuck
Jan 4, 2012

No Yanda's allowed
You could do an ornament AND candy, likely for relatively cheap too. Getting personalized candy is very inexpensive, and maybe look on etsy for ornament ideas? You may be able to get a good deal if you contact the seller about buying bulk.

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Fromage D Enfer
Jan 20, 2007
Strawbrary!

Toriori posted:

So any ideas for practical table centerpieces? I'm not planning on using a florist for my wedding and I'm not seeing the point and buying and putting together all the centerpieces that serve no purpose afterwards. I was thinking of making bottles of wine for the favours and we are at a very outdoorsy location so maybe the bottles of wine in the center with just some natural garnish?

Also, maybe little bags of kettle corn for the kids? Something yummy.

We saved a bunch of jars (starbucks fraps, sauce, jelly, beer, etc) and now I am going to spray paint them. My mom also made some cake plates for cupcakes, so we are putting a cake plate with a few cupcakes and the jars with a few flower stems on each table.

Kiri koli
Jun 20, 2005
Also, I can kill you with my brain.

Fromage D Enfer posted:

We saved a bunch of jars (starbucks fraps, sauce, jelly, beer, etc) and now I am going to spray paint them. My mom also made some cake plates for cupcakes, so we are putting a cake plate with a few cupcakes and the jars with a few flower stems on each table.

That sounds nice. I've never liked big centerpieces. They seem like a waste and the really tall ones you can't see around are just plain annoying. I want to talk to the person across from me, dammit!

We had a really simple setup provided by our venue. Half the tables had small vases with three roses in our colors and the other half just had rose petals in the middle. It was perfect for me, nice and simple, not expensive and not in anyone's way.

I also like the ornaments idea!

Damn Bananas
Jul 1, 2007

You humans bore me

Fromage D Enfer posted:

We saved a bunch of jars (starbucks fraps, sauce, jelly, beer, etc) and now I am going to spray paint them.

I saw something similar on Pinterest, where they took empty wine bottles, spray painted them white, and put bunches of babys breath (or something like it) in them. Was very pretty, but I don't have an account so I'm not sure where to find that picture again. It was very classy looking though!

I also like floating candles - we will likely be doing a backyard thing, so citronella candles will be a must. loving mosquitoes.

miseerin
Apr 4, 2008

"You obviously don't know what 'boarding party' means."

signalnoise posted:

My fiancee and I are getting married in December and are thinking about using christmas-themed table decorations and favors. We want to make 100 individually wrapped small presents filled with hopefully reasonably priced favors. We really like this idea but we're having problems thinking up stuff that can go in a mini christmas present that isn't just a monogrammed piece of crap no one cares about. Disposable or imminently useful is the goal here, along with being affordable. Anyone have a good idea?

We're also thinking maybe just having 100 completely different individual gifts and people can get them at random. Thinkgeek has like 5 things that are worth a crap under 5 dollars.

We are also getting married in December (on the 1st), and we wanted something like that, but not a Christmas-y wedding. So for our "guestbook" we were going to do this:

Each place setting has a clear plastic ornament on it (one that opens in half) and a slip of paper. In the middle of the table is a cup holder with a few different colored permanent markers, and black pens. Using the pens, everyone is going to write a piece of wedding advice, good wishes, etc on their paper. Then they fold the paper, place it in the ornament, and decorate the front of the ornament with their names, and a number on it (the number is going to be our anniversary number). On the Christmas of that anniversary, while we are decorating the tree, we will open all the ornaments with that number and read what's in that card).

That was before we found out we will have over 150 guests... so if you have a lot you could edit it to one ornament per table and the table number is the anniversary year.

signalnoise
Mar 7, 2008

i was told my old av was distracting

miseerin posted:

We are also getting married in December (on the 1st), and we wanted something like that, but not a Christmas-y wedding. So for our "guestbook" we were going to do this:

Each place setting has a clear plastic ornament on it (one that opens in half) and a slip of paper. In the middle of the table is a cup holder with a few different colored permanent markers, and black pens. Using the pens, everyone is going to write a piece of wedding advice, good wishes, etc on their paper. Then they fold the paper, place it in the ornament, and decorate the front of the ornament with their names, and a number on it (the number is going to be our anniversary number). On the Christmas of that anniversary, while we are decorating the tree, we will open all the ornaments with that number and read what's in that card).

That was before we found out we will have over 150 guests... so if you have a lot you could edit it to one ornament per table and the table number is the anniversary year.

That's still less labor intensive than my fiancee wants. She is going to put felt markers and cloth squares at every chair and ask people to write/draw whatever they want, and she'll make a quilt out of them. :psyduck:

gogogiraffes
Dec 27, 2007

Our baseball wedding. We used a customized jersey of our team :3: I was REALLY excited about it. Until everyone signed on the wrong side (our name and 12 were on the back, the side to be signed) and they all signed the front. Oh well.

And I found out it was almost $500 at one frame shop to get framed...

Generator
Jan 14, 2008

I'm getting married tomorrow! :woop:

Well, getting legally married here in Germany with just our parents. Then, next week having the church/reception do in England with friends and family.

Betazoid
Aug 3, 2010

Hallo. Ik ben een leeuw.

gogogiraffes posted:

Our baseball wedding. We used a customized jersey of our team :3: I was REALLY excited about it. Until everyone signed on the wrong side (our name and 12 were on the back, the side to be signed) and they all signed the front. Oh well.

And I found out it was almost $500 at one frame shop to get framed...

Yeah, I really don't know why things are so expensive to get framed. I'd like to shadowbox our cake toppers and a few other things, as well as frame some patches, but every quote is prohibitively expensive.

Gravitee
Nov 20, 2003

I just put money in the Magic Fingers!
I worked at a jersey framing place so I know it's expensive. Michael's has large shadowbox frames for jerseys that aren't bad but the jersey just hangs on a rod inside.

gogogiraffes
Dec 27, 2007

Gravitee posted:

I worked at a jersey framing place so I know it's expensive. Michael's has large shadowbox frames for jerseys that aren't bad but the jersey just hangs on a rod inside.

We found something on amazon. I also have a coupon, and our team has a partnership, like if you win a jersey off the back or something, they frame it for cheaper. So I might see if we can do that.

But the one on amazon has like a bat thing in it too, which they gave us.

WAFFLEHOUND
Apr 26, 2007
Tomorrow is the big day!

Yesterday we had a rehearsal at the wedding venue, which is the Seattle Aquarium. Because my fiancée and I are Buddhist and we actually met in a monastery, we've got monks from the monastery we met at officiating. After running through where everything will be, the head nun and her assistant asked if they could see around the aquarium. So, a friend and I were holding sacred objects for them and following them around the Seattle Aquarium.

People were just like "What the gently caress is going on?" it was hilarious.

gogogiraffes
Dec 27, 2007

WAFFLEHOUND posted:

Tomorrow is the big day!

Yesterday we had a rehearsal at the wedding venue, which is the Seattle Aquarium. Because my fiancée and I are Buddhist and we actually met in a monastery, we've got monks from the monastery we met at officiating. After running through where everything will be, the head nun and her assistant asked if they could see around the aquarium. So, a friend and I were holding sacred objects for them and following them around the Seattle Aquarium.

People were just like "What the gently caress is going on?" it was hilarious.

Yay! That sounds like such a fun wedding! I hope everything goes off without a hitch and y'all have a great day!!

joyfulgirl129
Aug 22, 2006

Buddhist monks and the Seattle Aquarium?? I am so jealous; that sounds awesome!



Anyway, this might belong in E/N, but I woke up to this email from my mother.
(Background: I live in Hawaii, my parents live in Pennsylvania, and my fiance and I are moving to Texas in 2 months)



"joyfulgirl129, Who is going to be at this wedding? Can you call us so we can discuss this? I was hoping to have something in [parent's hometown in PA] or Honolulu. I am kind of shocked. I'm sorry that was harsh. I'm just feel left out of this and Dad will feel the same. Mom"



We don't even have a set location, date, or guest list yet. We have not asked for financial help, they have not offered, we are paying for it ourselves.
I do not even know anyone that lives in my parent's hometown besides my parents.
My mother is usually not a crazy person but if this is a portent of things to come, we're eloping to Vegas and not inviting anyone. :smith:

pastor of muppets
Aug 21, 2007

We were somewhere around the Living Hive, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold...

Went in for my first gown fitting today!




Allow me to illustrate my progression of emotions today through their intended medium.

:geno:

:raise:

:aaa:

:swoon:

:20bux::20bux::20bux:

:byodame:

Hawkperson
Jun 20, 2003

joyfulgirl129 posted:

My mother is usually not a crazy person but if this is a portent of things to come, we're eloping to Vegas and not inviting anyone. :smith:

Are you getting married in Texas or something? I mean, based on what you wrote, your mom has nothing to be shocked and left out over yet. Unless she wanted to be there for the proposal or something. Sorry about crazy mom :(

WeaselWeaz
Apr 11, 2004

Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Biscuits and Gravy.

joyfulgirl129 posted:

Buddhist monks and the Seattle Aquarium?? I am so jealous; that sounds awesome!



Anyway, this might belong in E/N, but I woke up to this email from my mother.
(Background: I live in Hawaii, my parents live in Pennsylvania, and my fiance and I are moving to Texas in 2 months)



"joyfulgirl129, Who is going to be at this wedding? Can you call us so we can discuss this? I was hoping to have something in [parent's hometown in PA] or Honolulu. I am kind of shocked. I'm sorry that was harsh. I'm just feel left out of this and Dad will feel the same. Mom"



We don't even have a set location, date, or guest list yet. We have not asked for financial help, they have not offered, we are paying for it ourselves.
I do not even know anyone that lives in my parent's hometown besides my parents.
My mother is usually not a crazy person but if this is a portent of things to come, we're eloping to Vegas and not inviting anyone. :smith:

It sounds like you have communication issues with your mom that have nothing to so with the wedding.

nyerf
Feb 12, 2010

An elephant never forgets...TO KILL!
So after 3 and something years together my boyfriend and I have essentially decided to begin the process towards getting married. We're fairly non-traditional, I'm mad for gender equality in everything. I have been thinking of getting my man an engagement ring and proposing. We've only been looking online for a couple weeks or so, living in a rural area in Australia doesn't lend itself to accessible jewelers that I feel I can trust without personal recommendations.

It is possible that we could reuse his engagement ring as his wedding ring also, though given the sort of ring he's interested in I'd like him to have a second one that would eventually match one I would wear (also be less an obvious target for muggers should we travel overseas). There's this tungsten carbide website that apparently is sending us a free ring sizer (http://www.tungstenworld.com/) that seems a touch cheaper than the boonerings website recommended earlier in the thread, anyone know much about these guys?

My main headache at the moment is that he's very intensely keen on a chunky signet ring of some sort. He was quite taken with this, which came up on GIS

which came from this website for russian antique rings (http://www.romanovrussia.com/Antique_Jewelry_Russian_Signet_Mens_Ring.html).

He is also very keen on blue stones, something like a tanzanite very much the shade of that blue enamel in the ring above, possibly paired with a sparkly white stone of some description (diamond/moissanite) depending on the ring design. I have had a tiny look on Etsy for potential custom jewelers, and did find one guy who seems to be able to do signet-like rings: http://www.etsy.com/shop/dougpetersonjewelers, but again I don't know if he's any good price/quality wise. If this relationship is for life I want to know this ring is going to be made right.

The other option would be a custom family crest (e.g. from somewhere like these guys: http://www.familysealrings.com/index.html) to represent the new family we are beginning together, but the whole heraldry symbolism also does my head in. Even without being 'proper' about the crest, (I do have a collection of images I think would be good starting points for something to use on a crest) I don't really have the artistic ability to put one together.

Add to that I have a pretty limited budget (AU$1k-$2k) and I'm starting to despair. I'd be happy to spend more if finances were more fluid than I'm comfortable with right now (in the past I've paid cash for my man to buy a motorbike outright, so I'm no stranger to dropping sizeable amounts of money on him...just bad timing at the moment!)

I gather tanzanite/diamonds are on the more expensive side, so I want to investigate more economical options like lab-made gems or secondhand stones. Moissanite sounds cool, but buying from a company that has a monopoly on the source does make me somewhat wary. I wouldn't care if my diamond was secondhand, if it was excellent quality and closer to a moissanite in price. Can anyone recommend approachable online vendors for more affordable stones, or jewelers who work with international customers and can help source the more affordable stones without an unfair markup? I'm willing to buy the stone myself and ship it to the jeweler or whatever, but if it's a tiny stone and/or not that expensive it might be faster/more economical for the jeweler to just source it, or so I'm guessing.

Anyone know a reliable (and international/online-accessible) jeweler who can custom make a signet-style ring? My man would like it to have a bit of weight and presence, but without the garishness some sites' men's rings seem fraught with. I have been thinking of approaching Dexter for a quote but I fear it might fall well out of my budget range. I also am not sure what sorts of questions to ask jewelers about this sort of thing to make sure they're any good.

I've read through the three plus years worth of this thread and keep seeing JohnnyRnR come to the rescue of a few goons, but not sure if that's a long past thing or what. Oh, and I don't have PMs but can take emails at nyerf dot nyerf at gmail. Thanks very much for any suggestions anyone can give!

JohnnyRnR
May 16, 2004
Beer Ninja
That is funny. I wear almost an identical ring as a wedding band. I wear one of these as my personal ring. http://www.johnnybrookheart.com/products/signet

They can be done in many different styles with gemstones, carved stone with gold inlay, or even with a raised design with an enamel surround (like on the Russian ring you linked). In sterling silver they are very reasonable.

54 40 or fuck
Jan 4, 2012

No Yanda's allowed
What's the most dignified way to say "we want money for the honeymoon and not gifts?" I've seen "presentation preferred" and "it is requested there be no boxed gifts at the wedding" but I want to get some opinions on what sounds best.

pastor of muppets
Aug 21, 2007

We were somewhere around the Living Hive, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold...

Toriori posted:

What's the most dignified way to say "we want money for the honeymoon and not gifts?" I've seen "presentation preferred" and "it is requested there be no boxed gifts at the wedding" but I want to get some opinions on what sounds best.

I think the consensus is that there IS no dignified way to ask for money over gifts. The whole tradition of gift-giving for a wedding is to help the new couple build their new life together, starting with their new home, not to pay for a fancy vacation.

That being said, honeymoon registries are becoming popular, and if anyone asks where you are registered, you can always just point them in that direction.

~~

So just like every other girl on the internet, I bought these shoes for my wedding.



I feel so cliche, but seriously. SO CUTE. SO CHEAP. AUGHH. :emo:

pastor of muppets fucked around with this message at 23:25 on Jul 9, 2012

striking-wolf
Jun 16, 2003

weeeeeeeeeeeeezard
I'm looking to buy an engagement ring soon and was hoping someone could explain a few things and point me in the right direction. My girlfriend has said she'd like a celtic-influenced variation on the standard white-gold ring, nothing too thick or fancy though. As for the rock, we're both grad students and she understands it must be cheap (absolute max of $1500 for the ring and rock, preferably $1k) but doesn't want a non-traditional gem. That leaves either a very small and/or fairly flawed diamond, or CZ. I am leaning towards CZ coupled with an IOU good for a gem upgrade on our tenth anniversary. My questions are:

1. Can I buy the band from one place and the CZ gem from another? Where would I go to have the gem set in the ring and how much should that cost?

2. What would be a good place to find a celtic-influenced band?

3. Is replacing the gem in a ring fairly easy to do and is there any feature the ring needs to have to be able to do that down the line?

4. How do I find out her ring size? We've had the "Should we do this? Yes!" conversation, but she said she wants the illusion of surprise and I shouldn't talk/ask about it again until I do it. She has a college class ring she wears now and takes it off while in the shower. Should I snap a photo of it next to a quarter or something and take it in to the pros? Does the shoe size thing really work?

WAFFLEHOUND
Apr 26, 2007
I'm married! Holy crap what a day, nothing actually went wrong at all that wasn't instantly remedied and stress-free. We started with the ceremony, which was almost entirely in Tibetan (we met at a monastery in Seattle, so we had monks from there officiating) and after 10 minutes of chanting we exchanged rings and vows, then vanished to sign the paperwork.

We had speeches and then, much to our surprise, my parents had the wedding party come up and start doing a coordinated dance to God Bless Texas (my wife and I are in the process of moving back to Austin). Then, some more guests joined in. Then most of the guests. Then the aquarium staff.

We had a full loving flash mob at our wedding.

miseerin
Apr 4, 2008

"You obviously don't know what 'boarding party' means."

Toriori posted:

What's the most dignified way to say "we want money for the honeymoon and not gifts?" I've seen "presentation preferred" and "it is requested there be no boxed gifts at the wedding" but I want to get some opinions on what sounds best.

http://www.depositagift.com
My hubby-to-be and I are doing this for our registry. We have an Amazon registry too for a couple things we could use around the house. We wanted money for our honeymoon, so we used this. It's more creative than "we want money please", and it works like a regular registry.

Fromage D Enfer
Jan 20, 2007
Strawbrary!

Toriori posted:

What's the most dignified way to say "we want money for the honeymoon and not gifts?" I've seen "presentation preferred" and "it is requested there be no boxed gifts at the wedding" but I want to get some opinions on what sounds best.

On our website we just preface it with "we have been together for over six years, so we already have most of the things we need to make a home together. In lieu of a wedding gift, if you would like to help us take our dream honeymoon, we have set up a honey fund: (paypal account)
If you would like to get us a gift, we are registered at Bed, Bath and Beyond."

This isn't a formal wedding and no one in my or his family is so traditional that this is offensive.

john mayer
Jan 18, 2011

striking-wolf posted:

I'm looking to buy an engagement ring soon and was hoping someone could explain a few things and point me in the right direction. My girlfriend has said she'd like a celtic-influenced variation on the standard white-gold ring, nothing too thick or fancy though. As for the rock, we're both grad students and she understands it must be cheap (absolute max of $1500 for the ring and rock, preferably $1k) but doesn't want a non-traditional gem. That leaves either a very small and/or fairly flawed diamond, or CZ. I am leaning towards CZ coupled with an IOU good for a gem upgrade on our tenth anniversary. My questions are:

1. Can I buy the band from one place and the CZ gem from another? Where would I go to have the gem set in the ring and how much should that cost?

2. What would be a good place to find a celtic-influenced band?

3. Is replacing the gem in a ring fairly easy to do and is there any feature the ring needs to have to be able to do that down the line?

4. How do I find out her ring size? We've had the "Should we do this? Yes!" conversation, but she said she wants the illusion of surprise and I shouldn't talk/ask about it again until I do it. She has a college class ring she wears now and takes it off while in the shower. Should I snap a photo of it next to a quarter or something and take it in to the pros? Does the shoe size thing really work?

Try the ring on your pinkie/whatever, see where it fits, then put a little pen mark and go try ring sizers there?

Also consider moissanite. I have a lot of CZ jewelry for costumes which looks really lovely and cloudy. My finance got me a moissanite ring which I am in love with. I get compliments all the time that it is the prettiest diamond people have ever seen, and it did not break the bank at all. We decided to go cheap and save money for the home we are buying, and we were able accomplish the engagement ring in the under 1k category while still getting me my dream karat. (:

gogogiraffes
Dec 27, 2007


I'm going to second moissanite. My husband and I got that for me. It's a .85 center stone, and over a carat total weight, and it was a little more than $700 USD.

Generator
Jan 14, 2008

Toriori posted:

What's the most dignified way to say "we want money for the honeymoon and not gifts?" I've seen "presentation preferred" and "it is requested there be no boxed gifts at the wedding" but I want to get some opinions on what sounds best.

As others have said, just tell it straight. This is what we used in our invites:

"As we are already living together, we have decided not to compile a traditional gift list.
Therefore, any financial donations towards our future life together, hoewever small,
would be gratefully received. (Please do not feel obliged, it‘s your company we want!)"

silvergoose
Mar 18, 2006

IT IS SAID THE TEARS OF THE BWEENIX CAN HEAL ALL WOUNDS




I'm going to third moissanite before my fiancee can, since I know she loves it. On the other hand, she refused to let me spend much more than a grand all told, but 1200 or so got a fantastic custom fitting with a nicely sized moissanite.

54 40 or fuck
Jan 4, 2012

No Yanda's allowed
Thanks for all the great suggestions!

striking-wolf
Jun 16, 2003

weeeeeeeeeeeeezard
Thanks for the moissanite recommendations, that looks like the way to go!

Trillian
Sep 14, 2003

striking-wolf posted:

4. How do I find out her ring size? We've had the "Should we do this? Yes!" conversation, but she said she wants the illusion of surprise and I shouldn't talk/ask about it again until I do it. She has a college class ring she wears now and takes it off while in the shower. Should I snap a photo of it next to a quarter or something and take it in to the pros? Does the shoe size thing really work?

Measuring the inside of the ring with a piece of string works pretty well.

Damn Bananas
Jul 1, 2007

You humans bore me
You might as well get a ring sizing stick (I have no idea what they're actually called) if you already have a ring that fits her. It's just a tapered metal rod with measurements all down it - pretty foolproof, and I see a couple plastic ones on Amazon for 4-5 bucks.

Miranda
Dec 24, 2004

Not a cuttlefish.

gogogiraffes posted:

I was a 2 dress bride. The first was an Alfred Angelo dress. Cinderella Platinum. I've posted pictures up a bit. But that was just NOT practical for a baseball game. My second dress was off etsy. She took my measurements (alfred Angelo did them for me) and I sent them to her. And poof, I had a dress made for me. Best $230 I ever spent.

Can you tell me who you used on Etsy?

gogogiraffes
Dec 27, 2007

Miranda posted:

Can you tell me who you used on Etsy?

I'm on my phone. So I can't make it a short link but here's her store.

http://www.etsy.com/shop/ouma?ref=seller_info

Clevername Lookhere
Jan 9, 2006
I've recently joined the ranks of the engaged! We haven't started much actual planning yet but I'm very afraid I am a groomzilla in disguise! OK, probably not a groomzilla, but my fiancee wants a very simple wedding (think courthouse with very few guests) whereas I am shooting for something a little more traditional. At any rate, we have plenty of time to think about those details.

I'm also wondering what experiences people have with pre-marital counseling. I'd love to do something like pre cana except we are both no longer practicing Catholics so I'm wondering what other options are out there. Is straight up pre-marital counseling via a therapist the only nonreligious way to go? I've seen some info about various one-day workshops available as well - what about something like that? I don't want to spend a ton of money on this but if I found something that looks great, it seems like it'd be worth a bit of a splurge at least. I live in Chicago if that makes a difference. Any thoughts?

miseerin
Apr 4, 2008

"You obviously don't know what 'boarding party' means."

Clevername Lookhere posted:

I've recently joined the ranks of the engaged! We haven't started much actual planning yet but I'm very afraid I am a groomzilla in disguise! OK, probably not a groomzilla, but my fiancee wants a very simple wedding (think courthouse with very few guests) whereas I am shooting for something a little more traditional. At any rate, we have plenty of time to think about those details.

I'm also wondering what experiences people have with pre-marital counseling. I'd love to do something like pre cana except we are both no longer practicing Catholics so I'm wondering what other options are out there. Is straight up pre-marital counseling via a therapist the only nonreligious way to go? I've seen some info about various one-day workshops available as well - what about something like that? I don't want to spend a ton of money on this but if I found something that looks great, it seems like it'd be worth a bit of a splurge at least. I live in Chicago if that makes a difference. Any thoughts?

Dear lord... you're my fiance. Everything you have said is him, and everything you said about your bride-to-be is me. So here is some advice that we have learned through this.

-Both of you have your dream weddings in mind. Neither of you will get those. Instead, you will both get certain elements, and the rest is based on compromises. I wanted a HUGE wedding up until I started planning. Now I want nothing more than to go to Scotland and elope. Alas, he wants something more traditional than that.... our compromise? We're doing a pretty big wedding, but the ceremony is less traditional (to appease my Highlander roots we're doing a Celtic handfasting ceremony, not a Catholic service).

-We are not doing counseling. Partly because we have no funds or time for it. However, we also have very good communication, and we talk about our feelings all the time. In a way, we are each other's therapists. Workshops sound fun. Just make sure it's something you BOTH want to do. If not, it's not going to work like it should.

-Did I mention compromise? Yes? Well, here it is again. COMPROMISE. Find out what her most important parts of the wedding are, and find out yours. If they're all different, excellent! You can both incorporate whatever you want with no issues! If they're the same, you two need to go through what you will and will not do for that item. For example, we had a bridesmaids issue at one point. I was at 8 and not budging, and he only had 6 groomsmen. Mr. Symmetry wanted me to cut two of them. We ended up having our MoH and Best Men (his 2 bros and my 2 sis's) stand, and everyone else file in and sit in the front row. My extra two were going to be doing a reading. Now it turns out that one of my BM's made some bad decisions and is no longer my friend, and my sister (of all people) says she may not be able to take off to fly out. So now we are 6 and 6. But it was a compromise, and it worked!

-Plan things apart, but make decisions together. I have a Pinterest account, with a TON of wedding ideas, and once in a while, he will sit down with me, and we will pick out things we should pay for now. This way, he feels like he gets a say in everything.

-After you make every decision, say you love each other and kiss or hug each other. Wedding planning sucks. Trust me, you'll see how stressed she is and you'll consider court house or eloping. You two will argue. I don't care if you two haven't had a single fight... you will argue, because this is stressful. So a the end of everything, take a minute to appreciate each other. This will calm you both down and destress so you can keep planning.

Hope this helped!!

Clevername Lookhere
Jan 9, 2006
Thanks so much for the advice! That is a very good point on counseling... I definitely don't want it to break the bank or force something that seems weird to us, but we talked about it a bit last night and she is cool with checking out our options. I think we are both OK (but not always great) at communicating but haven't done a great job of thinking of / talking about all of the "grown up" stuff that comes with getting married. Obviously we've talked about big stuff like kids, money, etc. but I am hoping the marriage prep stuff will help us think about other aspects of what it is to be married that we just haven't thought of or talked about yet.

That's also very helpful advice on the nuts and bolts of planning. Last night we had our first complete, serious, full discussion of how we want all of this to go and it went very well, I was thrilled. Obviously like I said, there were some parts we disagreed on, but we did a good job of understanding each other and why we had differences on those things...not just the basic issues but the emotions and reasons behind our differences. We realized that the most important thing is we have the same philosophical approach and ideal characteristics (fun, something shared with family/friends, not extravagant, not cliche or too traditional but not quirky just for the sake of being different) of the wedding, there's just a few details we're off on. Plus, we're getting married! Which is obviously the best and most important part (and a nice mantra to calm us down/remind us what it's all about like you said).

I think one of our main issues is the guest list: I want more people, she wants less. I am very close to my large family and want them all there, she is not so close to her much smaller family and would feel weird having my family be so much of the guest list and outnumbering hers two- or three- to one. But we've already thought of some potential compromises and this weekend are actually going to start writing down names and looking at numbers to see how it shakes out. We could end up having her invite more friends/family friends than I do, finding a way to do a small ceremony with few people but invite more to the reception or after-party, making sure our families sit on both sides of the aisle so one side doesn't look less crowded compared to the other, etc.

I think our other sticking point may be the reception or form the party takes. I want something pretty basic and normal - afternoon/evening basic ceremony followed by more or less the usual wedding reception with DJ, dancing, etc. She isn't against this but also really wants to consider something more basic and non-traditional, like a morning or early afternoon ceremony to be followed by dinner or some other type of celebration. So a lot of that will depend on venue availability and what ideas we can come up with, but we've both agreed to honestly be open to and discuss all options so I think that's a good start.

Dear Lord I just typed a lot. Anyways it helps to get it all out of my system here, even though we talked about it a lot last night. I think I'm still in that stage where I'm a little excited to be figuring this all out before the actual pain in the rear end planning starts.

miseerin
Apr 4, 2008

"You obviously don't know what 'boarding party' means."
Seriously, I'm about to check my fiance's computer to make sure you're not him! The wedding size issue is a big one for us. He has a large Catholic family and I have a smaller, agnostic family. I want less, he wants more.

One way we got our list shorter was by putting a "newborn exception" in our invitations. Basically we explain that we don't want children under 13 present, because we have a LOT of very loud and crazy friends, both military and civilian. Our reception is open bar, and it's basically going to be a huge party, so we don't want young children there to get hurt. But one of my bridesmaids is due in November, so we added a newborn exception, so anyone who just gave birth and can't part with their baby can bring them.

This filtered out a lot of aunts and cousins on his side. We invited them, but they can't make it without bringing their 6 to umpteen kids. It seems shallow when I explain it on here, but it works out nicely.... they feel recognized knowing they received an invitation, but they can't make it due to the no young kids rule.

Another problem we have is a LOT of my family are divorced, and they don't speak to each other. That kind of filtered out some more people, because they can't handle being in the same room with each other. It's mostly my dad's side from Seattle not coming... but that's a good one or two tables right there.

This all seems conniving and rude, but when you get to the end of the guest list and all the drama that can ensue with seating charts, favors, and who's invited to what, it feels good knowing you don't have to worry about crazy Aunt Ruth with 12 kids from three husbands and where to seat them.


As for her idea of early afternoon ceremony... why not try this? Have your ceremony at.... 2ish, have the reception from 3-7 with all your loved ones (your BIG GUEST LIST part of it), and then have a smaller "after-party" with you two, and either immediate family and close friends, or just friends (which would be her SMALLER GUEST LIST part). We live right in between Atlantic City and Philadelphia, and we have a 5-9 reception, so what we might do is go to one of the cities (probably AC), and drink and gamble a bit with a dozen close friends. It's a really good way to unwind and truly celebrate being married without pleasing a hundred some guests.

e: Also, if you really are like my fiance, you have a big ego. If she is like me, she is STUBBORN. Check that at the door. You're probably not a good dancer either... do her a solid... this could actually double as your makeshift counseling: take dance lessons with her. I would LOVE to take dance lessons with my man, but he has such a HUGE EGO and doesn't want to bruise it doing something new in public's eye. Take her out for dance lessons and a nice wine bar after, or scratch the wine bar and go to a dive bar... whatever it is, it will bring you two closer together in ways that counseling can't, and it will help you feel more comfortable for your "first dance". (We are from Jersey... I am graced with a husband who "fist-pumps")

miseerin fucked around with this message at 19:18 on Jul 13, 2012

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Clevername Lookhere
Jan 9, 2006
Wow, that's pretty hilarious that I'm so alike with a couple fiances here so far. I'm actually really enjoying this thread (and thanks for the responses so far!) - it's good perspective and a reminder that we aren't the only people with our "unique" viewpoints and issues in getting our planning going!

Miseerin, that's a good point about guest list management - some of them will just fall out naturally, whether they have conflicts and can't make it, don't want to deal with bringing their kids to whatever festivities we end up coming up with, etc. I'm sure that will help keep things a little more manageable too.

I really like your reception / after-party idea too, that's actually one option we discussed last night...some way to have a smaller intimate party as the official part (thus saving money on everything that goes along with that) but then getting a bigger group together for some part that day as well. That way we can celebrate with all our friends in town who otherwise wouldn't make the cut, but still do something special for our closest family/friends. Plus doing it all at once gets rid of any hassle of a celebration on a different day, or some kind of non-wedding day party that everybody would feel left out of the real thing or be put off by, etc.

As far as I can tell I don't have a big ego though :) But your dance lessons idea is a cool one - we are both pretty bad and awkward dancers but have fun with it when we get a few drinks in us. Pretty sure we aren't going to do an official first dance where it's just us two in front of everyone, but maybe that would give us more confidence to give that a shot after all or at least be a fun shared activity to do and get our minds off the day to day crap in the runup to the wedding. Or even starting any new activity for that reason would be a cool idea.

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