“Apparently, the wedding photos look better when there aren’t a bunch of empty seats”
I would think any photographer worth their salt can handle that and still get plenty of good photos.
@sevmom - D1 is going to Israel this Sep for a wedding, India this Thanksgiving, Portugal next year, and few other ones, but this one is non-negotiable with the cousins (6 of them)… They are all showing up with their SOs no matter what. The only thing we ask is when and where. The future bride was concerned about her older brother and D1 may be pregnant or have a baby already. They all said they would be there one way or another.
How fun to travel to all those weddings, @oldfort! Are they destination weddings or are the folks getting married from those countries originally?
The one in India is home to the couple. Israel is home to the bride, and Portugal one is half way between the couple’s families. They also have one in London where the couple lives. I think nowadays people are so global that they travel for those important events. D1 turned one down in HI because they didn’t have enough notice.
@juniebug, I’m hoping your D’s wedding planner has her best interests in mind. A great picture for the wedding planners Instagram Isn’t the objective. In fact Instagram isn’t real life but a staged snippet of not real life
It gets hard. I had planned to go to friends son wedding end of September. I didn’t book flight, as trying to coordinate with others to rent a car and drive to the location (I can’t imagine driving in mountains.). G/f was having an engagement party the following day, and I shared my plans. Then I get an invitation to a shower from fiancées mom for same date. It is a restaurant meal, with 7 people. Last minute.
I went back and forth, but felt it was important to attend the shower. My g/f understood, as did the parents of the bride, whom I’ve gotten to know over the years.
I can’t imagine how tough it is for our 30 year olds, who get so many invitations
@bookworm driving through mountains is not fun. I have done it round trip 3x in the past 15 months from California to Iowa and back. This last time I was by myself for the coming home portion just before July 4th. That was even less fun.
Ya, when we went to Muir Woods, my sister drove. She’s used to mountains. The wedding I’ll be missing is in Colorado
@deb922 My husband thinks the same thing!
My H responded as all here suggested - clearly said the kids could come to the engagement party but would not be invited to the wedding. As a matter of fact, we’re rethinking whether we will invite H’s cousins to the wedding after all of this.
@juniebug, I’m glad the chair issue has been resolved. I can’t imagine not having enough seats for everyone during dinner and dancing. Cocktails, yes, but the rest of the evening should be comfortable for everyone without having to play musical chairs.
My kids, including the 34 year old, are still being invited to many weddings, near and far. Now that they have a baby it gets even more difficult to coordinate since they aren’t comfortable leaving him with random sitters. So, their schedule becomes my schedule (willingly, don’t get me wrong) as my H and I are their go-to sitters. They’ve been invited to one of my S’s best friend’s wedding in Maine (they are in NYC) over Labor Day weekend. Even though sitters are being provided, I think they’ll leave the little guy with us for the weekend so they can really enjoy themselves. Works for me and works for them!
It’s not just the 30 somethings getting invited to weddings. We are now invited to our friends’ kids weddings, and nieces and nephews. Last year, we had five weddings to attend. 2019 is a “year off” I guess. We already have info about two weddings in 2020…guessing that will be another big year of invites for us.
It’s really fun getting to share these times.
@runnersmom we invited DHs first cousins to DDs wedding, but we invited none of their kids. Don’t feel guilty.
Minor vent: DD is getting married in Southern California, by the beach, in March. It is a Saturday Brunch wedding, so not fancy. Her dress is beautiful. I guess the style would be described as kind of bohemian. Groom wants to wear a short-sleeved Hawaiian shirt. If he wants to be casual, I would prefer something like a long sleeved white linen shirt. Actually I would prefer maybe a navy blue suit, but a white linen shirt would be a compromise. I am mostly worried about how a Hawaiian shirt will photograph. But it is his wedding, so I guess he should be able to choose what he wants to wear?
Yes, yes, yes. His wedding, his choice.
Typical attire for a Hawaiian wedding and the photos look nice.
It is not difficult to drive in the mountains of Colorado, especially in the summer. Well, except for the insane amount of traffic on Fridays and Sundays. I think it is much harder to drive the winding roads of South Carolina or Pennsylvania if you aren’t familiar with them. Most of the ‘Mountain Weddings’ are not on the back roads and do not require a 4 wheel drive to get to them. They are at ski resorts or in mountain towns, right off the highway.
A question. I think D1 found the exact dress style she wants, only looking online, so far. We need to get to Boston to try it on.
But it’s a little out of her budget. (The dress was never a priority, the cermony and reception were.) I suggested she look for that style on other sites and she’s worried the quality of the inexpensive dresses will be poor. Either the fabric or the making.
Can some re-state what less pricey places worked for them? I know you have, but over so many pages. She’s got til Nov 2020 and doesn’t want to try on until this October. I’m seeing some dresses well under 1k that look great in pics, but are they well made? Some look gorgeous and are so low price that I do wonder. Thx.
I don’t know where you’re located or whether there may be a similar opportunity where you live but my DIL got her dress at a place in NYC called the Bridal Garden, I think. The dresses are overstock or runway samples and the prices are excellent (I think she paid around $1,200 for a dress that had only been worn on the runway.) Obviously, selection is limited but if they have what you want there are great deals. They don’t do alterations, to the best of my knowledge, but the prices are so good that women take their dresses elsewhere if they need something.
If her style is simple yet elegant, I can recommend a good designer. My D’s dress was from a Chicago designer, Alyssa Kristin Bridal. It was extremely well made & very reasonably priced. She was able to adjust the back, get a split size top & bottom, and make a couple other minor adjustments for just a small charge. Her dresses are available at select bridal shops.
She also tried on some really nice, less expensive dresses from Rebecca Schoneveld & Essence of Australia that seemed well made.
Thank you both. It seems Bridal Garden is closed and I love the AK and Essence styles. It seems more summery things are shown now. So we’ll have to see.
The dress she saw is a knockoff of Meghan Markle’s, that sleek minimalist look, but capped sleeves. I’m finding nothing like it. And it’s not that expensive, lol, under $1500. I think she had about $800 budgeted. She’s busty, so a lot of styles won’t work- like, I doubt a strapless.
My future DIL purchased a dress that was under $1000 by Mori Lee. They do have a Duchess inspired dress (with sleeves) but there is another similar style one with cap sleeves, style is called Marquesa, style # is 8179. At a boutique near me it’s retailing for $1045. A similar satin dress, sleeveless, is $837; style is called Maxine, style # is 5516. This one is part of Morilee’s Blu Bridal Collection.
I didn’t go dress shopping with my future DIL so I have not seen the dresses in person. If you go to the morilee website they have a location finder where they retail the dresses.