Loud music at receptions: A real pet peeve for a friend of ours. When his S was married, this FOG told the DJ that there was an inverse relationship to the decibels and his tip. As the night progressed, the music grew louder, to the point that many of the older guests, left for the lobby. Irate FOG personally went and turned volume down and said if it went up at all…he would pull the plug. And this guy does not kid around. There was no tip, either.
Have already voiced this concern/request to my D & Fiance.
Congrats Dietz! - you should visit the 2016 Wedding Thread - there are lots of 2017 parents there too!
I used to be against no kids wedding. I didn’t understand why a wedding wouldn’t be a family event. Of course, I had well behaved kids who would have sat nicely for a wedding/reception and tended to stay with us rather than join any kid escapades!
Now I realize that - especially with all the alcohol - that teens can be fine and maybe even some school aged kids - but the 5 and under crowd that I so dearly love? - they will have more fun at home playing Candy Land and eating popcorn!!!
@soozievt - I agree that bride and groom’s nieces and nephews should be invited, but cousins’ children, friends’ children, etc. do not need (or probably want) to be there.
D was asked to be a flower girl at age 6 1/2 because the original flower girl’s parents refused to pay for the expensive dress chosen by the bride. Evidently D was the only other child about the right size. This was for a wedding of one of H’s cousins. We did say yes and D was the flower girl, loved every minute of it, and wore that dress for Halloween and when she and her friends played dress up. She and S were invited to the reception.
I went to a wedding recently where the groom and groomsmen dropped their pants for the last song of the evening. The remaining guests made a circle around the dance floor while the bride and groom danced to Piano Man by Billy Joel. Here’s a link explaining better than I can: http://csbsjurecord.com/2013/12/pants-off-to-tradition/ H, S, and SIL did not join in the ‘fun’.
@conmama - D had originally wanted both of us to walk her down the aisle. When we looked at the venue, we realized that the aisle, which had railings on both sides, would not be wide enough for three. Watching D walk down with H will always be a very special memory for me.
I went to a wedding many years ago that had plenty of weird and tacky things. One of weirdest was the wedding cake…it was a sheet cake completely covered in chocolate frosting. It was then decorated to match the ocean theme of the wedding, so it was airbrushed with blue and some frosting waves were added. Then at least 30 little plastic ocean-themed figurines like you would use on a child’s cake were added. We arrived at the reception early, and I mentioned the cake to one of the employees. He said he had been working at the venue for three years, and he had never seen any cake quite like it.
The wedding I went to the other night had several things I didn’t appreciate and wouldn’t pick for myself or my kids, but this bride really wanted them - a photo booth, a bubble machine, a DJ (who was a little too loud for me). She did the bouquet toss and of course it was caught by a 15 year old (didn’t mind that my daughter, who is too young to be married at 20 didn’t get it).
Some things are just age appropriate for the couple and may not be for others.
When my parents got married in the 50’s, people just put money into the groom’s pocket. My father had no idea how much until he counted it later. My friend had a silk purse at her wedding (a la the Godfather) and it was stuffed with money. I’ve been to weddings where they pin the money for the dance to the dress of the bride! (now that is tacky, but tradition in that culture).
A cousin had not only a pastel wedding, but with a southern belle theme, so big ruffled dresses with parasols in pink, blue, mint, lilac. Lovely. But she was 20- something and thought it was wonderful.
Re: both parents walking down the aisle- isn’t this what rehearsal is for? I had both of my parents walk me down and it was fine except one guest left her very large bag in the aisle and my dad stumbled over it.
I have another peeve, It’s assumed that a reception is going to be a full meal unless stated otherwise. If it’s not, that’s fine, but you really should include that on the invite. I just found out a few days ago that a wedding I’m going to in a few weeks is light snacks only. Again, it’s fine, but we had to find out by word of mouth and since we’re relatively detached from that family, we might not have heard at all- which would lead to a pretty grumpy stomach.
I actually like photo booths. You can do them or not, they’re usually just in the corner some where. I found some photos recently of my sister and I from 1974 and they are just great!
Maybe it’s just me, but I found it a little tacky that the bride (very upscale urban wedding) entered down a long staircase to a live song entitled with her first name. It did get one in the mood for all the theater that was to follow…
Oh, some of these are cringeworthy, some I think would be a blast to attend from a social anthropology point of view!
My husband was once the best man at a wedding-the bride asked me to serve punch. I said no. There were a lot of colorful words floating through my head that night, but I just smiled and nodded. And people got their own damn punch.
Call me a snob but I like real utensils and dishes for a wedding.
If you are having a very casual, picnic like wedding, that is one thing. But, if you are going to have a more formal function, I don’t want to eat with a plastic fork and knife on a paper plate while I’m all dressed up.
We went to a wedding of a coworker of my husband years ago. Both the bride and groom had 15 attendants each. They had one of those HUGE cakes with all the tiers and 5-6 plastic bridges leading to other tiers (tacky on its own IMO). Hardly any food and drink was served and what was served on paper and plastic. The room was crowded and overfilled and it was basically a food grab for what limited food there was. We hung out long enough to be polite then left and ate elsewhere.
I have the impression that weddings pre-1965 or so had to do with taking one’s new place in the social order, and after that it …wasn’t.
The thing I’ve really hated at weddings was videotaping. I’ve only been to one that was taped, back in the 80s, and the lighting was very distracting. And watching it later, those AWFUL interviews, as well as memory photos that made it unfortunately clear that the bride was not a natural blonde.
I hate getting a mass-produced wedding thank you note or grad note, “thanks for the monetary gift.” Bleech! We showed up and gifted what you requested and you can’t be bothered to write a short note via your own hands?
