Unsolicited wedding advice: How to create a win/win situation
I recently read an article addressing the psychology behind unsolicited advice. The article focused on a research paper titled “Advice Giving: A Subtle Pathway to Power,” which confirms what most of us have likely suspected: unsolicited advice more for the benefit of the adviser than the advisee. So how can you work with this to make unsolicited advice less irritating, and more helpful?
Do I need to invite someone’s adult child to my microwedding?
My sister wants us to invite her boyfriend’s adult daughter to our wedding, even though we’ve never met her. Her family already accounts for five invitations for her household already.
We have worked so hard to keep our wedding small and intimate and quite frankly don’t want a stranger there. Are we being selfish?
How do we clearly communicate that we want NO wedding gifts?
When it comes to gift-giving, the general consensus among my peers is that you give what you can, if you wish. As far as we’re concerned, your presence is present enough — especially considering that we are a bunch of broke Millennials.
My extended family, however, hardcore-believes in tangible gifts. Some of them are sticklers for the traditional (and comfortably middle-class) notion of extensive and expensive gifts at shower, hen party, and wedding. It’s generous, but also uncomfortable, at odds with our values, and not always string-free. How can I discourage gifts at my wedding?
I bought a colored wedding dress and now everyone’s mad! What should I do?
I come from a family of strict traditionalists when it comes to everything, especially weddings. I recently bought a peach wedding dress with no sleeves and expressed I wanted light blue hair and Converse to go with it. As you can imagine, things didn’t go over well. When I try to stand up for my wedding choices, I’m shamed for it.
Please help!
Should we invite our high-drama family to our at-home elopement?
So here’s my dilemma: if we invite my parents to our ceremony, they’ll gripe and stress us both out with their negativity. There are times when my fiance wants to invite his sister and her family (husband and two kids), but if you invite them, you have to invite my parents, too. It could all be avoided if our celebration was just with the two of us. However, since we’re eloping in our backyard, they’ll definitely be angry about not being invited when they see the photos. How do we handle this?
Should I be a nonbinary bridesmaid in my sister’s wedding?
My sister has asked me to a bridesmaid. I’m deeply estranged from the majority of my extended relatives. She’s turning this wedding into a family reunion (300+ guests). I thought I had enough to worry about with being nonbinary and potentially needing to deal with gender dysphoria on the day, but many of these relatives are horrendously bigoted as well. Part of me wants to say fuck it and be outrageously myself as a nonbinary bridesmaid… but my anxious self fears for my safety. I’m not out to everyone.Should I ask to be demoted from bridesmaid to “regular guest” status so I can have full choice over what I wear?