Category Archive

Friends & Family Advice

Whether it’s your mom pressuring you to lose weight or not inviting family to your wedding or how to fire a bridesmaid… this is our archive of how to handle wedding planning drama with friends and family. Be sure to check out our archive of copy ‘n’ paste conflict resolution posts, too!

Unwanted wedding guests: We don't want a sexual predator at our wedding

Unwanted wedding guests: We don’t want a sexual predator at our wedding

We found out recently that one of our creepy old friends sexually assaulted someone. Needless to say, he is NOT invited to our wedding… any more. The problem here is that we sent our save-the-dates six weeks before we found out. How do we ensure that this predator doesn’t show up at our wedding? Do we have to explicitly tell him that he isn’t invited anymore, or do we casually “forget” to send out his invitation? What if he shows up anyway?

Is my slacker wedding party dropping the ball?

Are my slacker bridesmaids dropping the ball or is it me?

I am feeling overwhelmed, angry, sad, and just not looking forward to my wedding. It has been nothing but pulling teeth for me to get literally everyone to do their part. I have gotten our parents and my fiancé to understand that they need to do their part, but my bridesmaids have been twiddling their thumbs.

Have I not been stressing the importance of these little things? How do I tell people I want them more active and to do their job without being a bridezilla?

Registry poems are a thing in the UK and Australia and they're kind of genius

Registry poems are a thing in the UK and Australia and they’re kind of genius

Registry etiquette is ALWAYS a touchy subject. But one discussion we want to introduce to the recently engaged is the concept of registry poems, popularized in countries like the UK and Australia.

Registries aren’t as common there, but accepting cash gifts is, often requested in the form of registry poems (or wishing well poems). For Americans (and others) who may not know, these are literally fun little poems asking for money contributions to help with the wedding or honeymoon or just starting out their lives together.

160625 Howard 312 alternative wedding ideas from Offbeat Wed (formerly Offbeat Bride)

De-stressing wedding planning by changing my wedding party expectations

There are a number of wedding traditions that soon translate into serious expectations for family and the wedding party. Family members and the wedding party are expected to step up and donate time, energy, and most importantly–money, to help the new couple launch their lives together. Here’s how I de-stressed my wedding planning by changing my wedding party expectations…

copy and paste thank you notes alternative wedding ideas from Offbeat Wed (formerly Offbeat Bride)

Copy and paste wedding Thank You note templates (with real registry items) to help get you started

More-often-than-not Thank You card-writing is seen as a tedious task. And not everyone is good at writing out their feels. So I thought I’d help you cheat a little with some Thank You card prompts. (Illustrated with the real gifts from our registry.) So feel free to copy and paste these Thank Yous, and add any of these items to your registry, then make them all your own…

My circus, my monkeys: our "fun" in dysfunctional wedding

My circus, my monkeys: our wedding put the “fun” in dysfunctional

Both our families are slightly unconventional, to say the least. We decided that our families put the “fun” in dysfunctional, and wanted to create a wedding day that was full of festivities to match our family’s strange dynamics. We are proud of the little family that we have, so we decided to put on a carnival-themed wedding to honor our dysfunction. Here’s how we did it…