It wouldn't be fair of me to list the various twists and turns, etiquette contretemps, family negotiations, etc that have taken place about this wedding, because, well, because I love my friends and family and wouldn't want to state anything publicly.

Wait, what am I saying? I'm not stating anything because of COURSE, everything has gone absolutely splendidly and there's nothing at all to tell. . .

On the other hand, in discussing my oh-so-perfect cohorts and experiences to friends who are currently planning weddings, I have gathered a few good stories to share.

• My friend Julie's invitations were just mailed to all her guests, including the phone number for the resort where everyone is to make a reservation for the destination wedding. This morning the phone rang very early -- it was a call from her fiance's 92 year old aunt. When the aunt had called the number on the invitation . . . she had been answered by a phone sex line. Really. I'm not making this up. The invitation had two transposed digits and it goes to a phone sex line.
• Another woman told me the story of how she and her fiance decided together that they wanted a smaller wedding with under 100 people. Every discussion with her parents-in-law became an issue since they were having to curtail the size of their guest list. Finally her mother-in-law-to-be said exasperatedly, "Remind me why we're having a small wedding again?" The Freudian-ness of the mother not being able to distinguish between her son's wedding to another woman and her own wedding still has her telling the story.
• Julie again: She just received an e-mail from the only one of her father's cousins whom she had invited. This particular cousin and her kids were the family with whom the bride had vacationed every summer for years; on the other hand, she didn't know any of her father's other cousins and so hadn't invited them. The e-mail read: "Dear Julie -- My sister hasn't received her invitation yet, so it ocurred to us that you might have her old address. This is her new address. . . " Julie was so stunned that someone else was maknig assumptions about who was invited to her wedding that she has yet to figure out how to respond.
• At the eleventh hour, just days before they had to hand in their measurements for a custom made bolero jacket, two bridesmaids sent one bride a joint e-mail announcing that they were sorry but the dress she'd chosen for them simply wouldn't do. They couldn't possibly wear it, and that they were instead looking for other options in similar colors. No discussion, no polite question of "is there any other way we can work this?" or my personal suggestion of "I'm so sorry, but perhaps we shouldn't be in the wedding since this dress is a tough one on our figures." The bride was restrained and her only dig was to point out that had they bothered to tell her this earlier, then they could have saved the other bridesmaids the hassle of paying for the dress already, but given that it was so late in the game it was ok for them to wear a different dress in the same color.
  

posted by Karen @ 2:31 PM