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!

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There is no such thing as a DIY wedding

When we first got engaged, we had several long discussions about whether or not to elope and avoid the party aspect altogether. We finally decided to go ahead and throw a small party, but with one overarching principle: We were going to do the whole thing ourselves. But the flaw in our DIY system, I found, was the “Y.”

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Did you buy your parents a gift if they didn’t help contribute to the wedding?

For those who financed their weddings themselves (AKA no parental financial help, or help from anyone other than you and your beloved), how did you go about gift-getting for your parents? Did you even give gifts to your parents? If so, was it something sentimental, bought, or otherwise?

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I thought I was friendless: how my wedding put social anxieties into perspective

I’ve always thought of myself as pretty unsociable. While my husband is Mr. Sociable. In fact, my initial vision for the wedding was a very small gathering — the two of us, our parents and brothers, a total of 11 people. Obviously this was never going to fit with my other half’s plans and we ended up having about 100 people there. This was the cause of enormous and paralyzing anxiety to me in the run-up to the wedding day.

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Not being given away: how I skipped the aisle-walking drama

For some women, walking down the aisle with their father (or fathers!) can be a really beautiful way to honor the role that relationship has played.

For me, despite the fact that I’m a total daddy’s girl, it wasn’t a tradition that felt like a fit with my ceremony.