Last week I read an article by a woman who had been married 2 weeks after the historic Charles and Di wedding. Here is what she had to say about it:
"I had the misfortune of getting married two weeks after the wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana. My wedding was always being compared to the fairytale wedding and beautiful bride. No one spoke of my dress as they couldn't stop talking about Lady Diana and how beautiful she was. If people only knew what a bummer that was to an already stressed out bride!
During my ceremony the preacher stated,
"We know this can't be as beautiful a site as the wedding of the royals, but the love is still there!"
Oh, isn't THAT special!
Gosh, they just became engaged a few months ago (I guess they don't have to worry too much about booking venues and availability!) I wonder how many weddings were already booked for the 29th, as well as the 30th and the couple of weeks after. I wonder how many brides found out that "their day" was going to be shared with William and Kate, long after they could do anything about it?
This all reminds me of when my oldest daughter was born, in a goofy kinda way. I had always planned if I had daughters, to name them after the sisters in Little Women (I know, you probably don't even know what I'm talking about, right? They were Jo, Amy, Meg and Beth.) Incidentally, I managed to work in three of the four by naming my oldest daughter Amy ElizaBETH and my youngest Megan (although Meg in the book was actually a Margaret), but that's another post. Anyway, Amy was born in April of 1976, just days before Jimmy Carter rocketed to the forefront of the 1976 presidential campaign--and what was his daughter's name? You got it--Amy!
All of a sudden Amy became HUGELY popular! EVERYBODY was naming their baby Amy, and worse than that, whenever anyone asked me her name and I told them, they would say "Oh, I'll bet you named her after Jimmy Carter's daughter!" Aaaaaaaaaarrrrrrgh!!!! Amy was probably the most popular girl's name of 1976 because of it, and all through school Amy had bunches of other Amys in her class at school. Bummer!
I suppose that brides for the next several months are going to have to endure a similar comparison. While in a way it's exciting to be marrying at the same time as the Royals, it's also a little deflating to couples who thought that "their day" was going to be theirs alone.
Here at Aberdeen, we make a special effort to make every bride feel that she is our ONLY bride. We work hard at it ALL the time, and this week as well as in the weeks and months to come, I am going to make an extra special effort NOT to bring up a discussion of this affair on the other side of the world to any of our brides. Their day is still going to be theirs alone at Aberdeen and THEIR wedding is always going to be the Wedding of the Year.
We all need to be sensitive about our enthusiasm for this royal wedding, and remember that some folks, particularly brides, might not share our excitement about it!
I hope that everyone will join me in making our brides, and ALL brides, a Princess for the day and insuring that their day is still theirs alone!
(P.S. Of course, I will still be getting up at 3 a.m. to watch the coverage! :)
Showing posts with label etiquette. Show all posts
Showing posts with label etiquette. Show all posts
Sunday, April 24, 2011
Thursday, March 17, 2011
TIMING IS EVERYTHING!
Reading through my emails this morning, I received Colin Cowie's most recent "Wedding Notes" and I wanted to share it with you because it is so near and dear to my heart.
Colin is so dead on with this article! Timing is SOOOOO important! I love what he says about how we have all been to weddings where the ceremony starts 25 minutes late, the cocktail hour drags on and on (usually because the photographer has delayed the couple with pictures) dinner is delayed or takes FOREVER to serve. We have folks come in on a regular basis, expecting that this is just the "norm" for a wedding. Not so at Aberdeen. We work really hard to keep things on track, make sure that everything starts when it is supposed to start and ends when it's supposed to end. This is what makes for an enjoyable wedding and reception! The flow of the party is so important, and as Colin says, you don't want your guests to start looking at their watches! That's the kiss of death for a party, because usually, as soon as they start looking at their watches, their next move is to look for their car keys!
I'm always surprised by the people that come in 10, 15, even 20 minutes late for a ceremony! They always seem to look at me with this puzzled expression on their faces that says "Gosh, they started on time? Amazing!" I guess that they are so used to ceremonies being late that these folks just add 15 minutes to the time on the invitation automatically!
My feeling on this is that if you say 5 o'clock, you should start at 5 o'clock. It's not fair to your guests who ARE on time to make them sit and wait. More important, if your ceremony runs late, it's going to make everything else start to run late because it will short you on time for your pictures etc. It's a domino effect, and it's really hard to recover, once that first domino--the ceremony time--is tipped!
Good timing is something that Aberdeen Manor has become known for. You have myself or my daughter Megan, there to make sure that everyone is on track and on schedule. We keep the party moving, we serve your dinner in a timely manner, and if your photographer is dragging out the photos and delaying you, we aren't afraid to tell the photographer, nicely but firmly, that they need to wrap it up so that we can move along. Incidentally, this is another reason why using a photographer from our Favorites List is so helpful, to you and us as well. The photographers on our list KNOW that we keep things on time, and they are great at making everything fit together, getting the photos taken, and keeping everything on time. One of our photographers, plus Transaudio as your DJ and you have a golden combination that is going to help to keep your special day running smoothly, and your guests happy and excited about your day.
Remember, the day may be about the two of you, but it is also about your guests. The thoughtful couple wants their guests to have the time of their lives, as well as themselves. There is nothing better after your wedding, than having one of your guests tell you, even years later, that YOUR wedding was the BEST wedding they ever attended!
Timing IS everything!
Happy Weddings!
Colin is so dead on with this article! Timing is SOOOOO important! I love what he says about how we have all been to weddings where the ceremony starts 25 minutes late, the cocktail hour drags on and on (usually because the photographer has delayed the couple with pictures) dinner is delayed or takes FOREVER to serve. We have folks come in on a regular basis, expecting that this is just the "norm" for a wedding. Not so at Aberdeen. We work really hard to keep things on track, make sure that everything starts when it is supposed to start and ends when it's supposed to end. This is what makes for an enjoyable wedding and reception! The flow of the party is so important, and as Colin says, you don't want your guests to start looking at their watches! That's the kiss of death for a party, because usually, as soon as they start looking at their watches, their next move is to look for their car keys!
I'm always surprised by the people that come in 10, 15, even 20 minutes late for a ceremony! They always seem to look at me with this puzzled expression on their faces that says "Gosh, they started on time? Amazing!" I guess that they are so used to ceremonies being late that these folks just add 15 minutes to the time on the invitation automatically!
My feeling on this is that if you say 5 o'clock, you should start at 5 o'clock. It's not fair to your guests who ARE on time to make them sit and wait. More important, if your ceremony runs late, it's going to make everything else start to run late because it will short you on time for your pictures etc. It's a domino effect, and it's really hard to recover, once that first domino--the ceremony time--is tipped!
Good timing is something that Aberdeen Manor has become known for. You have myself or my daughter Megan, there to make sure that everyone is on track and on schedule. We keep the party moving, we serve your dinner in a timely manner, and if your photographer is dragging out the photos and delaying you, we aren't afraid to tell the photographer, nicely but firmly, that they need to wrap it up so that we can move along. Incidentally, this is another reason why using a photographer from our Favorites List is so helpful, to you and us as well. The photographers on our list KNOW that we keep things on time, and they are great at making everything fit together, getting the photos taken, and keeping everything on time. One of our photographers, plus Transaudio as your DJ and you have a golden combination that is going to help to keep your special day running smoothly, and your guests happy and excited about your day.
Remember, the day may be about the two of you, but it is also about your guests. The thoughtful couple wants their guests to have the time of their lives, as well as themselves. There is nothing better after your wedding, than having one of your guests tell you, even years later, that YOUR wedding was the BEST wedding they ever attended!
Timing IS everything!
Happy Weddings!
Saturday, September 12, 2009
Showers and Thank yous
Today I am going to bring up a controversial topic. Thank you envelopes at showers.
At some showers, the hostess passes out the envelopes for the thank you notes to the guests, and then the guests are asked to address the envelopes to themselves, so that the honoree of the shower will write the thank you, put it in the already addressed envelope and mail it.
I've been at some showers where guests just kind of expected this, and at other showers where some of the guests were offended by it. There was even a guest at one shower who refused to do it.
I think that the theory for doing this is that the busy bride or new mom doesn't have the time to fill out the address for the envelope, so we need to help her out by addressing it for her.
I am tempted to weigh in on this now, but I would rather hear what everyone who reads this blog thinks about it first!
So let's hear it!
Where do you stand on this practice?
If you gave a shower for someone, is this something you would include?
Why or why not?
Any alternative ideas?
I will post my opinion about it next week. First I want to hear what everyone else thinks!
At some showers, the hostess passes out the envelopes for the thank you notes to the guests, and then the guests are asked to address the envelopes to themselves, so that the honoree of the shower will write the thank you, put it in the already addressed envelope and mail it.
I've been at some showers where guests just kind of expected this, and at other showers where some of the guests were offended by it. There was even a guest at one shower who refused to do it.
I think that the theory for doing this is that the busy bride or new mom doesn't have the time to fill out the address for the envelope, so we need to help her out by addressing it for her.
I am tempted to weigh in on this now, but I would rather hear what everyone who reads this blog thinks about it first!
So let's hear it!
Where do you stand on this practice?
If you gave a shower for someone, is this something you would include?
Why or why not?
Any alternative ideas?
I will post my opinion about it next week. First I want to hear what everyone else thinks!
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