Reality check: wedding planning isn’t SO bad
We have a tag archive here on Offbeat Bride called overcoming adversity, and it’s all about couples who’ve dealt with significant, serious challenges on the path to the altar. Now, I don’t mean challenges like, “My divorced parents don’t get along; how will I do the seating chart?” or “What if it rains?” Not to diminish the reality of these challenges, but they’re just on a different level than, say, “My mother is dying so we threw the wedding together in a month” or “my partner was attacked by a shark.”
In the name of perspective shifting and reality checks, let’s take a wander through some of our overcoming adversity posts… because there’s nothing like cancer, premature babies, peg legs, and tornadoes to help you get your seating chart woes in perspective.
Use Minglo to get wedding guests of all types to know each other
When we shared Ariel’s awesome Minglo party idea (mingling + bingo) over on Offbeat Home, Homie Marina told us she used this idea with great success at one of her wedding parties…
6 non-rules for tipping your wedding vendors
There’s so much conflicting information on the internet, it’s no wonder tipping wedding vendors can be such a perplexing topic to so many couples. To make matters worse, it’s a subject that usually doesn’t come to light until the end of the wedding planning process, after you’ve already shelled out a great deal of cash and suddenly realize you might be expected to give EVEN MORE?! And if you don’t — clearly you’re a bad human, your vendors will despise you and ALL. WILL. BE. RUINED! (Dun dun duuuun!)
Well, not exactly. But, the fact is, clients ask me all the time for guidelines on tipping wedding vendors because… wait for it… there are no rules.
Friends as wedding vendors pros and cons: What I learned from getting our photos for free
Shortly after my husband and I were engaged, we ran into an old family friend who I hadn’t seen in probably over a decade. We chatted for a bit, during which she enthusiastically offered to photograph our wedding for us free as a gift. I had to restrain myself from jumping down her throat with my “yes.” Photography is important to me and my family, but we had a relatively small total budget, and there was almost nothing in there for photos, so I figured this was perfect. It is now almost four months since my wedding, and I’m having some issues with my choice.
Here’s what I’ve learned from my experience with using friends as wedding vendors…