Category Archive

etiquette

Offbeat Wed is not anti-etiquette. Couples do indeed need to consider guest comfort when making decisions, and they absolutely are not off the hook for being responsible and accountable for people’s reactions to those decisions. Here are more of our offbeat thoughts on modern wedding etiquette…

sneak alcohol into a dry wedding alternative wedding ideas from Offbeat Wed (formerly Offbeat Bride)

Open thread: Is it disrespectful to sneak alcohol into a dry wedding?

“Recently I went to a cousin’s wedding. She used to party but has recently stopped drinking, and her wedding was dry — punch and water were the only beverages served. I respect her decision to throw the reception she wanted, however, my brother and I wanted to drink something with a little burn. Is it terrible to leave a wedding in a park, go to the liquor store nearby, and sneak back in with our well-hidden brown bag?”

B guest list alternative wedding ideas from Offbeat Wed (formerly Offbeat Bride)

You’re on standby: why I love being a B-list wedding guest

True story: I was recently a B-list attendee at a wedding, and it was awesome. I didn’t have any less fun because I was a last-minute addition — I just felt lucky to be there. Let me explain why…

alternative wedding ideas from Offbeat Wed (formerly Offbeat Bride)

5 things Miss Manners hates that I LOVE

I requested the Miss Manners wedding book (published in 2010 — a mere four years ago) this week from my local library. The dilemma of how to address invitations when many of our friends and relations are cohabitating without being married was confusing me, and I figured Miss Manners would have something to say on the topic. She does, of course. She also has thoughts on everything else to do with weddings. I disagree VEHEMENTLY with some of her opinions…

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Should I open and use these wedding gifts before my wedding?

We received our first registry gift (yay!) and the wedding is now two months away (eep!). The gift came wrapped, so we do not know exactly what it is, and we do know that the senders will not be able to attend the wedding. Is it okay to open the gift now, so we can write a thank-you note and send it out ASAP, or do we wait until the wedding to open it and send a thank-you? If we do open the gift early, is it bad form to start using it?

9210773489 132a6b7667 c alternative wedding ideas from Offbeat Wed (formerly Offbeat Bride)

Wedding tit for wedding tat: Am I obligated to invite someone to my wedding if they invited me to theirs?

I’m getting married this fall, and we’ve done our best to keep the guestlist under 100 people. Of course a smaller guestlist has meant making a lot of tough decisions about who not to invite, but them’s the breaks.

…Except for now I just got an invitation to an acquaintance inviting me to HER wedding! Needless to say, this is an acquaintance who I’m NOT inviting to our wedding… what do I do?

9422684153 2e32d29efd b alternative wedding ideas from Offbeat Wed (formerly Offbeat Bride)

I don’t know if someone got us a wedding gift… should I send a thank you card?

Now that the wedding is over, we have a list of 10 couples who came to the wedding, and did not give anything. It concerns me, because I am hoping that nothing got lost. I just don’t want to mess something up (etiquette wise). And I don’t want to ASK these people if they gave something, in case they didn’t. But the WORST would be not thanking them if they did give something but we just didn’t receive it. What do I do?