Category Archive

family

This couple traveled to Nashville to elope at the totality of the solar eclipse

Should we invite our high-drama family to our at-home elopement?

So here’s my dilemma: if we invite my parents to our ceremony, they’ll gripe and stress us both out with their negativity. There are times when my fiance wants to invite his sister and her family (husband and two kids), but if you invite them, you have to invite my parents, too. It could all be avoided if our celebration was just with the two of us. However, since we’re eloping in our backyard, they’ll definitely be angry about not being invited when they see the photos. How do we handle this?

I'm nonbinary with an non-accepting family: should I be in my sister's wedding?

Should I be a nonbinary bridesmaid in my sister’s wedding?

My sister has asked me to a bridesmaid. I’m deeply estranged from the majority of my extended relatives. She’s turning this wedding into a family reunion (300+ guests). I thought I had enough to worry about with being nonbinary and potentially needing to deal with gender dysphoria on the day, but many of these relatives are horrendously bigoted as well. Part of me wants to say fuck it and be outrageously myself as a nonbinary bridesmaid… but my anxious self fears for my safety. I’m not out to everyone.Should I ask to be demoted from bridesmaid to “regular guest” status so I can have full choice over what I wear?

Elopement compromise: I want to elope, but my family really wants me to have a ceremony. How can we compromise?

I want to elope, but my family really wants me to have a ceremony. How can we compromise?

My fiance and I agree that a traditional, in-front-of-everyone-we-love wedding ceremony is not a necessary piece of our marriage story. It holds no meaning for us, and for me it would be far more anxiety-inducing than romantic. We are both content to throw it out, elope, and host a reception to celebrate our loved ones […]

What I learned from wedding planning during crisis situations

What I learned from wedding planning during a medical crisis (spoiler: communication is key!)

Planning a wedding can be stressful on its own, but how do you get through it when a major life event is also going on? This is what I had to figure out when, four months before our wedding, we found out that my three-year-old nephew received a very serious and potentially fatal diagnosis. Here’s what I learned from it that could help you in a similar situation…

My circus, my monkeys: our "fun" in dysfunctional wedding

My circus, my monkeys: our wedding put the “fun” in dysfunctional

Both our families are slightly unconventional, to say the least. We decided that our families put the “fun” in dysfunctional, and wanted to create a wedding day that was full of festivities to match our family’s strange dynamics. We are proud of the little family that we have, so we decided to put on a carnival-themed wedding to honor our dysfunction. Here’s how we did it…

Wedding charity drama: mom won't come because she hates our choice

Wedding charity drama: mom won’t come because she hates our choice of charity

My partner and I have a wedding website that allows for automatic charity donations. We chose Planned Parenthood and now my partner’s mother won’t come to the wedding. We’ve already changed the charity on the site and tried to explain our choice, but to no avail. I can’t imagine the wedding without her. Any ideas on getting back in her good graces?