Cat fight.

If you didn't read the last post about the guest that attended a wedding and got called out by the Bride for giving a so-called "bad gift," you might want to do that here before I go into a tangent.

I had my say on the situation in the previous blog post, and also chatted about it with many friends and family - my opinion stayed the same...until now. The other day I read another article that displayed the text and email conversations between the guest and the Bride and to say I was disgusted is an understatement.

This situation was and is nothing more than a glorified cat fight.

Both parties are at fault. Both are trying to school the other on how to behave, react and treat others. I'm a big believer of "treat others the way you want to be treated", as well as "what we don't know won't hurt us."
Neither the guest or the Bride treated one another with respect, and at times I felt the conversations between the two aired on the side of bullying. To tell someone that they were the talk of your wedding and should be embarrassed that they were talked about and laughed at is a) not nice to tell someone, and b) not nice to do. Why on earth would you be so immature at your own wedding and so disrespectful to another is beyond me. It was a wedding and not a high school prom, right?

The fact that both of them took jabs at one another was hard to read. Weddings are to be a joyous occasion and bring people together, not tear them apart. Clearly, these girls shouldn't be friends, and that is how I would have handled the entire situation. If I was the guest and got that initial text, I would have thanked her for her opinion and then cut her out of my life. No one needs to be judged or made to feel bad for a decision they made with good intentions. But on the other hand, no one likes to be schooled about how to behave after the behavior has been executed, and both the guest and the Bride did that. Keep your comments to yourself, be gracious and be thankful. If you want to make fun of the gift choice to your new husband or wife, do that behind closed doors. Have a chuckle and leave it at that.
If you get scolded by a bride or groom for your gift choice, then make note of the type of personality trait they are showing (selfish, ungrateful, etc) and consider a friendship lost - don't go telling all of your friends and the local newspaper of their lack of tact because it just shows that you don't have much either.

So folks, at the end of this rant, I'd like to say tisk tisk to both the guest and the Bride. I'm tired of hearing about it, and reading about it, aren't you? Let's just drop this topic and call it what it is....a cat fight.

The First Look

Most Brides see their Groom for the first time on their wedding day as they walked down the aisle, but now that's not always the case. Many couples are choosing to have a "First Look" to ease their nerves and spend more time together on their big day.

Sometimes the Bride wants to keep the tradition alive of her future hubby not seeing her until she's escorted down the aisle so she asks her Groom to face his back to her so she can simply touch him and talk to him without him seeing her, or sometimes the Groom gets blindfolded.

Past clients of ours, Leigh and Derek met in the hallway of the hotel they were getting ready at prior to their ceremony to hold hands and exchange gifts. They didn't look at one another, but being able to connect before they said "I do" helped these two connect and feel at ease.

A lot of couples are choosing to have their photos done prior to the ceremony as well. This allows for more time as time is usually somewhat limited between the ceremony and reception. Also, this enables the everyone, especially the Bride to have a fresh look as their make-up was recently applied and they likely haven't shed many tears yet.

First Looks have become more popular and more acceptable the past few years. I think they are a great idea if time allows. But, if you do stick to tradition and wait to see your Groom until you walk down the aisle, check out this slide show that has some things Grooms thought/felt when they saw their Bride for the first time.
Are you planning on having a First Look?