Wedding and money horror stories
Photo by Flickr’s dkcameoPersonal finance guru Michelle Singletary wryly noted in her Washington Post column last week that wedding season can often bring family and money together with disastrous results. In fact, aren’t there cardinal rules about that, akin to don’t talk religion or politics at the dinner table? Something along the lines of don’t mix business with family or friends? There should be. Anyway, she pulled together just a few horrific stories.
Another egregious money story started in a Las Vegas wedding chapel. The bride and groom decided to go it alone and didn’t invite any guests. Then the bride’s cousin decided to get married. A friend of the cousin was throwing her a bridal shower. So how did the bride who had no guests at her wedding respond? Since she never had a bridal shower, she suggested that everyone at her cousin’s shower bring a gift for her, too.
Wow! That woman had some serious balls, asking people to bring a second gift for her to someone else’s bridal shower. I think, in a case like that, I would have said no. What’s the lady going to do? Not invite me to her wedding? Oh, wait, she already did that!
During a reception, four members of the groom’s family decided to order a dish that was different from what other guests were eating. This was not for any religious or health reasons. They just didn’t like what was being served. So these rogue guests bullied the waiter into bringing them ahi tuna entrees. The bride’s dad got stuck with the tab — in addition to having to pay for the meals the pushy guests didn’t eat.
Wow. Not only did they not eat the dinner served, they made the waiter bring them ahi tuna — often one of the most expensive dinners you can get at a restaurant, never mind a hotel catering kitchen. Obviously, this is just plain rude. If you don’t like the food, don’t eat it and just make plans to go somewhere else for a late dinner! Sheesh. Talk about no class.
Usually, the easiest way to avoid these kinds of money-grubbing stunts is to pay for everything yourself. That way, if you don’t want to listen to your mom or your aunt or your mother-in-law-to-be tell you how this photographer is the greatest and that florist is just to die for, you don’t have to. Easy. Yeah, I know, easier said than done.
Trial Wedding by wildfire
This is a small tidbit, that really has nothing to do with decorating weddings. It was a great read I found on LA Observed this afternoon — freelance writer Adam Baer blogged how his wedding plans literally went up in smoke because of the California Wildfires. That was some bad luck, lemme tell ya — not only did the city where he was to be married go up in flames, he sliced his wedding figure in three places and had to go to the hospital.
It’s just an interesting story in how one couple had to abandon their probably long-standing plans and get flexible thanks to something they couldn’t control. It makes me wonder how flexible most brides are when it comes to their wedding day — many brides dream and dream about their wedding, spending thousands one that one day.
It sounds like Adam Baer’s bride Lina rolled with the punches though:
Then it was just a matter of calling the officiant, Judge Fried, and our photog Michael, and asking them to stay tuned for some more info. I decided we would have to leave Malibu despite Lina’s despair about the death of our beach wedding plans. Maybe we could have a wedding at a scenic outpost on Mulholland Drive, I posited aloud. Maybe we can use a beach in Santa Monica. Quickly, Judge Fried got back to us and offered some amazing news: His private Hollywood Hills tennis club –a historic spot serving recently as the site of ironic-prepster celeb parties–would let him let us use their skyline veranda with the best views in the city.
It was a good thing they left Malibu that day — nothing puts a damper on a wedding like guests in face masks and the bride and groom hacking on ashes as they try to say their vows.
And it sounds like everything turned out as it should anyway. They got married, it was pretty, and everyone has a great story. Talk about a happy ending.
I would imagine, with the growing frequency of these wildfires, that more and more weddings are being disrupted the same way. Not only Adam Baer, but also myself (decorating for my buddy Moonie, not my own wedding), plus at least one other couple, judging from this video I cut from work. Anyone else know how many others have been affected?
