Thank You’s

Your wedding is a very important time for you.  Of course, it is also one of the most costly events that will happen in your life as well.

Therefore, a big old thank you is appropriate for everyone that does anything for your wedding, little or small, to make it a memorable one.

The list goes on and on and while most people will say that they just want you to be happy, you should provide them all with appreciation in one form or another for what they are doing for you.  This goes doubly for parents that are paying for the wedding (and all your desires and quirks!)

There are several important things to remember when it comes to saying thanks.  You should be giving these throughout the next year or so in big ways to those that help you through this very stressful time.

Destination Wedding Etiquette

Destination weddings are very popular.  In fact, in some ways, etiquette rules have not yet caught up to the destination theme at all!  Yet, when it comes to this type of wedding style, you really do have a lot to think about before you go off to get married.

Destination weddings are weddings in which you will travel to a location other than any place near to you, to be married.  These weddings are common in resorts and other fabulous places.  Yet, although they are so popular, that does not mean that they are the best choice for everyone, especially those with a large family that is expecting a large celebration of the wedding.

While the ultimate decision about a destination wedding is all up to you, it is common practice to insure that the wedding satisfies everyone’s needs.  Here are some basic tips that we will expand on later.

Wedding Tipping

Wedding etiquette is just like any other type of etiquette when it comes to tipping. If you are given a service, it is essential that you provide a tip to the person that is providing it to you.

Tipping is a way of thanking an individual for a job well done. Therefore, if they do not do a good job or there is some large problem that is not able to be rectified, the tip should be lessened or not provided. But, remember that this is the source of income for the service provider.

So, who do you tip and who is supposed to tip them? Here are some general rules to help you to decide what the right way to handle payment in the form of tips is.

Wedding Gifts

Wedding gifts are confusing.  How much should be spent?  Who should buy a gift for the couple?  What should be done when the couple already has what they need to start their lives? 

There are plenty of things to wonder about, but wedding etiquette dictates what you should and should not do when it comes to wedding gifts.

Whether you are on the receiving side or the giving side, it is essential that this touchy situation gets handled appropriately. 

When Gifts Are Given
Wedding gifts are given at various times during the course of the wedding planning and ceremonies.  If you are giving the gift, you should know when it is appropriate to give a gift to the bride and groom at each of these times.

• The engagement party- if there is an engagement party, small tokens can be given to the bride and the groom.  Certainly a card is encouraged, but it is not necessary to go overboard with gifts here.  Since this party is reserved for just the most intimate of guests, this can be handled individually as well.
• The wedding shower- The most common time to give a gift is at the wedding shower.  We will get more into details about the wedding shower in just a minute.  For the most part, you should only attend the shower if you are bringing a gift or something sentimental for the couple. 
• The wedding- If you attend the wedding shower, you do not need to provide another gift for the wedding.  But, it is customary to provide a monetary gift to the bride and groom at the wedding, to help them to pay for the wedding and to start off their life together.  

Who Is Paying?

Who is footing the bill for a wedding is generally a hot topic among brides, grooms and their parents. While traditionally speaking the bride’s parents are to pay for the wedding, this is generally falling by the wayside as couples pay their own way.

The wedding budget is something that simply must be worked out well before the wedding plans are underway. In fact, those that are likely to be paying for the wedding, including the parents of the bride and groom, should sit down and have a frank discussion about what their expectations and abilities are.

The budget can be a direct amount or can be broken down line by line. In either case, the goal is to provide the couple with guidelines to know just how much is expected to be paid by who throughout the course of the wedding.

Once you set the date, set a date to talk money. It is the most essential thing to do to insure that everyone is on the right track.

Where etiquette is concerned, though, there are some guidelines that should be followed. Yet, you may be surprised to find that the father of the bride is not the only person that is to be paying for the wedding. In fact, it now includes the groom’s family and the couple themselves!

Invitations And Announcements

Wedding etiquette is essential when it comes to letting the world know about your new upcoming marriage and the invitations that you send to your guests.  Getting this right really does set the stage for what your guests will think and feel about you for the next months.

Wedding Invitation Design
One of the first things to determine is how the wedding invitation will be set up.  Whose name goes first?  What happens when things are more than just a simple wedding?  The fact is that there are many questions that come up with the wedding invitation design. 

First, here are a few etiquette friendly methods of writing an invitation:

• Start with the sponsor or the bride’s parents names.  “Mr. and Mrs. Bob Smith” should be the beginning of the invitations.
• Follow this with, “ request the honor of your presence at the marriage of their daughter”
• Next, include the first names of the bride and the groom, “ Ann Marie to Mr. Adam Jones”
• Follow this with the date and time of the wedding followed by the location.

The Wedding Shower

The wedding shower is a very important part of the entire wedding planning session.  Wedding etiquette has some pretty strong advice for those that are having one as well.

There are several key elements to remember here.

• You do not want to sound like you are having a shower to get gifts.
• You do not want to throw your own shower as a method of getting funds either.
• You do want to celebrate your engagement and upcoming life together.

So, how do we do it?
There are several ways to look at wedding shower etiquette.  Let’s break it down here.

Who's doing what?

The first thing that needs to be figured out is who will be handling what aspects of your wedding day.

This is often a difficult situation because people will go one of two ways. 

• They may want to do anything and everything for you. They may want to pay for everything, spoil you rotten and make sure that everything is perfect for you.  They often want a controlling hand in the wedding planning to go along with this, though.
• They may instead want to play a minimal role in your wedding, making sure that you pay for and lead the way in your wedding decisions.

Of course, you are looking for the happy medium here.  To make sure that this happens, the first thing that you need to do is to get together those that will play a large role in your wedding celebration and planning including those that do want to play a role and those that are close family.

Why Etiquette Is Essential

It’s your wedding, do it your way and forget about the rest, right? If you plan to make a few people unhappy and quite a few more wondering where your manners are, then that is the way to go.

Although we do not want to think or talk about it, wedding etiquette is essential. At this very important time in your life, you want everyone to know who you are and what kind
of life you are planning to live. The way that you present yourself here is the way they will see you as a couple.

Even if you do not care much about what they do and think, it is still essential for you to find a way to make them feel welcome into your life.

Wedding Etiquette: The Basics

People these days are thinking, does WEDDING ETIQUETTE still exist in our age wherein every rule that anybody can think of could be bent? In this rule defying age, it seems that WEDDING ETIQUETTE is just a thing of the past. But is WEDDING ETIQUETTE really now just part of history? I don't think so. And maybe even you and the rest of the population don't think so, too.

Every culture has WEDDING ETIQUETTE. Even if we think those who live in far flung areas are barbaric and do not know a thing about WEDDING ETIQUETTE, they have their own sets of rules and etiquette to follow. Their WEDDING ETIQUETTE may not be as proper as we think ours is, but for them their WEDDING ETIQUETTE is the proper WEDDING ETIQUETTE.

The WEDDING ETIQUETTE that we have come to know dates back from the 1800, at the time of the Victorians. Victorians are well educated, intelligent and well mannered. They value social manners and behavior. This is the reason why lots of social and WEDDING ETIQUETTE books had been published during the Victorian era.

The social and WEDDING ETIQUETTE practices of the Victorians has been passed on to us and became the basic WEDDING ETIQUETTE of the westerners. These Victorian WEDDING ETIQUETTE has been modified or bent to suit our current culture and lifestyle.

What are the basics of WEDDING ETIQUETTE? Should we follow every rule in Emily Post's famous WEDDING ETIQUETTE book?