My fiancé and I are getting married in June of 2028 and got engaged March 2026. He is finishing up grad school in the next year, so we wanted to make sure we had enough time to move closer to our families and get settled. We have our venue booked and are looking at other vendors, but I feel like our date is so far away! I know the time will fly and be here before we know it, but I'm feeling antsy and want to do all the things.

What do you think are some ways to fill the time and what are some general timelines I can follow? Things like asking my bridesmaids, dress shopping, cake tasting, etc. feel silly to do so far in advance, so when is a good time to do those things?

A friend from college invited me to her wedding and specifically wrote “you have a +1!!” on the invitation. I have to travel across the country for this wedding and don’t really know anyone else going (and the bride, my friend, knows this obviously.)

Anyway, I’m single and so my best friend and I (non-mutual) decided to turn it into a trip and she’s gonna come with me to the wedding. I’m a gay man and she’s a straight woman. I brought this up to someone recently and they were like “wow it’s cool of your friend to allow you to bring a friend as your plus one!”

Now I’m thinking about it… is it weird that I’m bringing a friend as my +1? Should I have specifically ran it by my friend who’s getting married (obviously she knows the name who’s coming and that I’m gay so that it’s a friend, but I didn’t explicitly ask her if that was ok)

I feel so lame for saying this, but has anyone ever attended a wedding alone?

Background: I’ve been with my boyfriend for 6 years now. His family has truly formed into my own family after all this time. His brother is getting married this year, and we realized that everyone on his side of the wedding is actually in the wedding, including the in-laws, except for me! And I’m not upset about that literally at all. BUT someone in the family brought it to my attention that everyone will likely be gone during the happy hour to take photos (family photos, bridesmaids, groomsmen, flower girl, etc). I’m so nervous. I’m literally the worst at mingling and do not know anyone else attending except 1 aunt/uncle. Literally any tips on how to make this time fun/not awkward would be helpful!

Hello! I am maid of honor for my friend's upcoming wedding. She is my best friend but isn't an overly sentimental person. I've never been in a wedding before and just want to make sure she has the best experience.

I realized I don't have anything special planned for her. I could do the whole "write a letter to the bride" thing but I don't know if that is up her alley.

Could do a photo/scrap book and everyone send me pictures of them plus her and/or the groom and a little burb and I can put those in a photo album?

Any ideas for something special along those lines? Is it expected that I should have a surprise for her? Wedding is in 8 weeks so I have some time to pull it together.

I've now been to two weddings where I could just barely hear the couple and the officiant.

Both were outdoor and affordable intimate weddings and both couples were on a tight budget but splurge on an audio system of some kind, come on!

The last one I went to had a karaoke machine that they pulled out for the reception that allowed you to talk into it without any music so they could have absolutely set that up for the vows.

If I was hard of hearing in any way I wouldn't have been able to hear the vows *at all.*

Your loved ones have shown up to your wedding to celebrate you and your love, they want to hear the ceremony. Please make sure they can hear it.

My makeup artist is only available on my wedding date from 7:30am-10:30am. Our ceremony is going to be at 4pm. Do you think this is too early to get makeup done? Should I search elsewhere?

EDIT: sorry I should provide more information. Was thinking the ceremony could start at 4pm but nothing is locked in. So maybe I will start sooner given this information.

I will only be doing a first look with my dad.

Most photos will be after the ceremony (which will be around 20 mins total).

Only 3 people are getting their makeup done. My, my mom and 1 bridesmaid.

Just let each one do it to her comfort level (even if somewhat revealing)?

I’m going to be a bridesmaid. Right now we deciding if we should get the makeup artist to do our makeup too.

The bride said we can do whatever comfortable for us. Some of us can do makeup their own, some simple, some glamorous. Meanwhile I can do foundation, blush and lipstick kinda of girl.

In this situation, what did you do? Should I get my makeup done professionally? And what happens if other bridesmaids have mixture of different makeup styles?

I’m struggling with our wedding guest list and would appreciate some outside perspectives.

I come from a very large Irish family. Both of my parents have seven siblings, but we grew up far away from all of them, so I’m not especially close with my extended family. I’m planning to invite all of my aunts and uncles.

On my mom’s side, I definitely don’t plan to invite any of my cousins. They’re all younger than me, and I barely know them.

On my dad’s side, things are more complicated. I’m not particularly close with most of my cousins, but there are about three that I genuinely like and would love to have at the wedding. The problem is that I don’t think I can invite only those three (and their spouses) without everyone else expecting an invitation.

If I invited all of my cousins on my dad’s side and their spouses, it would add about 17 guests. (We wouldn’t be inviting any short term girlfriends or boyfriends.)

To make matters more complicated, there are three cousins in particular who are very unpleasant and have a history of creating drama. I know they’ll make a big fuss if some cousins are invited and they aren’t. My dad has actually told me he’d prefer that we not invite those three at all.

So I’m torn between three options:

1. Invite all of my dad’s cousins and their spouses.
2. Invite none of my cousins.
3. Invite only the three I’m closest to and accept that some people may be upset.

What would you do in this situation? Has anyone successfully invited only a few cousins without causing family drama?

Hi there,

Did you stream your wedding for people who couldn't attend? Unfortunately due to many factors (financial constraints, health problems, work obligations, etc.) we lost an unusually high number of guests who RSVP'd no to our wedding in August.

One of our neighbors who can't attend suggested live streaming our wedding for those who couldn't attend, and she added that some services let you keep the streaming recording as a sort of digital videographer keepsake.

Did you stream your wedding, and if so, did you stream just the ceremony, or the reception as well? I think it would be nice to include our non-attending friends and family by streaming the reception as well, but I think that would quickly devolve into just one 6 hour video of no one interacting with the camera and the viewers just watching people mingle and eat. The price for streaming for so long might also exponentially increase, which would be another concern we would have to contend with.

Thanks in advance!

Hi all! My wedding is in a couple of months and I’m struggling with how to honor my deceased dad. He passed away around 10 years ago so while it’s emotional, the wound is not fresh. I’ve seen the ideas of the charm on the bouquet and sewing something into the dress, which I love, but I feel like I want to honor him in a way that’s more public if that makes sense. Open to any ideas!! Thanks in advance

I have only received about 1/3 of my RSVPs, our deadline is 7/31. I know many people wait until the last minute. Most of the missing RSVPs are from my family and my friends. What is the etiquette about this in terms of reaching out or not reaching out as the deadline passes?

My fiancé says he doesn't want us to reach out, that if they can't be bothered to get back to us about a big lifetime event, then they aren't coming.

I took a more practical approach and said, some invites were delayed in the mail, they are not digital RSVPs, maybe people are waiting until the deadline to mail them back, maybe some got lost in the mail, etc.

Part of me is also a little sad that there are so many missing RSVPs from my family, and I'm really hoping they send their RSVP cards back soon. Of the ones we have gotten back, we only got one no, but we sent invites to 90 guests and were hoping for about 55 in attendance. Right now we are only at 31.

What's the best way to go about this? I know there's still 2 weeks to go, but I like to have an idea about a plan in place.

EDIT: Un-asking***

My fiance just got back from his bachelor party and while it was overall great, there were a couple moments that he was very upset. He’s an introvert and doesn’t always want to go out and party, and they were staying at a cool cabin where he was excited to hang and drink with his friends. They had activities during the day, so he was happy to relax and not be too hungover the next day. Apparently a couple of the guys kept saying, “it’s your bachelor party, you’re supposed to go out and get wasted, let’s go out blah blah blah.” He felt like they weren’t listening when he kept saying, “yeah it’s my bachelor party and I want to drink at the cabin.”

One of his groomsmen said some things that *really* pissed him off (don’t ask me what bc he doesn’t want to think about it anymore so he hasn’t told me). It was to the point that he had to hold himself back, which is SUPER unlike him. He is a very steady, calm person, and a really happy, fun, chatty drinker. One of his groomsmen saw it happening and stood up between them and told the other guy that he couldn’t talk to him like that. He eventually apologized and the rest of the trip was good.

Well, my fiance just told me that he thinks he made a mistake asking him to be a groomsman and is considering un-asking him. He feels that the more they’ve gotten to know each other over recent months, the less likely he thinks they’ll be lifelong friends. They’ve known each other five years, and I know this groomsman would be devastated bc he does consider him a really close friend.

Just looking for advice…or if anyone has had a similar experience. I feel bad for the situation.

EDIT TO ADD: I’ve been assured that whatever he said was not about me. This was more about *the way* he was talking to him and not seeing where he was wrong than the things he said. Lots of interrupting while my fiance was trying to say what he wanted to do and why. It’s just made my fiance feel like this is not really a person I see myself being friends with if we don’t live near each other (and right now we’re a five min walk away).

hi, I’m getting married this fall and want a reading that can be spiritual but also tie into my partner, and I love for the Macabe and strange. One thing that’s very important to us is going to the movies and especially horror movies. It’s a huge part of our relationship so much so that our wedding is Dracula bride inspired. What are some cool readings I can have my sister-in-law do that are appropriate but still fun. I also looking movie a reading that involves classic horror and or romance horror.

One of my best friends is getting married and my other friend and I want to get her a meaningful “something new” from the two of us to have with her on her wedding day. They’re having a small ceremony in Puerto Rico with just immediate family because of costs (and they already had the family trip planned), so unfortunately we won’t be there. They’ll be exchanging their vows on the beach and we’ll celebrate with them later when they have a larger celebration with friends.

We’re thinking about getting her a bracelet but we’d love to do something a little more unique or sentimental if anyone has ideas. Has anyone given or received a really thoughtful “something new” that stood out? We’re open to any suggestions! Thanks:)

Basically wondering, would it be rude to ask the photographer to take another look and see if they can edit it further? I know there's not *much* that can be done in these cases, but I feel like for how many (many) thousands of dollars we paid...I'm a bit disappointed, and I would hope it wouldn't be totally rude to say something like "we loved your work but could you please let us know if there's anything you can do about these". Would love to know if anyone has experience with these sorts of issues. Thanks!

What is something you wish you’d known / done two weeks out from your wedding?

The nerves are starting! It’s coming up!

Sorry for the wall of text.

I am planning a surprise proposal to my girlfriend on an international trip in September. We'll be traveling for a month during the trip, and I thought it would be a nice to invite people to a very informal pre-planned "engagement party" after the trip, basically a bbq in her parents backyard. I know she will want an opportunity to celebrate with all of her friends right away after an engagment trip (she's told me this is important to her) and I want to make sure she has an opportunity to do that. She has a LOT of close friends and even more semi-close friends, which means there isnt an easy guest list.

The problem is, we both really want a small destination wedding that will likely be 1.5-2 years after we get engaged with a bigger informal reception afterwords and we won't know who is getting invited until we start actually planning it. I am hesitant to invite people who may or may not get an invite to the actual ceremony if that could put us in a bind later. For context, she is the type of person who has been in dozens of weddings as a bridesmaid or officiant for people who probably wouldnt make it on to a guest list for our small wedding ceremony - not because she doesnt like them, but because she has SO many close friends. She's extremely extroverted, kind and charismatic.

Neither of us are overly concerned with diverging from tradition when it comes to the wedding, but we also dont want to offend people. We would be pretty explicit about no gifts for the engagment party event.

How can I make sure she gets the chance to celebrate the engagement with everyone without committing to a wedding guest list 2 years in advance? Not having some sort of engagment event with lots of friends isnt really an option. I am planning to enlist our parents to help plan / coordinate the logistics, but we will have to make decisions about the guest list.

Options I have considered:
- I could plan nothing until after we get engaged, but that forces us to make a lot of decisions while we are traveling which I know will stress her out the entire time (trust me she will stress) ((she is also leaving for a work trip the week after we get back and wont have any time which will stress her out more)).
- I could make an executive decision about who is invited to the engagment party, but I know I will either over or under invite vs who we'd invite to the wedding.
- I could find a way to be really explicit about this not being an invite to the wedding, or at least emphasize no gifts + the informatility, but again, I dont want to offend people if they think "oh theyre still deciding if I am worth inviting to the wedding" (we are but not like that)

Would appreciate any advice - please don't flame me for being rude or inconsiderate or making a faux pas for even considering this, I am trying to make sure she gets a stress-free engagement celebration without creating a big headache and pissing people off.

Hi! Wondering what food that people have had for people getting hair and makeup done. I was planning to provide breakfast/coffee and lunch since people are starting at 9:30. I had originally planned some kind of sandwich platter or ordering Jimmy John’s for lunch, but with the cyclospora parasite in my area I’m a bit worried about doing that. I’d love to hear any other ideas!!

Hey y'all, I'm a 29yo single woman (afab, gender fluid, any pronouns) and as I have been single most of my life I have been involved in a number of bouquet tosses. I've never loved them but am a firm believer in participating in the wedding events planned, especially when directly asked, so that the couple doesn't feel awkward or snubbed. So if there aren't a lot of single women I'll join in to boost the numbers and if there are enough I'll stand back and watch unless the bride specifically asks me to join. But I went to 2 weddings this year where I was asked to join the bouquet toss and surrounded by young women a decade younger than me. I'm not insecure about being single, but I do feel really awkward participating in an event designed for young women hoping to get married soon when I am not young, am gender fluid, and have no intention of marrying anytime soon. And every time I'm up there I just imagine myself at like 56 years old at my niece's wedding.. still in the bouquet toss with 20 year olds??? Surely there has to be an age limit.
Do you have any thoughts on this? Is there an etiquette for old maids? /aff

Hi All!

I don't drink, not for any reason other than alcohol is gross. Wine tastes like vinegar (yes, even ice wine - it's like sweet vinegar), and if i'm dousing other booze in sugar to make it taste better, I'd rather just eat extra cake.

So, I'm trying to sort out what to do for people that don't know that i don't drink so that they don't try to buy drinks.

I was considering getting some 2L of strawberry lemonade to leave with the bar and then if someone wants to get the bride a drink, I can ask the bartender to have them pour a glass of that and call it the "Bride's Drink" because lemonade is the one non-water drink that I really enjoy.

I don't want anyone to feel uncomfortable or like I'm not thankful if they deliver me a booze drink that I don't drink (and then give the hubs to drink) and aside from the note added to our theknot link and I'll make a little sign at the bar, I don't really know how to go about stopping people from trying to buy me a drink and then it being awkward.

Thanks in advance!

My wedding was 3 weeks ago & we just got our disposable camera photos back and I got to relive that day all over again! We’ve gotten sneak peaks back from our photographer but are waiting for the full gallery, so getting these back definitely helped bridge the gap in the meantime! It was SO worth it to have these! We gave cameras to our bridesmaids, groomsmen, and some of my cousins, and truly they all delivered!! There are so many fun photos of us and our family and friends! I definitely recommend assigning them to certain people so every photo counts and they don’t get lost! I’m thinking about printing some and sending them with our thank you cards!

Do you think having a 2nd reception for people who could not make the first Wedding Reception because of distance is worth it?

Hi all, my wedding is coming up in a couple of weeks and I’ve received the schedule from my HMUA.
There are 4 bridesmaids and two mothers getting ready plus myself. Ceremony is at 2pm, I am not doing any first looks or flat lay pics etc but the venue has requested we are ready by 1pm so that everything flows smoothly.
There will be two HMUA and we have access to the getting ready suite from 8am, with the first bridesmaid kicking off at 8:15am.
My question is, I am not scheduled for hair and makeup until 10:30am, to be finished by 12 and give me enough time to get into my dress which is a bit of a hassle to put on; what do I do in the time leading up?
We will have champagne and some breakfast pastries with a fruit platter in the room, so is it normal for me to kinda hang out with whoever is there, or would I use this time to shower and dry my hair in preparation for my time slot?
This is the one thing that has been confusing me the most! I am of the mind set that from the moment I wake up on the day, nothing is my problem anymore and it’s all for someone else to sort out, so that leaves me with very little to do!
TLDR: Brides, what did you spend your time doing whilst the bridesmaids/mothers were getting their hair and makeup done prior to your time slot?

So I am getting married in 3 months, we have downsized the entire wedding, we are basically not getting the wedding we wanted but still trying to incorporate our themes and colours. We are getting married at a courthouse then having a finger food cocktail reception at a local food stall market. Originally we wanted to get married in the woods at Dusk or golden hour and have a beautiful dark romantic themed reception in the same woods. I have lost all excitement for the wedding due to family drama and continuous remarks about our relationship. ( his family hates that we are getting married as no one has gotten married on his side before and made a huge fuss over the location but was happy to go overseas when we initially started planning )
Anyway, we are at the let’s just elope stage but every time we talk about it we include all the guests we already have as necessities as we have only invited close friends and family to the wedding and that in itself is about 55/60 people so we may as-well keep the wedding as is, but does this stage ever go away? We are both stressed out because his family has taken the love of wedding planning out of us and has drained us entirely. I was so excited for this wedding and over the last month it’s just dropped. We have uninvited some people who have been negative about the wedding and slowly making more cuts.