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August 09, 2007
Faux is Me
There's really no way to have a wedding without committing half a dozen faux pas. There's the gift issue, where you're not supposed to blatantly ask for anything, but you're expected to inform guests of your registry. If you don't have a traditional registry, this becomes complicated and strained (um, sorry, but can you be creative and give us something unique and/or old?) and we sound presumptuous. There's the etiquette surrounding how and when to properly thank people for these gifts -- we feel tremendously grateful and lucky to receive the gifts we've gotten (again, friends and family have proven themselves to have fantastic taste) -- but it takes some time to thank people properly.
There's the LIST, which is still expanding and contracting on a daily basis, depending on room at the lake, regretted omissions, and the endless assortment of relatives on my side. There's the question of how to include significant others, how to spell their names, and whether they belong in a double bed or two twins. There's the requirement that the engaged couple display some amount of graciousness, despite their natural hermit-like, antisocial tendencies. There are simple rules of courtesy that should be applied
to interactions between vendors -- we should return the emails and phone calls of the many photographers, musicians, caterers, and rental companies we've contacted, but we have so many other pressing issues that we don't. I've learned to constantly tackle the writing of emails and thank yous and phone calls, but I have a job, too, and only so much can happen in the evenings.
These combined social obligations create a constant feeling that you've offended someone somehow (and we probably have), and that one of the many offenses you've committed may possibly result in bad blood or resentment later. Since we are also the main attraction, a good deal of lenience is afforded us (they're so busy, we understand), but I can see that we'll commit an embarrassing array of faux pas in the next few weeks -- it's inevitable. Hopefully the alcohol will help smooth things over.
In other news, we found plates we like at Michael C. Fina, which, despite the Fifth Avenue store location's propensity for flooding during rainstorms, has a wonderful assortment of plates and flatware. This should help with the registry faux pas situation.
Posted by csageday at August 9, 2007 11:33 PM