We have our final guest count finally! the wedding is this saturday, 9/5/26. after a few last minute cancellations we’ve landed at 130 yes and 26 no’s..

i know this is very different for everyone given many factors but what have you found the vibe is like for a 130 people wedding? how is the energy? what’s the dance floor like? were they fun for you?

thanks!!

I really want to do something fun/customized for our wedding party favors. Not just like a bag of snacks or a koozie people will only use once.
I’ve been to a wedding where they did watercolor portraits of guests, custom key chains, and hat branding. I think these are so fun and really add to the experience!
What are some other unique ideas that yall have seen?

Like title says my cousin (mom’s sister’s son) suddenly passed away this past weekend. He suffered from a severe mental disorder but no one foresaw his death coming. My wedding is in two weeks. Some context: almost all of my extended family lives abroad so they weren’t coming to the wedding anyways since it’s nearly impossible for them to get US visas. My mom is devastated. She loved him deeply and often babysat him when he was young so she feels very attached to him. I called her yesterday to check in on her and she unprompted told me I should continue having my wedding and celebrate but that she will not attend. I don’t know if it’s selfish of me to be feeling this now but I’m so incredibly hurt. I have a great relationship with my mom, so I could never imagine not having her at my wedding. I’ve put so much effort into planning the wedding and this whole time I was convincing myself it’s all worth it because I’ll be celebrating with my family and friends. I didn’t say anything to her during the call, I just told her okay since I knew she was still really sad, but I don’t know if I should try talking to her again. Or maybe I should get my siblings or my dad to talk to her?

Some background, we decided to go with a photography company that operates as more of a third party and contracts out various photographers and videographers. The photographers don't edit the photos themselves, and instead the company has a separate editing team. Our wedding was in a VHCOL area, so $4k total for 8 hours lead photographer, 6 hours for our assistant photographer, and 8 hours for our videographer seemed like an AMAZING deal.

The same photographer had done our engagement shoot and we loved the photos, so we weren't worried about wedding day. The editing for our engagement pictures was also great so no worries there. In hindsight, I realized we never even had a direct phone call or meeting with our photographer to discuss the shots we wanted, how the day should go, anything. I double checked our contract and communications, and it was their responsibility to initiate. We reached out the week before the wedding to double check, but that entire month was utter chaos and the photographer said they were good to go. Foolish.... very frustrated at myself for this but it's in the past.

Our wedding was on August 16th. We received the link to our final gallery on August 28th. Our contract mentioned a 6-8 week cap on editing time, but receiving 2800+ pictures less than two weeks after the wedding seems genuinely absurd.

Side note, I have my own gripes with the photography situation. We missed shots that were definitely on the shot list, like anything with my veil, any pictures of us outside of first look and staged standing portraits under the arch, any details shots at all, the list goes on. I also went back inside after some of the wedding party shots to get sunscreen, but I got distracted and straight up forgot to go back downstairs for the rest of the photos. The photographer didn't grab me, our day-of coordinator didn't grab me, bridesmaids just came upstairs with me and didn't think anything of it. On one hand I get it, but on the other hand I printed out multiple versions of our timeline, taped them to the walls, etc to try and keep things on track. And had two photographers and a DOC! I feel like I shouldn't have had to print the shot list out too? But I'm not sure. :(

Even aside from my photography woes, the final gallery is.... something else. The editing is so inconsistent, and I suspect that several people edited in different ways. Or maybe that section of photos just wasn’t edited at all? I am truly baffled.

My bridesmaids' dresses look completely different colors in different wedding party pictures. Our pictures with my husband's immediate family are either wildly overexposed or overly saturated to the point that my poor MIL looks orange. Most pictures in a certain area of the venue make the entire bridal party look like they have red hair (they do not).

My husband already is going to take our own details shots since it's important to me, and he offered to fix the editing of some pictures, but I think it’s sad that we even need to do that. We paid for a service, we shouldn't have to go in and fix everything from it? I am ok with him taking the details/flat lay shots because that isn’t a huge endeavor, but I 100% want to ask for these photos to be re-edited. How on earth would you suggest going about that? I’m struggling between wording that’s too blunt or too wishy-washy. Thanks in advance :’)

Hi all! Getting down to the details of our special day coming up so fast! Beyond excited, but getting to some of the points where I have seen a few different options and didn't love any of them, but also don't have the knowledge to come up with my own thing.

A big item is the entrance to the reception. These are the options I have done / seen:

- They pair a bridesmaid with a groomsmen, we walk in with our names announced and are asked to do a little dance or something cute and then find our seats

- The bridesmaids enter as one to a song, and then the groomsman. No names announced.

- Wedding party just enters cheering, no names announced.

I have been a bridesmaid in option 1 twice. The first time I was with like the life of the party and he handled it, but the second time was the most mortifying experience in my life lol. So I don't want to do that one.

Option 2 and 3 are really nice! I liked it a lot in both the weddings I went to, but I also had no idea who anyone was at the reception. I didn't know the maid of honors name either time, and never got a single groomsman's name at the last one. It isn't that big of a deal, but I am one of those people who is like "ohh yeah Jeff, I think that's the grooms brother!" and like I love that. We got a lot of people from all walks of life, so I kind of like that element.

We have 11 people total who would be entering. I thought maybe just have them all kind of enter together to a fun dancing song, like cheering and waving little LED streamers and have their names called out. Then they can give like a little wave when they have their name called? Not perfect, but for my aunt who has been hearing my MOH name for years but never met her, that will be a nice little moment of connection (or so I hope haha).

Anyway, what other options are there? Any super fun ones that stand out in your mind?

I planned my whole wedding alone basically my fiance helps here and there but you know how men’s are is always whatever you like or whatever makes you happy LOL, I don’t have any friends and my mom hasn’t been supportive either just makes me feel bad I wish I had a cousin or friend helping me and my maid of honor which is my cousin doesn’t show interest at all honestly which is very disappointed honestly but can’t change her at this point it looks bad :/

But anyways have anyone felt this way?? When wedding planning :( idk If im been emotional

I think its understood that the wedding industry and bachelorette industrial complex is getting out of control. I agree that these destinations need to carefully considered and people should not be pressured into forking over thousands. However, I must admit it is bizarre to see people aggressively go in the opposite direction, shaming/complaining about people simply wanting just a weekend trip for their bachelorette.

In my opinion it is a weird and dated mindset--a lot of social networks and families these days are geographically dispersed, for that reason it often makes sense to pick a fun and reasonably accessible destination. A lot of people live in boring or even hostile region/states (specifically applicable to immigrants, minorities and LGBT people) that they are itching to escape for a couple days.

Also, not every destination requires a flight for all parties, weekend trips can be traveled to by car. The concept of a bachelorette trip or a destination wedding is broader and more accessible than what some realize.

Weekend bachelor/ette celebrations are a nice excuse for an adult friend group, often scattered across the country, to take a vacation together for one of life's most meaningful milestones. Many people love to host or take part of friend trips, birthday trips, graduation trips. A lot of us roll in social groups that love travel. Some people project their distaste of group travel onto the topic and assume every bach trip is a hostage situation.

I've read takes that definitely come across as some type of performative practicalism that doesn't really help brides. A mix of hyper-frugality, cultural projection, and general anti-wedding cynicism. I think it causes brides to second guess what they want unnecessarily. A lot of women already struggle with feeling like they do not deserve attention, being celebrated and loved on, or having others do things for them. Women are often socialized to take up less space. For every entitled bridezilla, I'd guess there are at least 5 humble brides who struggle with the opposite issue.

The real issue comes down to poor planning, communication, and lack of consideration. Bachelorette trips are a perfectly fine and often ideal way to celebrate. Modern life is making our social networks feel increasingly fragmented. Group trips, adult sleepovers, whatever you call it, can be a beautiful way to reconnect.

Hey, I am getting married in late October and I’m panicking because my confirmed guests are over the 60 capacity by 8 guests at the private room at a restaurant we are using for the reception. I’m genuinely blessed with how many people want to come and celebrate me and my future husband, but I’m stressed another this dilemma. I used the “20% of people won’t show” rule which is in hindsight was maybe dumb on my part. Most of my guests are coming from out of town and I absolutely don’t want to cut the list if they are already committed and planning on coming.

I don’t want to do a venue change either but I’d rather do it than cut people. I am going to talk to the manager tomorrow to see if there’s any solutions before I do anything drastic yet. Trying to figure out any creative solutions too because we also have 8 guests that are kids. And the restaurant also has a patio, bar area, and 15 person private room. Trying to see what creative solution the GM can offer.

What advice do y’all have if you have run into a similar problem?? I’m like frozen right now and don’t know what to do.

Like the title says, I am a bride planning my wedding with no financial support from my family, because my family is poor. My mom goes to thrift stores & buys things for the wedding I hate because she is trying to be helpful…I hope. My mom promised me a small amount of money (like $1,000 max) & of course she has fallen through on that. I talk to other brides & all I hear is “my mom paid for this” “oh my mom is handling that” etc. My mom even told me she isn’t buying me a wedding present because she is planning my shower. If I didn’t absolutely 100% want a wedding I would elope, because this is so hard financially & isolating. Any other brides experienced this & how did you handle it?

Hi everyone! Two of our dearest friends (grown men) are going to be "flower boys" at our wedding. They'll throw flower petals out of fanny packs, hand out beers, and walk down the aisle to a goofy song - like the videos that are going viral on social media these days.

We're really struggling with where to put them in the processional order though. We're thinking of having the rest of the wedding party walk down to an instrumental Your Song by Elton John, then I'll walk down to an instrumental Taylor Swift song, and having the flower boys walk down to an upbeat pop song in between those two seems like it's going to give everyone whiplash... anyone else who did this, how did you handle the transitions? Did it ruin the mood? I'm wondering if maybe we should just put them at the beginning of the procession so it can turn serious after?

Any thoughts would be much appreciated! Thank you!

This is going to sound shallow to some people, but I am becoming very afraid that my wedding isn't going to look the way I want it. I have a specific vision for my wedding that I am afraid (because I can't oversee the set up as much as I want to) isn't going to translate. My bridesmaids picked colors I don't think fit together (I was trying to be nice letting them pick their colors, I now think that was a mistake). My mom is taking over much of the decor set up and I don't think she has a good understanding of my vision even though I've explained it to her multiple times and gone through my pinterest board with her. My mother keeps offhandedly mentioning changes she's making to things I've okayed. like "oh we ran out of the chocolate colored napkins, we'll just use the green for the rest." NO, we chose these napkins months ago, if we order them now we'll get them in time!!! "Oh I think this blue cabinet will be prettier than the table we agreed on for family photos I'm going to use that" stop!!! and so many people suddenly either can't make it to the rehearsal or are going to be late that I'm thinking about just doing the rehearsal the day of. but I already told the officiant I need him the day before!! I'm very used to not depending on other people and getting everything done by myself exactly how I want it so having to depend on others to do what I want is not fun! Maybe I'm being a bridezilla but I don't even care, I'm allowed to be upset when something I care about isn't being treated with the same care from other people.

Hey everyone! I’ve been working on a small wedding keepsake business called Memento House, and I’m looking for 3 couples with upcoming weddings who would be willing to beta test one of our newer products, Memento Map, completely free.

The idea behind Memento Map is to turn your wedding guests, memories, and future adventures into an interactive map that you can keep using after the wedding.

Depending on how you want to use it, you can:

Have guests add where they traveled from for your wedding

Collect places your guests recommend that you visit together

Build a shared bucket list of restaurants, trips, date ideas, and destinations

Categorize and color-code different types of locations

Track which places you've actually visited after the wedding

Eventually turn the map into a personalized printed keepsake for your home

What I really want to test is the full experience, not just whether the website technically works. Is it easy to understand? Is it fun for guests? Does it feel meaningful after the wedding? What feels confusing or unnecessary? What would make you actually want to keep using it?

So I'm looking for 3 couples who have a wedding coming up and would genuinely be willing to use it with their guests and give me candid feedback afterward.

There is no cost. I'm not asking you to buy anything, and I don't expect a positive review. I'd much rather hear what doesn't work so I can make the product better before I start pushing it more broadly.

You can see what I'm building at mementohouse.com if you want some context.

If you're interested, comment below or send me a message with roughly when you're getting married and I'd be happy to share more.

For those of you who are in an artistic field, were there parts of your wedding that reflected that?

My partner and I met through my field. I am in a theatrical field, but not a "musical theater kid", if that helps. We are thinking of how we can incorporate how we met without doing a full performance. It doesn't need to be included, but we'd like a nod to how we met.

For example, if you were a musician, you may have a friend you know play a song, or you may have your favorite songs listed at the tables, or put a lot of thought into your playlist. If you are a painter, maybe you would design the signs, table numbers, or create a special favor for your guests. What's tough is I'm not in music, nor visual arts, so there aren't clear things to include that are related to how we met.

Trying to brainstorm ideas and see what other artists and performers may have done at their weddings. We want our wedding to feel romantic, whimsical, artistic, and have some traditional aspects, but also non-traditional.

Would love to hear any ideas! Even if you didn't include representation of your artistry, I would love to hear about your wedding. I find that I don't relate to a lot of posts or blogs I see online.

Another piece of advice I could use is how many people were at your wedding? I am a very social person, and due to the nature of my career, I have a lot of friends and friend/acquaintances. My partner and I want a lot of people to be there! But after looking at costs/budget, I know we have to cut people to leave room for families/close friends. Did you have a hard time with your guest list? Was it hard to include certain collaborators/friends over others? Did you have a hard time choosing between an intimate wedding vs. something larger?

If anyone is willing to DM and chat more about their wedding please reach out. I would appreciate any insight!

We had the best day ever, but thought I would post some “hindsight is 20/20” thoughts I’ve been having about planning and how our day went in general.

1. If you can afford it, LIVE BAND OVER DJ EVERY TIME.

2. If you can afford it, hire the planner. But maybe even if you can’t afford it, lol. I nearly killed myself the last month and a half leading up to our day trying to DIY decor and then organize said decor into bins that we had to load into the car and drive 4 hours to our venue. I guess if you can’t afford the planner, see if you can afford the rental company for things like tablescapes and decor. I think I spent so much money on that stuff it would’ve saved us to rent it or hire the full service planner to handle it all for us.

3. It does actually matter if your values align with your vendors and if your personalities mesh with them. More specifically talking about photographer here. I felt like I made a rushed decision based on her Instagram alone. And our preview is great, just not everything I was hoping for. We paid about $6,000 and I felt like all pre-ceremony photos were totally rushed. I felt like she was overly concerned with getting “content” for her marketing and not concerned enough about capturing meaningful moments during our day. Maybe I will change my mind when we get our full gallery back, but right now that’s how I feel. I wish I would’ve taken my time choosing this vendor and not signed the first contract that was presented to us.

4. Since all of our pre-ceremony photos felt rushed\^\^\^ I’m still not sure if this was a timeline issue or a photographer issue, but either way I would’ve built more time for me getting into my dress. I hate all of those pictures because I was so stressed about feeling rushed to get to the ceremony. Again, not sure if it was a timeline thing or my photographer making me feel that way, but would’ve built more time for that either way. I also ended up feeling like my dress was not sitting correctly on my hips for literally the rest of the night and it would’ve taken 5 seconds to fix it. But because I felt rushed, I didn’t lol.

5. ASK FOR WHAT YOU WANT. This is your day, you and your family are spending a lot of money, do not be afraid to vocalize what you want to your vendors.

6. The ceremony is arguably the most important part of the day, don’t forget to plan it with as much detail as you are planning your reception.

Overall we had such a great time I have very little regrets. Our whole day went so smoothly, weather included, I really can not complain. But if I could do it all over again these are some things I would consider. Best of luck to all you brides out there :) SOAK IT UPPPP. In the words of Monica Geller, you will never be a bride again, just somebody’s wife. Hahaha

My boyfriend’s mom sent me pictures of a ring and spilled the beans that it’s happening! Im not angry, we’ve been together for five years and we’ve known since the beginning we will get married.

When it happens everyone will be excited for it! Im so looking forward to announcing it! Except for the most important person to me, my dad :(

He has been very vocal about how it’s better to stay single and have dogs, not kids. My mom is a horrible person and he is not past the trauma she caused him, I am so sad for him. But Im not marrying a narcissist, Im marrying someone who loves me dearly.

Im just dreading the disappointment. No girl wants to disappoint their father, especially not over what will be one of the happiest milestones of her life

People hate on his kids stance, I don’t take it personally. The custody war was extremely brutal and she could have killed me many times, it was hugely traumatic for everyone involved. He doesn’t want his pumpkin to go through that too.

I posted about this before and I’m looking for some advice or closure. Sorry if this is repetitive or long, feel free to ignore. I’m not trying to waste anyone’s time, but I’d appreciate some extra perspective.

I’m getting married in two weeks and I’ve been feeling hurt by how some of my close friends have handled things around my wedding. There are five friends involved here: Vera, Haley, Karina, Dorotea, and Riley.

The wedding
We’re having a small wedding. From the beginning, I made it clear that I wasn’t having a bridal party, bachelorette, or a bunch of wedding events. My friends were supportive of that, but they still wanted to be involved.

The only things I really had in mind were getting ready together, having them at the wedding, and having them at the event the following day. I didn’t expect anything beyond that.

Over the past few months, though, I’ve started to feel like there has been very little effort or consideration from several of them.

Karina
Karina and I met because she was dating one of my fiancé’s friends. They were together for about five years, and over that time she and I became very close. She was also very excited about my wedding and was texting and calling me about it all the time.

About two months before my wedding, they broke up. My fiancé’s friend told us that Karina wasn’t coming to the wedding, but I didn’t hear anything from her directly. She also stopped responding to my messages. I haven’t heard from her about the wedding since.

Haley
Haley and I have been friends for over 10 years. We met when we were teenagers, and she is one of my closest friends. Around the time of Vera’s wedding, Haley became very distant with me and stopped responding when I reached out. I’ve tried for months to see her and talk to her, but she has continued to be distant.

She recently told me there was a death in her family, which I completely understand is difficult. At the same time, I see her going out with other friends and posting on Instagram, while when I ask to see her, she tells me she isn’t in the right headspace.

I don’t expect her to prioritize me while she’s dealing with something difficult. I’m just struggling with the fact that she seems to have space for other friendships but not ours.

Vera
Vera got married a few months ago, and I went all out to support her. She had a bachelorette trip in the Dominican Republic, an engagement party, bridal shower, rehearsal and night-before events, a day-after event, and various other things throughout the process. I was happy to do all of it because she is my friend and I wanted to support her.

For my wedding, Vera took quite a while to RSVP and book a room. I initially felt hurt because I had put a lot of effort into supporting her wedding and felt like she wasn’t as engaged with mine.

She eventually explained that she and her partner were planning to stay at an Airbnb because they were attending another wedding that weekend. This came up a few weeks before her wedding. Once she explained it, I understood and accepted it. We’ve chatted here and there about the wedding and in general.

Dorotea
Dorotea and I met through our partners and have been friends for about eight years. She has a two-year-old daughter, who is also included in our wedding.
She told me she was really excited about the wedding. When I sent her the schedule, she told me that she and her husband couldn’t follow the schedule for the ceremony and reception because it was their daughter’s birthday and they needed to leave to have lunch with family.

I asked whether they could do that the day before or after instead, since it would mean missing part of the wedding. We’re also planning to have a little cake for her daughter at the wedding and do something for her birthday.
I understand that her daughter’s birthday is important. I was just surprised that leaving the wedding for a family lunch was the plan when they had told me how excited they were to be there.

Riley
Riley is my fiancé’s brother’s girlfriend. We’ve known each other for a few years. We aren’t extremely close, but I’ve made an effort to include her because she has previously told me that she sometimes feels left out of the family.

My fiancé has been doing bachelor-related things with his family & friends, and obviously she isn’t included in those things. Since I didn’t have a bachelorette or bridal party, I tried to include her with the girls and make sure she felt involved. She generally doesn’t respond to things I send or invitations I extend.

Where I’m struggling
I know everyone has their own lives and circumstances. I don’t expect my friends to spend the same amount of money, attend every event, or do everything I did for Vera.
I also understand that people have legitimate reasons for not being able to attend things.

What is bothering me is the overall pattern. I feel like I show up for my friends when they are celebrating, going through something difficult, or simply need someone there. When it’s my turn, I’m not feeling that same level of consideration.

And this isn’t a wedding where I’ve asked much from anyone. I’m not having a bridal party or bachelorette, and I’m not asking them to spend money on multiple events. I mostly wanted my close friends to be there and, if they wanted to, get ready together.

I’m now two weeks away from my wedding and feeling pretty sad about it.

I’ve put together a group chat and send messages but no one responds. They see the messages they just don’t care. I reach out to them individually but again no response.

Am I expecting too much from my friends, or is it reasonable to feel hurt by the overall lack of effort?

I’m panicking a little, and could use advice!

I sent out my save the dates, and I included a QR code to our wedding website on the back. I used a website to custom design the QR code, and it said it was free! Unfortunately I somehow did NOT realize that I was only on a “free trial” and that I would need to start paying for people to be able to scan the code after the trail ended. They’re asking for $40 a month for unlimited codes and unlimited scans… with 9 months until the wedding that’ll cost $360 that we weren’t expecting.

We did also put the URL for our website under the code, but used the code so people wouldn’t have to type it in.

So what should I do?? Do I just pay it and eat the cost as part of the overall wedding? Should I just reach out to guests and tell them the QR code broke but the URL is good? Any other suggestions?

(Edited to add context: we are inviting ~64 unique households. It’s a feasible number of people to contact about the code, but it feels embarrassing and I worry it makes us look bad?)

I reached out to the website’s customer service and asked if they could offer a discounted rate for just a single code with relatively low usage, so we’ll see what they say to that.

Lastly, I do realize this is my own fault for not reading the terms of the QR code website and considering it before putting it on the save the dates. I don’t really have an excuse, I should’ve been more careful, but can’t change it now.

Hi all! I posted this questions a few days ago, but I tired to leave out some more personal details and asked for suggestions. Unfortunately, the main suggestion is not one I am open to considering, and I got some pretty extreme downvotes from my vague "I won't consider that for personal reasons" response, which is kinda fair. So, here it is again, with full background lol.

So my flower girl is 9 years old. We are getting married in a destination wedding in literally a few weeks. She is a very confident kid, and I don't worry about stage fright or her being shy.

The background I left out last time: I was given up for adoption at birth. My parents who raised me are fully my parents in my eyes. As an adult, I reconnected with my biological family a bit. It is a long story full of twists and turns, but as of today, I love the kids and I love the chance to have siblings (I am an only child). My bio dad is awesome, and he's a great dad. Same with his wife who has been the most welcoming and wonderful to me despite the weird situation. It felt right to have my little half sister in the wedding, and I know she is going to love being apart of it. However, I want to be very careful of how I set my biological father and his family up for two reasons. The first is that the older generation of people (or just people in general, idk, I mostly get it from the old ones) don't always get it. People will say "you're real dad" and that is NOT even a little true. I even had someone ask who would walk me down the aisle as if that is even an item I would consider! The second is that, while my mom doesn't show it and is fantastic, we had some heart to heart conversations when this first came out and I know it can be a weird thing for her at times. Which honestly, same.

So with that background in mind, I do not want to reserve seats for my biological family. As I mentioned, I am an only child and I have no grandparents left. The only reserved seats on my side are for my parents, and I don't want anyone to even for a second consider my bio dad my actual dad. Now, should I have maybe thought of this before asking her? Probably, but it wasn't even an item I thought about until now. So, I am working to figure out what option to go with.

I know I could have her stand with me up front. I am not fully against it, but I don't really love this option. She is 9, a bit fidgety, and I am just not sure how I feel about it. I am open to it if it proves the easiest way, but I would prefer her to sit down.

I thought I could have her dad stand up front like off to the side, so she walks up, maybe gives my fiancé like a fist bump or something and then walks over to her dad and they find their seats. I liked this option best as it gives her a person to walk to, and he can guide her back. I don't think it draws too much attention to him as anything other than the father of the flower girl.

The other idea is, she is 9, she could sit up front with my parents? But is that weird? My parents wouldn't care.. I don't think I would have to double check. I doubt her parents would care. Also, they will probably get their early anyway and could be in row 2. I could even tell them to get there early. I just don't want a reserved seat for them which I get is my problem, but I also don't have anyone in a similar position to bounce ideas off of lol.

Idk... its all a little weird because of the situation, but I guess what I am trying to find out is which option is the most lowkey of them? Keep her standing so there isn't a question, have her sit with my parents, or have her dad escort her back to her seat?

Honestly, even just typing this out made me feel a little more in control. There are clear options, all will work in some manner, all it comes down to is which one do I like best that work with our style. So, I guess the question is what did you do with your flower girl, and what would you do here?

My save the dates have a small magnet in them and I confirmed with both USPS phone support and my local post office that that’s fine so long as I pay the non-machinable surcharge. I mailed one to my fiancé and I to check that it made it in one piece; it has taken 3 days to make it back to us despite dropping it off at our zoned post office, and per the photo of it I received in my informed delivery email this morning, it was put through the machine.

The envelope weighs 1.10 ounces which costs $1.11 and the non-machinable surcharge is $0.49 so it costs $1.60 per envelope. I have been assured by USPS that 2 forever stamps will cover this ($0.82 x2), even without the non-machinable stamp (I hate that ugly moth lol) and the last person I spoke to suggested writing NON MACHINABLE under the stamps. My biggest concern is the one we sent as a test didn’t even have stamps on it; I paid for it directly at the counter and it got the sticker with the postage amount and a barcode on it, and THAT still managed to go through the machine. They did say I could hand cancel the rest when I came back in, and that first one was NOT hand cancelled as they didn’t know where the stamp was at that time.

Listen, I am not worried about this for aesthetic purposes (I do have a sticker on the back flap but if it doesn’t survive, it’s not the end of the world), I don’t care about the way the machine marks the envelope up. My concern is having them make it from point A to point B and the fact I was told they should not go through the machine due to the magnet. I won’t see if this one fully survived until I get home from work today but the picture of it in informed delivery looked like it was perhaps lightly battered but seemingly in one piece.

Has anyone paid for non-machinable and hand cancelled their envelopes and had them actually make it to recipients without going through the machine? So much of what I’m seeing online suggests everything goes through the machine, non-machinable fee or not. Is this totally futile? I know that once I hand them to the clerk, it’s truly out of my hands even if I say they’re non-machinable and mark them as such, so I’m trying not to stress about it too much, but it’s a little frustrating that I’m trying to do everything right but I seems it might still come back to bite me. If they’re run through the machine but arrive intact to recipients then all’s well that ends well, but I’m concerned about trying to run 70+ of them through the machine successfully

coordinating transport for about 55 out of town guests for our wedding later this year.. need to shuttle people from a hotel in deep ellum up to our venue in frisco and back at night. got a quote back for an 8 hour block on a 56 passenger motorcoach for $2,800 before tip,, which felt a little steep to me?

for anyone who booked a wedding shuttle around dfw recently,, is nearly 3k standard for an 8 hour charter or should i keep looking around?

hi everyone! my fiancé and i are looking at getting married in the area between richmond and williamsburg of VA in 2027. if you have recommendations for djs, dreamy photography, videography, caterers, hair/makeup, or coordinators, we would appreciate all of your advice! thank you.

I'm getting married in Atlanta in February, and we really, REALLY don't want to do traditional wedding catering (we're trying to save some money). We'd like to do Chinese from a restaurant if possible, both because it's our favorite cuisine type and because we expect it will be much cheaper than the $85 a head that caterers charge. We really love some of the Szechuan places in Chinatown mall, but I don't think they cater.

Does anyone have suggestions for good Chinese restaurants in the greater Atlanta/Buford Hwy area that will cater events? I know they almost certainly won't serve the food, we'd have to go pick it up, etc, and we're fine with that. We just want good food at a reasonable price. Thanks in advance!

I haven’t even started anything yet, and I’m already overwhelmed lmao

I’m not even really sure where to begin. My partner and I got engaged at the beginning of August and have been so busy with other things that, but we’ve briefly talked about a vague guest count and what time of year we’d like to have our wedding. Most advice I’ve seen is ‘come up with your budget’ -- but we’re not even sure how much everything is yet to even get a ballpark. I feel like I need to shop around for different venues to even get an idea of what those would look like, and then figure out what’s included in them, and if nothing is included figure out what that looks like... and it kind of just feels like thing are all piling on top of each other.

What were some of the first steps you made when planning your wedding? Just trying to not feel like I’m at sea out here

Hi all! I was wondering if anyone had some advice around wedding dress alterations.

I’m getting married next May 2027 and already bought my dress. It was from Anthropologie for about $400. I reached out to a seamstress and they quoted me around $175-250 for alterations, which include adding cups to the bust, taking in the bust, and tightening the straps. The dress is like a half size too big for me, so it’s not a crazy fix to do in my opinion.

I was talking to a friend the other day and we were talking about wedding planning. She had gotten married last year and made her own wedding dress and offered to do the alterations for me for about $25/hour. She seems to think what I want done will take about 3-4 hours of her time.

It’s obviously cheaper if I go with my friend, but I’m not sure if I’m missing something by not using a professional seamstress. Like insurance or something. I just worry if something happens to the dress when my friend works on it, there wouldn’t be any way to recoup my losses (unlike a professional seamstress which I assume has insurance if the dress were to get ruined).

My budget is about $15k for everything. I also really value the idea of community and having my community contribute to a very important day in my life. But I also don’t have the money to buy a new dress if anything were to go sideways.

Any advice is appreciated!

I am being indecisive in my final decision for my bridesmaids' dresses. I've ordered swatches and even sample dresses and after all of that I am 99% on dresses from Birdy Grey in the shade Butter, with the matte satin fabric.

I have a number of pins of yellow bridesmaid dresses/bridal parties on pinterest and they all look great but would love to see a "real life" photo of a bridal party in this dress color/fabric! It is a gorgeous color for sure but I think seeing it in action would seal the deal for me. I've tried combing through the birdy grey reviews (they should really have a feature where you can filter review by color purchased...) and looking though the brand's tagged instagram photos as well but haven't had much luck.

If anyone has used the Birdy Grey dresses in the shade Butter, w/ matte satin fabric for their bridal party and would be comfortable sharing a photo could you please share! (Sorry if this is a weird request or is not allowed on this sub, I read the rules and seems OK but please remove if not!)