It’s my belief that it’s expressly the best man’s duty to see that the bar remains open for as long as is needed. He should be able to dig in his pocket and throw down enough to keep things going for a bit, if the conversion to cash bar isn’t planned.
I see only one choice for appropriate ‘wedding’ gift, registered or not.
$100 donated, in their name, to any worthy cause you adore.
Crap, they’ll HAVE to send you a thank you card.
In writing.
In a timely fashion.
You attend, you dine, you gift.
Everybody wins, including us, who are hoping to hear all the details later.
Agreed. This is one of the gauchest things I’ve heard in a while. Just show up with 20 or 30 strangers from the internet, and tell them you thought this was supposed to be a “do the rudest thing you can think of” event, based on their hijinks so far. 
30 of us could chip in $2 each and get them a nice asparagus cooker or something.
I kind of want to get them the 62-cent bridal shot glasses in the Google ad I’m seeing at the bottom of the page.
My friend did the cash bar one better. She had a cash bar at her reception but didn’t tell anybody. No signs, no nothing. You should have seen the looks on guests’ faces as they ordered a glass of wine, started to turn away sipping it, and were stopped by the bartender demanding $6. I’m glad I was driving because I didn’t have any cash on me and if I’d ordered a drink I would have been in trouble.
Yeesh! Some of the stories on that site make this one look like a model of dignity and restraint. :eek:
At my brother’s 10th anniversary last year, he and his wife “renewed” their vows, but also did it (snerk) in a church. They were initially married in their backyard by a minister, but it was quite important to my sister-in-law that they be married in a church. So they did. Her daughter then threw a big party for the family at her house and much fun was had by all. Except for my son who threw a fit when we wanted a group picture.
No presents, other than normal anniversary presents and no shower (but then they are also 50+ yo and aren’t about to have any kids for obvious reasons).
The grab for presents is tacky and crass, if not for that I would say have fun at the party. But because of the registry I say :eek:
The only excuse I can think of is if they “got religion” and needed to have a proper sacremental wedding that they missed the first time. But even then, I’d think that the proper thing would be a very small wedding, with possibly a dinner afterwards for very close family - no gifts. A shower et. al. would be out of the question under those circumstances.
I skip cousin’s weddings all the time. The first time they get married, even.
Well the “wedding” went down this weekend, and as promised, here’s how it went;
It was Saturday, and the reception was to start at 6:00 for cocktails and 7:00 for dinner. We arrived shortly after 7:00, due to an I Have Nothing To Wear crisis on the girlfriend side of our team. All in all it was a nice event, there was an open bar (Yes!) and the food was pretty decent (Chicken Florentine and Roast Beef)……however, there were some highlights….
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The best man struggled with his toast, as he ventured down the “Reason we’re all here today” path. There was a bit of hemming and hawing and some long pauses before a nice recovery stating that the reason this was happening was so that the marriage could be legitimate in the eyes of the Church. Nice save. He later admitted that he was dying up there and that the whole family had really just had it and were just about ready to start killing, because……
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Apparently there was a rehearsal dinner the night before (which should kill all doubts that this was a renewal of vows). When the father of the groom arrived at the rehearsal he was met with an incredulous “WHAT are YOU doing HERE?” from the bride. Apparently she had decided that, despite not being told of ANY of the plans, they were to have made dinner arrangements and reservations. They were under the impression that they were only to foot the bill, and that all the arrangements would have been taken care of. This resulted in a 70 some odd year old man having to go to one of the most popular pizza joints in town and having to explain to the manager that they needed seating for 35 people in the next two hours. The manager was none too pleased, and this all resulted in an additional wait of an hour after everyone arrived before they could sit. That seemed low, and the retelling of the story was met with many dropped jaws. There’s more.
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While at the reception, the mother of the groom was in the process of rounding up all of the family members for her side of the family. Every time they get together they have a picture taken, which is IMHO important and a cool thing to do. As she was doing it, the bride came up to her and told her that they don’t need any more pictures of each other and that she had informed the photographer that he would not be taking a family picture for THAT WOMAN. The mother of the groom proceeded to grab the bride by her chin, and explained that they WERE going to have the picture taken, and there wasn’t anything that she, the bride, could do about it. Cheers to her for that!
Those are really the main points of interest. It was nice to see everyone (again I love my girlfriends family) and we did have a pretty good time once we got some drinks into us. By the way, we gave $75, which we figured would cover the cost of dinner and drinks. Nothing over that.
Wow. The part that really blows my mind is that they’ve been married for years, yet they expected the groom’s parents to pay for part of it. Did her parents foot the rest of the bill? Sounds to me like this “bride” wanted a wedding just so she could be a bridezilla and rake in the gifts and cash.
Hey, at least you had a good time! Thanks for the report.
You were very generous - in both gift and in spirit. It’s good to see family once in a while. Glad you had a good time.
That is the most tacky thing I have heard of in my life!!!
Well, I’m glad to hear you had a good time.The ideas people get in their heads…