Yes, even before you arrive at the wedding ceremony, you can make mistakes that can drive an engaged couple crazy. Luckily, it's pretty easy to avoid committing these offenses.
Send in your response card late -- or not at all.
If you receive a wedding invitation with a response card, make note of the reply-by date. It's usually a few days to a few weeks before couples have to give their final head counts to venues and caterers. If you don't return the card, expect a call (or a text or an email) from the couple or a member of the wedding party. It may not seem like a huge deal for them to get in touch with you, but it's a pain because you're likely not the only guest who couldn't bear to write your name, check a box, and drop an already stamped envelope in a mailbox with four to six weeks' notice.
See more: If you don't believe in marriage, is it okay to do this to married people?
Change your response after the reply-by date.
Brides get it -- things come up. But you should understand that your plate may already be paid for. It's not so egregious to alter your response before the RSVP date (just don't change again!).
Forget to fill out your name on the response card.
Most couples know to number the backs of their response cards and have each number correspond with a particular guest they've invited (on the off-chance that person neglects to write his or her name on the card). But not all couples do the numbering trick, and the process of elimination can't help if multiple guests return blank cards.
Send a wedding gift without a card, or without signing the card.
For the same reason, this is confusing. Registry items purchased online don't tend to list the gift-giver's return address. The couple probably would love to thank you for the thoughtful gift, but how can they if they don't know it was you who sent it?
Send a wedding gift to an address the couple didn't select.
My friend specified that wedding gifts should be sent to her and her fiance's shared home address. One guest thought she had a better idea: Send it to the bride's parents' home as was the norm in the past -- except the bride's parents moved. The gift almost didn't ever make it to the couple because of issues with setting up the forwarding address (it arrived eventually, worse for wear).
Ask to bring a guest.
If you're friendly with a soul other than the bride or groom at an upcoming wedding, don't ask for a plus-one. To stay within budget, the couple may have decided that unattached folks with other friends at the wedding don't get dates. If you won't be happy going solo, don't go to the wedding. The same rule applies to asking to bring children. If you can't or don't want to get a babysitter, decline the wedding invitation. If the couple absolutely wants you there, they may ask why you can't make it and offer to allow you to bring a date or your kids -- feel free to take them up on it if they do. But in most cases, it's better not to bring this up if they don't.
Now making the Internet rounds: a set of obnoxious emails from a British mother sent to her future daughter-in-law. The subject of the correspondence: the bride-to-be's "staggering uncouthness and lack of grace."
According to the Evening Standard, Carolyn Bourne sent three harshly-worded missives in one day to Heidi Withers, who is engaged to marry Bourne's stepson Freddie, after the couple spent a weekend at the Bourne's family home.
Apparently the weekend did not go as well as Heidi might have hoped, as her future mother-in-law a.k.a. Emily Post Wannabe criticized her manners, her taste and her parents' finances.
Below is the email message that has been most widely circulated, as Heidi sent the email to a few of her own friends, who then sent it across the Internet.
We recommend reading this rude diatribe on rudeness in a British accent to get the full effect:
It is high time someone explained to you about good manners. Yours are obvious by their absence and I feel sorry for you.
Unfortunately for Freddie, he has fallen in love with you and Freddie being Freddie, I gather it is not easy to reason with him or yet encourage him to consider how he might be able to help you. It may just be possible to get through to you though. I do hope so.
The 30-year-old socialite — who will marry basketball star Kris Humphries later this summer — revealed she will start using weight loss supplement QuickTrim again, on which she has previously lost 15lbs, in order to get in shape for her nuptials.
When one of Kim’s twitter followers tweeted her yesterday saying, “On my way to GNC to buy some quicktrim”, Kim responded by writing, “Take some for me! I’m about to start again! Wedding slimdown (sic)”
Kim has also been beautifying herself ahead of the big day by using at home skin care and hair removal treatments from TRIA Beauty.
“I have been using the new @TRIABeauty Laser since they first sent it to me to try & now I’m fully ready for summer!” she wrote on Twitter.
Although Kim has not announced the date of her wedding, the reality TV star and her fiance — who proposed with a 20.5 carat Lorraine Schwartz diamond ring — are said to be eager to tie the knot as soon as possible.
“The wedding will happen within six to eight weeks,” a source said.
