2016 and beyond wedding moms and dads (Part 1)

“One person, not to be named, was horrified that my daughter was not planning to have chair covers at the reception.”
Color my guests horrified. I’ve made it clear to D that she is going to “horrify” at least twenty percent of her guests. The rest of the responses will range between snarky and thrilled. It’s the nature of weddings. People have nothing better to talk about.

LOL. D hates chair covers and refused to consider them. Thankfully her wedding venue had very pretty chairs.

Best thing is to have a wedding to the bride and groom and immediate families liking. There will always be some guests who will find something to complain about. Their purpose is only to find fault. Hopefully most are there to share in your happiness and celebration.

Don’t want to offend anyone, but I personally hate hate hate chair covers. So on any issue there are sure to be people with diametrically opposed views, which is why trying to meet everyone’s taste is a fool’s game. I truly doubt they were actually horrified, in any event.

The chairs at S1 and DIL’s venue were provided with the rental and would not work with chair covers. DIL was horrified at the thought of renting different chairs just so we could cover them and put bows on them. My nephew and his wife had chair covers and bows and they looked lovely. She worked for a wedding shop and was able to get them for free!

“I truly doubt they were actually horrified, in any event.” Lol Maybe I used the wrong word. Perhaps aghast would be more appropriate. In any event, the unnamed person brought the subject up on two additional occasions after the first time her future DIL said she did not like chair covers.

I’m not a big fan of chair covers, but after seeing the chairs at the venue today, they will be a 100 percent improvement. ( ugly chairs !!!)

How did the venue viewing go @missypie???

I believe at our wedding, only the table that had parents of the bride and groom had chair covers, but honestly have a hard time remembering all those decades ago. It really didn’t matter one way or another to H or me, but the hotel provided it at no extra charge.

Most of the details didn’t matter much to us. We made decisions we cared about and let folks make suggestions to be considered about the rest. It all worked out fine.

Count me in as someone who thought chair covers were an unnecessary expense. Until I saw the truly ugly chairs. So chair covers it is.

I was at the thrift store recently looking at these pieces of fabric and just couldn’t figure out what they were. Finally got it, chair covers.

For every guest who is horrified and aghast over the lack of chair covers, there will be another guest awestruck and ecstatic over the clean, uncluttered lines of the coverless chairs. :wink: So it’s a wash.

The reception venue was…not as bad as I feared. The actual big room is rather tired and yes, the chairs MUST be covered. (Think of maybe the chairs in a cafeteria at a bus station.) On the plus side, the place has a very nice flow (for the bar, buffet, etc.) and if the weather is nice, there are a couple of nice patio areas. It looks like they’ve remodeled everything but the main room fairly recently.

@missypie -It can help if you can go see the room when it is prepped for a reception. Even very upscale banquet rooms and furnishings can look a little “blah” until they are done up for an event. Linens, tableware, flowers and lighting all go a long way in setting the tone.

True. I think it will be just fine.

I’ve been following this thread for a while, but am now jumping in. :slight_smile: My daughter is getting married to to her long-time boyfriend in Charleston, SC this fall. My husband and I gave them a set amount of money and told them that it was totally up to them as to how they choose to spend it. They wedding will be large and traditional, but they have personalized many of the details to their own individual tastes and preferences. I agree with most of their decisions (and will keep my mouth shut on those that I don’t agree with) - so far, so good. They are happy and excited and that makes me happy.

S and FDIL asked me if I would be willing to do a wedding task for them (of course, one they should have probably taken care of a couple months back!!!) They would like me to call a couple of hotels about reserving a small block of rooms for out of town guests - I really don’t think there will be many and there isn’t a hotel too close to the venue, so there isn’t an easy hotel to choose. There is actually a hotel on the campus where I work so I am going to call them and see if perhaps there is an employee discount or something…any tips or things I should ask when calling about hotel rates/blocks for weddings???

Welcome, southmom. I know about keeping my mouth shut; I am not a fan of traditional weddings at all, and my D is having one. I am trying to support her in having the type of wedding she wants, but happy she is not near me so I am not too involved in the planning.

abasket, my D did her hotel block herself. All I know is that she blocked 30 rooms (we have a large out of town family contingent) and if they are not taken by a certain date, the remaining rooms are released back into the general inventory. If they all get booked, she can add more to the block. She is getting married in a location that has many hotels, and luckily is 10 min from a major airport. The hotel has an airport shuttle, but D and fiance have not yet worked out if or how they will provide transportation from the church to the reception venue. It seems quite pricey, so she was going to see if she could provide Uber coupons for those who will need transportation.

For some, I have found an Airbnb, very near my house. I visited the other day, it’s an entire house (four beds two baths) and will be great for MIL, her two D’s and spouses. @$350 a night in an area where hotel rooms go for $250 it should be a bargain.And it’s very very nice. Three blocks from our house.

@abasket, that was my chore when my oldest 2 ds were planning their weddings. I found that I had to be very persistent in getting the hotel event or group sales manager to maintain communication with me - so much so that if there had been better alternatives available, I’d never have given them our business.

If you’re going through Marriott, they may have an online form to fill out, which for me was a complete waste of time for both weddings. There was never any response, and the individual hotel sales managers said they’d never received it when I followed up by phone. I would check out the hotels online, see if they specify whom to contact for group sales, and call that person’s direct line; otherwise I’d call and ask for the manager. We had much better service through Hilton, but even there communication was spotty and the contract differed from the oral agreement, so we had to work that out.