Mother of the Bride Advice: Part II

I know you've been waiting on the edge of your seats for the next installment of Mother of the Bride Advice. Well, wait no more, my dears. Here are a few more life-experiences to smooth your way along the bumpy run-up to the wedding.

Reception-invitation Advice: If you are going to serve your guests a meal in addition to mints, cookies, and wedding cake, make sure you put that on the invitation. Since Bride's wedding was at 5pm and the reception wouldn't start until around 6:30pm, we made the mistake of assuming that guests would understand that "Reception" would include a sit-down meal. We were wrong. A good handful of socially-aware attendees had made other dinner plans. While they did RSVP in the affirmative and they did show up at the wedding and reception venue, they left before the meal was served. All were lovely and apologized profusely for the misunderstanding, but we still paid for a lot of uneaten tenderloin and shrimp. So. On your reception enclosure card, put "Reception and Dinner" (or lunch or breakfast or whatever), not just "Reception" if you are serving your guests a meal. We learned that lesson too late, but the advice can certainly benefit those of you at the wedding invitation-stage of things.

"Hail, Hail the Gang's All Here" Advice: Instead of the traditional recessional for the mothers and fathers and grandparents, we asked our guests to stay in place at the church so that we could get a photo of all the wedding attendees. Of course, Bride, Groom, and their attendants recessed, but the rest of us just stayed put. Bride and Groom exited, came around through the Chapel, signed the obligatory paperwork with the priests, and returned to the church for one big ol' group picture. Now, you can't see everyone, and some folks slipped out for a smoke (I suspect) during this affair, but we now have a wonderful celebratory picture that we will always cherish.

Pre-wedding Attendant Care: Having been to two weddings where groomsmen fainted (it's always the groomsmen, isn't it?), we encouraged all attendants to A) eat breakfast/lunch and/or snack throughout the day, and B) not to drink alcohol before the wedding. We were lucky, granted, that all of Bride and Groom's attendants adhered to the request. I'm not sure what the groomsmen did (The Varsity?), but we had quite the food-fest up in our hotel room that doubled as hair and makeup headquarters. The girls brought fruit and veggie platters, homemade sandwiches, and snacks. No one was too nervous to eat. So keep the blood-sugar level up for Bride, Groom, and attendants, and no one will pass out on you. Or embarrass you in any other way. After all, isn't that what the reception's for?

More advice will come as time and thoughts permit.