This year two of my children will be getting married. My oldest son and my youngest daughter. My participation in the weddings will be enthusiastic for both, but, different. Obviously, I’ll have more duties as the mother of the bride than as the mother of the groom.
So, right now I’m assisting with the rather tedious task of building the guest list for our side of the family. I always knew we had a big family, but, GOOD GRIEF! I think some of us took that whole “go forth and multiply” statement a little too seriously. No wonder some people think our family is intimidating! I took a look at the list and was completely intimidated myself!
I am having a bit of a struggle right now balancing my enthusiastic willingness to help with trying not to appear bossy or pushy. The last thing I want is to be the Mom or Mother-in-law who stuck her nose in and became a problem. So, I answer questions when I’m asked, give my opinion when invited and try to be helpful if I can. No one ever tells you when you have these babies that you have to know all this stuff when they grow up. Where’s that owner’s manual I was supposed to get when they were born?
We have one daughter who is already married, but, I can’t rely on experience there. She eloped.
So, what’s the pushiest thing someone did while you and yours were trying to plan your wedding? Maybe I can learn what not to do from your experiences!
I never gave my mom or mother-in-law the chance to be pushy. I eloped. Didn’t even tell them about the four-day engagement. Complete surprise to both.
By eloping, we wanted to avoid the hassle of choosing who to invite to a wedding, plus all the fuss about choosing the right dress, location, music, food, decorations, etc., plus being the center of attention and making toasts. My mother-in-law was a bit disappointed that she didn’t have a role in the wedding, so she threw us a big wedding reception party a few months later. She planned everything and made all the decisions. We just had to show up, be the center of attention, make toasts and cut the wedding cake she got us. I expected the worst because this party seemed like everything I wanted to avoid, but it turned out to be very nice. So nice, in fact, that my mom did the same thing a few months later. It was the non-wedding that was celebrated for almost six months!