[austinmother]

I want to thank you again for your assistance during my son's wedding this summer. Everything turned out beautifully, and we all had a lot of fun.

Due to our experience in planning a wedding on a budget, several friends have asked for ideas. Our concern is that the young couples seem to think that it is not possible to have a nice wedding without a full bar, seated dinner, dancing and a DJ. They think their friends will be disappointed if there is anything less. This was not true for my son's wedding, but is there really a belief now that budget weddings cannot be nice?

[Wedding Queen and MOG]

Congratulations. I'm happy you enjoyed yourselves and the day went as planned.

It does seem that many couples feel compleled to top their friend's weddings and want "it all". But, I bet with the economy as it's going, there will be many more who will have no choice but to scale down their event.

It's nice to hear of a couple, and a family, who obviously understand that the focus of the wedding is the joy of joining two people, and two families, together. As long as there is a lot of love and respect for that sentiment, you can have a wonderful wedding, anywhere, anytime and on any sort of budget.

If you have any particularly good money saving tips that worked for you, we would all love to hear them!

Thank you for coming back and sharing with us.

[Etiquette Now]

I completely agree. And, I hear from many people who believe that weddings really should be scaled down. Maybe it is a Northern California thing. But, more and more are sharing this sentiment with me.

I hear of weddings earlier in the day to avoid the sit down meal and alcohol, handmade eco friendly favors, and individual cupcakes instead of the traditional wedding cake. Many share with me that they hire high school and college music students to play background music. I believe that if you keep the focus on what the occasion is suppose to be and remember that as host you want to provide for your guests, the event will be memorable. It seems that you know this and your son's wedding reflected it.

Congratulations!