Chaska Herald - planning - Comments

I got married for the first

Ruth Anne Maddox — Tue, 27 May 2008 16:48:38 -0500

I got married for the first time when I was 24 (too young). It lasted almost eight years.

I got married the second time at 39 (too young) and will celebrate my fifth anniversary on Thursday (without pomp and circumstance since my husband will be working a double).

My daughter just turned 19 on Saturday. She is DEFINITELY too young.

The only advice I have for newlyweds is: Throw away the credit cards! Save for the things you think you need to have and then buy them when you have enough money.

Right now, we are working on a "king-size bed fund." Personally, I'm fine with a queen-size bed but my husband seems to think we need more room since we share the bed with two dogs ;-)

If your name was Katie

txaggie94 — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 21:30:05 -0500

If your name was Katie Carty, you'd change it pretty darn quickly. I was at the social security office at 8:00 AM the day I got back from my honeymoon to get my name changed. Next stop (10 AM, June 30, 1999) was the driver's license office. And then I spent the rest of the day faxing my marriage certificate to airlines, credit card companies, and my employer.

My point: being Katie Tierney is highly preferable to being Katie Carty.

There was, however, a drawback. When I re-entered the workforce after having taken a 6-year "vacation" to have 4 little kids, I had to use both my names, because many of my colleagues only know me as Katie Carty. So professionally I am now known as Katie Carty Tierney.

And this whole comment helped you exactly zero. :) (For the record, I'd at least go with the hyphen - your future children will appreciate it).

-Katie

I've never understood why

Mollee Francisco — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 16:38:48 -0500

I've never understood why people put scales on their wedding registries. Like I want to be the person who gets you the gift that you'll later swear at and stomp on when you've put on all that post-wedding (aka blissful marriage) weight. No thanks.
(Mollee Francisco is a staff writer for the Chaska Herald. She can be reached at mfrancisco@swpub.com.)

Nothing says "Wishing you a

Mollee Francisco — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 16:37:04 -0500

Nothing says "Wishing you a lifetime of happiness!" like a toilet plunger and matching snake.
(Mollee Francisco is a staff writer for the Chaska Herald. She can be reached at mfrancisco@swpub.com.)

People are extremely

Jmarie — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 16:16:07 -0500

People are extremely generous when it comes to giving wedding gifts, so go ahead and register for that Kitchen Aid mixer (it is so worth it!), or the things that you would love to have but don’t have the money to buy yourselves.

Worst Bridal Gift ever! A toilet plunger & matching toilet snake. No Lies! The Bestman in our wedding decided to leave this gift behind (no pun intended), wrapped in Christmas paper. Thankfully, my husband and I have a great sense of humor, but try opening & explaining this gift to your parents, grandparents, and other family members that have gathered to watch you open all the other wonderful gifts...

I LOVE the idea of an

lori carlson — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 15:10:17 -0500

I LOVE the idea of an anti-registry! If only it was socially acceptable to tell people what NOT to get you for a gift!

I don't want to get your hopes up, but I will say that my husband and I were absolutely stunned by how generous people were when it came to our wedding, both with registry gifts and cash. People we don't even know that well had no problem writing out $100 checks or going overboard on gifts! I guess everyone loves a wedding (or at least pretends to)!

Your blog is bringing back

steinie — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 14:45:06 -0500

Your blog is bringing back the good, the bad and the downright ugly memories of wedding and shower gifts gone bad - my own included. Worst gift - make that the worst two gifts - I ever saw someone receive was at the same shower in 1987. I was the maid of honor who joined my friend, the bride, at the "church ladies" wedding shower held in her fiance's hometown. Now I'm as small-town as they come, but even I had to hold back the hysterical laughter when I saw my friend try on the worn-before "barn chore coat" - complete with work gloves, twine and a cap - that was presented to her by two of the neighbor "ladies" in attendance. And it was no joke, as I first thought. They seriously gave her a chore coat - because "she grew up 'in town' and most likely didn't have a decent coat to wear outdoors or in the barn." Here's the hook: my friend and her fiance WERE NOT going to live on the farm or in the barn.
Same shower, a couple of floral wall hangings later - my friend opened a shoe-sized box and smiled as she removed an embroidered dish towel. I smiled back, and prepared to add "dish towel" to the gift list I was keeping for her. That's when I heard her whisper quietly to me to look and not laugh - under the dish towel was a small can of black pepper (seal broken, visible pepper on the white plastic top) and a bottle of Watkin's vanilla flavoring (seal broken, vanilla stain on the cap). Thankfully, the ladies were too busy admiring the previous gifts to notice that my friend and I had quickly turned our faces to the church wall behind us, in a failed attempt to control our disbelief. We would have felt bad about our outburst of laughter, had the 'giver' been of old age or otherwise ... but she was neither. She was a middle-aged church lady who made a most unforunate first impression with her boxed and bowed used kitchen goods!

Best wedding gift we received and, in turn, have given (disclaimer: given to the 'right' couple who have "everything and aren't easily offended") - a case, as in like 150 rolls, of toilet paper. I don't think we bought Charmin during our first year of marriage!

We had planned on "In My

jennyjean4 — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 15:26:00 -0500

We had planned on "In My Life" by The Beatles for our first dance, but for some reason we couldn't find it. So I had them play "It's a Beautiful Day" by U2 - it surprised my husband when it started, but by the end of the dance I remember him just swinging me around - my feet off the ground and everyone else seemed to disappear for a moment. The song was sort of ironic too, since we had one of the biggest blizzards in recent years that day, but the snow was beautiful.

Luckily, I have been unable

Ruth Anne Maddox — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 15:05:23 -0500

Luckily, I have been unable to learn any version of the slide -- a cousin once tried to teach me; my husband has repeatedly tried to teach me; people I don't know at weddings have urged me to "just watch what I do" but I cannot do it.

I vote for Eric Clapton's "Wonderful Tonight" for your it song.

That said, I have no clue what I danced to at my first wedding with hubbie #1 but I do remember that I danced a polka with my dad for the father-daughter dance (what can I say? I'm Polish). I didn't have a reception to speak of after wedding #2 but I'm sure it would have been John Mayer's "Your Body is a Wonderland" ;-)

One of the few songs I have ever seen my mom dance to is "Celebration" by Kool & the Gang. There's just something about weddings and alcohol...

Watch out Macarena, and

Jmarie — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 14:56:03 -0500

Watch out Macarena, and Chicken dance, the Cha-Cha slide is taking over as the new reception favorite!
“SLIDE TO THE LEFT… SLIDE TO THE RIGHT…KRISS CROSS.” It’s infectious. (Cha-Cha is an updated rip off of the always-popular Electric slide).

My friend's husband was

Mollee Francisco — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 13:51:10 -0500

My friend's husband was visibly hurt when I told him the "Chicken Dance" would not be played at our wedding. He declared that a wedding isn't a wedding without the "Chicken Dance." Personally, I've never understood the fascination with dancing like a chicken. Who came up with this in the first place???
(Mollee Francisco is a staff writer for the Chaska Herald. She can be reached at mfrancisco@swpub.com.)

Some songs become so big and

Mark Olson — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 13:40:35 -0500

Some songs become so big and obnoxious that they burn out like supernovas. However, these same songs always find a second, much longer, life at wedding dances, notably:
* Macarena
* Who Let the Dogs Out
* Mambo No. 5

If this site had a buzzer,

Mollee Francisco — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 13:28:19 -0500

If this site had a buzzer, you would hear it right now. That suggestion is being rejected. In fact, you can consider that a newly inducted member of the DO-NOT-PLAY (I don't care how much they're willing to pay you) list.
(Mollee Francisco is a staff writer for the Chaska Herald. She can be reached at mfrancisco@swpub.com.)

"I knew the bride when she

Mark Olson — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 13:16:39 -0500

"I knew the bride when she used to rock 'n' roll."

I think the "no children"

lori carlson — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 14:45:37 -0500

I think the "no children" rule is perfectly fine. It's your day. Other people have to realize it's not about them!

There were kids at our wedding, which was at a smallish mansion, and it got a little crazy at times, though to the parents' credit, they stayed relatively well-behaved.

But I completely understand why kids might not be invited to a wedding. Not only is it chaotic for the adults, it sure isn't much fun for the kids, either. What kid wants to spend more than half a Saturday sitting in church or some other location, having to be quiet, then stand in a long receiving line with his or her parents, then be forced to eat some variety of dry catered chicken, then be repeatedly hollered at by adults to "behave"? Sure, the dance is fun, but that's a lot of behaving to do just to get to the fun part!