Q: We're having a rather large wedding, and my fiance and I are paying for most of it. No one has
Q: We're having a rather large wedding, and my fiance and I are paying for most of it. No one has offered to help pay for the honeymoon, so I was thinking we should take a trip the following year because we are running out of money and want to do it right. My mother thinks I'm crazy. Am I?
A: Not at all. Times have changed! More and more couples are postponing the honeymoon for six months to a year. Their issues are the same as yours -- money and timing. Chances are you can't take enough time off from your job to do the final prep work, get married and take a trip to Tahiti all in one year. Postponing allows you to refuel your finances and energy and bank more vacation days at work. Plus, it will give you something to look forward to since post-wedding letdown can be a bummer. Be sure you give yourselves a few days of R & amp;R even if you can't make the great escape now.
Q: I have a friend whom I absolutely adore and couldn't see not having in my wedding. The problem: He's male. We're so close -- what do I do?
A: So where's the problem? Have him stand up for you -- on the bride's side! If you want him to be your honor attendant, call him the man of honor. If you want him to be bridesmaid level, call him a bridesman. More and more brides and grooms are having close friends of the opposite sex stand up for them, and you know, it's about time. It's no secret these days that women and men can be friends. The nitty-gritty: Your guy should wear whatever the groomsmen are wearing (no, he doesn't have to don a dress). And don't try to make him throw you some girly shower; make sure his role makes him comfortable. Also, let your photographer know that he should be photographed as one of "your" attendants in group wedding-party pictures so he doesn't get shoved in with all the other guys on the wrong side. That's it! So simple, it's almost scary.
Scripps Howard