ysobel: (Default)
masquerading as a man with a reason ([personal profile] ysobel) wrote in [community profile] agonyaunt2024-10-12 04:43 pm

Wedding booze

Dear Miss Manners: Our daughter is getting married in about six months. My husband and I told her that we would help out financially, and have contributed a significant amount thus far. She and her fiancé have to cover some of the costs, as well. The groom’s parents are not contributing anything toward the reception.

My daughter doesn’t share the same etiquette as I do on certain things. She balked at our wanting to invite seven friends, but then I found out that she invited about 40 more guests than originally planned. She will give all of her guests a plus-one, but was reluctant to do the same for her one aunt.

She chose to have a destination wedding that’s about 90 minutes away from our city. In our area, wedding receptions include an open bar, but she told me that they will only have an open bar for three hours, ending with a cash bar. We offered to pay for the additional hour, as we feel like you should provide for your guests, especially if you are asking people to travel out of town for your wedding (and possibly expect them to pay for lodging for the night).

She won’t hear of it. Their logic for not having an open bar for the full evening is that the groom has one friend who might drink too much. (Just don’t invite him?)

We are feeling a lot of frustration, as she doesn’t accept any suggestions from us and feels that she knows everything. Another relative did this to her parents: insisted that she knew everything, and then ran out of wine right after dinner. Our daughter has told us that she won’t repeat that behavior, but she is showing all the signs of doing just that.

Am I out of touch, or out of line, in wanting to provide an open bar for the guests? I see it as a courtesy, and if we are willing to pick up the additional $7 a person, it is worth it.


MM: Just because someone is paying for a wedding does not mean that their decisions should dominate, Miss Manners has often said. But just because they are the parents does.

Your daughter’s rejection of your generosity is baffling. And her logic that the drunk friend will drink less for the one hour that he has to pay for it is even more so. If your daughter is truly concerned about the well-being of this gentleman, then offer to close the bar and shut down the party entirely after three hours.

Faced with the prospect of ending the festivities early, Miss Manners feels fairly certain she will come around.
cimorene: cartoony drawing of a woman's head in profile giving dubious side-eye (Default)

[personal profile] cimorene 2024-10-13 06:31 pm (UTC)(link)
I think the proposal of the second and third are silly, but the idea that 90 minutes from home constitutes travel is a whole new layer. For plenty of major metro areas in North America you can travel that far without leaving it! People commute that far!
Edited 2024-10-13 18:31 (UTC)
laurajv: Holmes & Watson's car is as cool as Batman's (Default)

[personal profile] laurajv 2024-10-14 01:24 am (UTC)(link)
yeah, two of my sisters got married about 90 minutes from where we grew up, and it would never in my life have occurred to me to call that a destination wedding!

to me, a destination wedding is one everyone *including the people getting married* have to fly to.
katiedid717: (Default)

[personal profile] katiedid717 2024-10-14 05:37 pm (UTC)(link)
My best friend got married about 30 minutes away from where she and her husband lived at the time, but it was 2-3 hours away for about 60% of her guests and as far as 5 hours away for 25%. It ended up basically being a destination wedding because of how many people needed to needed to book hotel rooms.
cimorene: cartoony drawing of a woman's head in profile giving dubious side-eye (Default)

[personal profile] cimorene 2024-10-14 06:26 pm (UTC)(link)
Idk though, if your wedding is close to your home or hometown and most of the guests need to travel because you didn't invite locals, to my mind that isn't really a destination wedding. The term specifically requires that the location is a destination for the couple AND the guests, as well as that it's the kind of travel you do for a trip, like weekend minimum, not the kind that lots of people do for their commutes.
katiedid717: (Default)

[personal profile] katiedid717 2024-10-14 06:57 pm (UTC)(link)
In this case, it was more that the bridge and groom lived in an area they'd moved to after college and the vast majority of their friends and family still lived in the areas where they'd grown up. She had a couple friends from grad school, he had a couple friends from work, but the locals only made up ~15% of the guests.

It's kind of like when my cousin got married in 2001 - she and her husband lived in New Orleans, but her family lived in Connecticut/New Jersey and his lived in Texas/Colorado. So sure, them getting married in New Orleans wasn't a destination for them, but it was for the vast majority of their guests
cimorene: cartoony drawing of a woman's head in profile giving dubious side-eye (Default)

[personal profile] cimorene 2024-10-14 07:54 pm (UTC)(link)
A destination is involved since they are traveling, sure, but that's not what the term "destination wedding" denotes.
katiedid717: (Default)

[personal profile] katiedid717 2024-10-14 07:59 pm (UTC)(link)
I mean, honestly, tomayto tomahto. Language evolves and that seems to be what's happening with the idea of destination weddings too. It might also be a regional thing, especially since I'm in New England and could easily drive through 4 states in three hours 🤷‍♀️