Having a variety of libations on hand to suit the varying tastes (and dietary needs) of your guests is simply hosting 101. Should a wedding guest expect the world served to them on the plate with a Champagne chaser on arrival? Certainly not—they're there because they love you, the party details are a bonus. But many…

Not for nothing, but I feel bad that @Ceraunograph is getting judged for wanting the wedding he/she wants. If he/she and the fiance(e) are willing to wait to plan a wedding until they can afford do it they way they want, that's up to them. Not everyone is into lentils and DIY. And that's OK.

Next time, feel free to order a cocktail. Whether you get a beer or a gold-plated martini, the hosts are paying the same price. Open bars, with rare exceptions, are charged by the head, not tallied by actual drink ordered.

Agreed. Open bar of some kind, even if just beer and wine or one signature drink, and food were at the top of our priority list (of course, we did more like bar food, because my family and friends are boozers—open bar and sliders, fries, mac and cheese, a full-on hot dog cart, etc. Then a cake buffet with 5 kinds of…

Key phrase here; "we'd rather wait until we can afford a big wedding." See, the difference here is that you know what you want, but you will wait until you can AFFORD IT to plan it. Do what you like, do what feels right for you, but don't go into dept doing whatever it is. Good luck!

Wasn't that crazy person who sent the terrible email complaining about the gift basket wedding gift that was in the news a few weeks back also from Canada? I thought Canadians were supposed to be sweet and nice...?

The key here is to spend within your means. If you want to have a BBQ with DIY everything, wonderful. If you want to ride down the aisle on a magical unicorn with a custom diamond horn, excellent. Be yo'self! Just don't go into debt for your wedding. It's fabulous, but it's just a party.

The average is really skewed by people who have really crazy weddings. The median is more accurate reflection and it's about half that—maybe $15K. There was just an article on this somewhere...can't remember where.

That seems inflated. I got married about 3 years ago at a "nice" hotel in Chicago, and it was a little less than half that per person. Separately, how is someone who doesn't speak basic English spending so much money on a wedding? Yes, I am judgey on this. No, I'm not sorry.

Washington didn't say that "taking care" is just a woman thing. She feels Olivia as a character is maternal. And Olivia is pretty parental. She really treats the people who work for her, and some of her clients, like her kids: She picks them up when they've fallen down. She scolds them when they make mistakes. She…

That is correct. July and August (along with January and February) are traditionally leaner months for mags.

I am hesitant to fully judge the specifics of the image, as the one above is a picture of the magazine on a table with another underneath it, so it's kind of distorted. The highlights are caused by a flash, and the magazine is bent. Maybe I'm just optimistic that it looks better in person?

This seems a little tough in this situation considering the offending friend is her mom's best friend, and would no doubt remain in her life in some fashion. She does need to say something to both the offensive friend and to her mom, if only to prep her mom from a barrage of "YOUR DAUGHTER BLOCKED ME" conversations…

I was so happy to be free of Gaga for a while. Now I have to prepare myself for the inevitable "comeback" media onslaught. Ugh.

Yeah, if it had just been the photoshoot, I would have been like, what? But given they did a video of her walking the streets of London, a stand in seems standard.

Yes, there is a big difference between a person reconnecting with a birth family (which I have personally benefited from), and a parent coming back to take a small child they previously gave up rights to. At the time my friends adopted, Russia's regulations were such that a birth parent could not ever legally…

I don't think it's common, but it's definitely possible. I think for some prospective adoptive parents, the idea is too much to bear.

I have a few friends who have adopted internationally, and the reason they went that route was because here in the US, the system is such that the mother can come back at any time and sue to get custody of her child back even if she's given up parental rights in the past. Given the US courts usually favor the natural…

Obviously. Passing the blame is not the way to go. Own up to the behavior, acknowledge the racist behavior, apologize sincerely, promise to educate yourself (and others, since you're a public figure with influence) and follow through on that promise. It's simple.

I think the "someone evil" she was referring to was the woman who brought the lawsuit against her to begin with. That woman is white.