Hubby and I did the courthouse thing nearly a year before the big party. Between that and 'keeping the guest list small' we kept the violence to a minimum. I would suggest that scheme to anyone — especially because thing are surprisingly cheaper when you are a married couple holding a party rather than a potential…

My people! We recessional-ed to Indiana Jones. I thought about doing the vader theme for my walk but I was trying to ease some of the older family members into our weirdness so I didn't. I walked to 'Ladies and Gentleman we are floating in Space'.

My advice to crafty wedding people (from a crafty bride): pick projects that can be done ahead of time.

My sister's wedding centerpieces were (I kid you not) flowering weeds from the side of the road mixed with the 'whatever is in season' bucket from the local farmers market. All in random, rescued jars. It was a rather annoying amount of last minute work to put together but it looked gorgeous.

My aunt's wedding was a semi-potluck affair and it worked out pretty well. She and my grandmother made a few large, staple dishes (hot dogs and burgers, IIRC) and everyone else brought sides and booze. Worked out fine.

There is no contractual exchange of food and alcohol for optional wedding gift and attendance. I've been to weddings that didn't provide food at all, or just a square of fruit cake. Food for guests is optional too.

This is a really good point: families have lots of different wedding traditions. A lot of "it's not really a wedding if . . . " In my family, dance music and alcohol are required and everything else is negotiable. My husband's family didn't mind the music but needed seating for mass conversations about distant…

And when both sets of eyes glaze over, skip it altogether.

And the groom's family. I married an only-child; my mother-in-law was never going to get that shopping-for-a-dress, cake-sampling fun so I invited her along. I also asked her opinion on stuff (cake flavors, invite list etc). She was so thrilled to be involved — which is much nicer than my mother's experience of my…

Easy fix for the overpriced bridesmaid dress: Black and white wedding. My bridesmaids wore black (non matching style) dresses because nearly everyone can find a black dress that looks good on them. You can do any color accents, but a teal scarf is a hell of a lot cheaper than a teal bridesmaid dress — and also a…

We used gloves, specifically those multicolored stretchy gloves that are sold everywhere. Winter wedding, so they were immediately useful and I know at least a few pairs are still in use. Plus, made for some interesting wedding pictures. Much better than those candy covered almonds.

Ours was "how many elephants is that?", after watching one of those wedding hell shows that included elephant rental for an Indian wedding. :) It made for a nice mental reset both for high and low price items.

At no time did the Church or the School state or imply that S.K. was sexually immoral or the like. Yet, reports like this have appeared in the media.

Self clearly doesn't know much about marathoners or their culture. I've only been peripherally exposed because my father is a marathoner (and yes, he has run while undergoing cancer treatment). Some pretty dry things are funny when your chosen sport involves losing toenails and in depth knowledge of urine color to…

I'm wondering why there wasn't someone on the plane who intervened. Flight attendants, fellow passengers, whatever. Kudos for the minor finding help immediately after landing, but that shouldn't be her responsibility alone.

Explaining to a woman that I can't make her a special gluten-free anything in the bakery because literally every surface was covered with flour once the large mixers started up. The only gluten free items are in the freezer and made off-site. I had to re-explain the whole thing to each of the managers she then talked…

I spent five minutes trying to find a peanut-safe alternative for one girl because her grandmother wanted to get her something from the bakery. After listing all available options, little girl decided she wanted the peanut-butter cake and she'd just use her epi-pen if it was a problem.

Another classic is when an item is out of stock and a customer is sure we've got some more in the back but we're just holding on to it because we're either lazy or want it for ourselves. Some people genuinely believe that a shop's sole purpose is to annoy it's customers and that they have to fight us at every turn…

So, #21 is that he knows when you are lying, and #37 says lie to him about how good he is in bed.

This is one of those moments when I wish I owned fleets of aircraft so I could take them to Kenya and just say "get on the plane, the men here are too stupid." Then the men could wander around Kenya marrying as many of the no-women-at-all available as they wanted.