Newer blog post
more in Blog
Older blog post
Newer blog post by Mrs. Stiletto
more by Mrs. Stiletto (oldest)
Older blog post by Mrs. Stiletto
Mrs. Stiletto's Picture
Mrs. Stiletto, Chicago Age and Occupation: 26, Non-Profit/Fundraising Fiance's Age and Occupation: 26, Engineer and Photographer Engagement Date: March 2, 2008 Wedding Date: September 2009 Venue: The 19th Century Club About Me: My fiance and I love living in the city of Chicago with our cats Basil and Linus, and vow to never move to the suburbs if we can possibly avoid it! We’ve poured ourselves into planning a wedding that reflects our personal style - modern and high contrast with a vintage twist. Blogging keeps me creative, baking keeps me happy, and grande nonfat no foam sugar free vanilla lattes keep me sane.
About Mrs. Stiletto

Change is Afoot

September 3rd, 2009 @ 2:23 pm by Mrs. Stiletto

No, not this kind of change, silly! Now that we’re finally nailing down the details and making decisions for the big day that is just two weeks away, we’ve up and changed so many details that we previously thought were set!

Change is Afoot :  wedding reception Quarter  Source

Head Table

I never thought we wouldn’t have a head table. The head was just… there. Standard. But as I started playing around with our seating charts, I kept on getting stuck. There was no good way to divide people up and have it make sense. I was particularly struggling with who would sit at the table with my parents. Mr. S’s parents won’t be involved in the wedding (a detail I haven’t really focused on, as it’s Mr. S’s personal business) and he has no siblings; my only sibling, my sister, is my maid of honor; I only have one grandparent still with us. So, any other family combination that I could come up with was forever leaving someone else out.

So… I floated the idea to my parents that we would nix the head table. And, to my surprise, they really liked the idea!

Mr. S and I will be sitting at a round table with my parents, my sister (MOH) and her boyfriend, Mr. S’s best man and my grandfather. Perfect. Another benefit is that our wedding party can be seated with their dates, which I’m sure they will all appreciate!

I’ve never liked how after the dinner, the head table always seems to be abandoned. In my experience, everyone ends up going and sitting with their dates and friends. Whenever Mr. S is in a wedding, he’ll come over to the table I’m at and steal my cake! Meanwhile, the piece of cake placed at the head table for him never gets touched (so not fair!).

Bouquet & Garter Toss

Yet another thing I had always planned on doing - the tosses! I’ve had my garter for months (it’s my something blue), and my florist was all prepared to create a toss bouquet for me. But we’ll really have so few single people there… and the more we thought about doing it, the less we really wanted to bother with it. I think you also have to read your crowd - some will go crazy about it and fight for the bouquet (so fun!) and others will be forced up there. Let’s just say that I don’t think there will be any fights over the flower toss at our wedding.

So… the garter will just be for Mr. S and me, and the florist is making some sort of arrangement to go on the escort card table in place of making the toss bouquet. Perfect.

Peek-a-Boo

I have been nervous about doing a first look. Remember? I was debating the pros and cons this summer. This was something that Mr. S really, really wanted. As I start to think about how emotional I will probably be on that day, it’s probably better for the both of us that we do it! Our timeline for that day is pretty set in stone, so it won’t be an extensive photo shoot first look, but rather a, “Hey, how ya doin’ good lookin’?” moment. The ceremony starts at 3PM, I’ll probably get to the church at 2:30, so we’ll meet in a designated spot for a quick hug.

Grand Exit

We were absolutely not going to do a grand exit from the church, where everyone cheers and pelts us with things. That was until recently, when Mom and Dad Stiletto requested one thing from us - pictures with them in the sanctuary after the ceremony. Photographically, Mr. S and I prefer more candid pictures vs. formals, so we hadn’t arranged for any traditional formal pictures in the church. My parents would beg to differ.

So, we’ll exit the church as a part of the recessional and loop around a side door and sneak back in. The rest of our guests will be ushered out of the church around the front steps. Mr. S and I will meet my parents and the photographer in the sanctuary, take a couple of quick pictures, and then exit the church as our guests cheer us on.

We will not, however, be giving our guests anything to throw at us. I am incredibly paranoid about having bits of anything stuck in my hair. Just call me a spoil sport! And, photographers tend to not be huge fans of bubbles because they pop on their lenses… so we’ll give our photographer and her lenses a break! (Also, at the last wedding I attended, people kept on blowing the bubbles in my face, eww!)

Whew. It definitely feels like it’s the 11th hour and we’re changing everything around. But, as we’re just getting those crucial things submitted to our vendors - timelines, questionnaires, head counts - if we’re ever going to change things, it’s right now.

Did you go in for some last minute changes, or did your early decisions still make sense as you got closer to the day?

Tags: reception |
advertisement below
Newer blog post
more in Blog
Older blog post
Newer blog post by Mrs. Stiletto
more by Mrs. Stiletto (oldest)
Older blog post by Mrs. Stiletto

13 Responses to “Change is Afoot”

1.
Jessie516
Hostess
Jessie516 (message)  5,480 posts, Bee Keeper

You seem so calm and organized, despite last minute changes! I think it’s cool that you’re forgoing the Head Table.

 
2.
LatteLove
Hostess
LatteLove (message)  5,587 posts, Bee Keeper

skipping the head table solves a great seating dilemma. Sometimes I wish we’d have done it! It’s great that you can be flexible with all these somewhat last minute changes of mind.

 
3.
Guest Icon
Guest
JJ

it’s so funny to me geographical and social group differences. Here in NYC, I’ve only ever been to one wedding with a head table and that one even included dates of the wedding party and no parents. So I don’t think it’s weird at all to forgo a head table. We are definitely not having one. So way to go! And everything else sounds great too!

 
4.
Bee Icon
Bee
Miss Beagle (message)  1,380 posts, Bumble bee

We’re not doing a head table either and I don’t think we’re going to do a bouquet/garter toss either. Glad to see I’m not the only one. :)

 
5.
Bee Icon
Bee
Mrs. Joey (message)  1,031 posts, Bumble bee

We skipped the bouquet/garter toss too.

 
6.
tea
Member
tea (message)  7,263 posts, Bee Keeper

as a member of a bridal party where i was able to sit with my boy, i’m positive your bridal party will appreciate it! i certainly did!

 
7.
Member Icon
Member
Curlysue (message)  1,703 posts, Bumble bee

We are only having a sweetheart table (even though FI really wants one) because there really isn’t much room and our wedding guest list is very small so it would probably look a little silly. We aren’t doing the tosses either—not enough single people and usually people just aren’t really into them anymore it seems like. I agree on the bubbles, nothing but a mess. My cousin got married last weekend and I swear there was almost a full basket of them leftover that weren’t even used!

 
8.
Member Icon
Member
abride (message)  47 posts, Newbee

Yup, we made a whole bunch of last minute changes the same way. It was like we were finally forced to really decide what we wanted and how it would work towards the end, and in some cases, what we actually had time to prepare for. I hadn’t realized how many decisions I had procrastinated on until I actually had to make them. :)

 
9.
jmc
Member
jmc (message)  882 posts, Busy bee

I’m skipping the tosses, too. As a single girl I always hated the bouquet toss and had to be dragged up there to be a good sport (apparently I am not a good sport!). I always liked the scene from Sex & The City when they go to a wedding and all the ladies just let the bouquet drop in front of them.

 
10.
amy13
Member
amy13 (message)  194 posts, Blushing bee

This post is so timely, as I was just thinking about the head table the other day! We’re a ways off, but we’re thinking that we’re not going to do one either. We’d rather have our bridal party sit with their dates and we would love to be able to sit with our parents and grandparents. Woo woo, two weeks to go, you must be so excited!

 
11.
Bee Icon
Bee
Miss Moonbeam (message)  1,732 posts, Bumble bee

Some things just don’t get thought of until the last minute. But those all seem like logical changes.

 
12.
Member Icon
Member
ms boardwalk (message)  356 posts, Helper bee

i decided on no head table or sweetheart table too, but prefer to sit with the family.

 
13.
Miss Argyle
Bee
Miss Argyle (message)  2,516 posts, Sugar bee

Sounds like we have a lot of the same things planned (no head table, no garter/bouquet toss and a first look). I’m sure it will all work out well!

 

Leave a Reply


You can also just...

Newer blog post
more in Blog
Older blog post
Newer blog post by Mrs. Stiletto
more by Mrs. Stiletto (oldest)
Older blog post by Mrs. Stiletto

Visit our sister sites eHarmony
Online Dating
eHarmony Advice
Dating Advice
Project Wedding
Wedding Songs
JustMommies
Pregnancy Calendar

Copyright 2004-2012, Weddingbee.com
 

Find your vendors on Weddingbee

Real reviews from brides in your area!

Favors by Weddingbee

  • Favors by season

Shop Now »

Mrs. Stiletto
Mrs. Stiletto

Mrs. Stiletto, Chicago Age and Occupation: 26, Non-Profit/Fundraising Fiance's Age and Occupation: 26, Engineer and Photographer Engagement Date: March 2, 2008 Wedding Date: September 2009 Venue: The 19th Century Club About Me: My fiance and I love living in the city of Chicago with our cats Basil and Linus, and vow to never move to the suburbs if we can possibly avoid it! We’ve poured ourselves into planning a wedding that reflects our personal style - modern and high contrast with a vintage twist. Blogging keeps me creative, baking keeps me happy, and grande nonfat no foam sugar free vanilla lattes keep me sane.

Boards
Classifieds

Blog Calendar
February 2012
SunMonTueWedThuFriSat
2930311234
567891011
12131415161718
19202122232425
26272829

Weddingbee Bios
Wiki
More