Toxic friends and the wedding

Toxic chemicals are hazardous to your health – and so are toxic friends.  They make everyday life difficult, how do you navigate a special event like a wedding? Let’s look at a few personality types, and strategize.

The Guilt Machine: She makes you feel bad whenever you see her.  You’re not spending enough time listening to her talk about her eternally doomed life.

The Plan:  tell her honestly you have a lot of obligations and need to be around positive energy.  Ask if she can understand your limited availability and see things more “glass half full” or you’ll need to step back for a while.

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Who wants a photo of toxic friends? How about a wedding bouquet instead!

 Envious & Evil:  He “doesn’t like your fiancé,” (= jealous of your committed relationship) so drops references to your wild nights out in Boystown in his presence.

The plan:  Again, honesty (see a theme?) Sit him down and spell it out. That behavior is not cute, and not worthy of a good friend.

Just plain clueless:  She wore an off white dress and a hat with a birdcage veil to your engagement party, and harassed you about all your vendor choices.

The plan: Delegate this one.  There’s probably a no-nonsense mutual friend that can artfully explain the transgressions, get her to apologize and keep her distance until after the wedding.

In the end it’s being honest with the people in our lives who are causing us pain that makes the biggest difference in our quality of life.  Your friend may not fit neatly into one of these descriptions, but nevertheless, get out there, be honest and make your wedding non-toxic!

My Little Flower Shop is the premier Palm Springs florist. We have been providing the finest flowers and event services for weddings, parties and delivery in the Desert Cities since 2010. 

 

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The language of wedding planning for gay couples: bride and groom?

Congratulations to all who got engaged on New Year’s Eve! All over the country there are happy couples now planning weddings that were a mere twinkle in the eye (or jewelry box) a week ago. For so long it’s been a transition from happy pair to bride and groom.  But with the dawn of marriage equality, (cue the heavenly chorus) people of all orientations are popping the question, and the old language just doesn’t fit. So we in the wedding industry need to be conscious.  So much marketing is aimed at “brides,” it can be exclusionary.  We want to be open and helpful to wedding planning for gay couples, too. So I’ve come up with a new term to use in the blog: “to-be-weds.”  Applicable to any couple or individual, it invokes the excitement of the wedding, and the special status of the celebrant.  I don’t think I can cut out “bride” entirely, but my New Year’s resolution is to try and be as inclusive as possible as we move forward in 2014.

Jerry & David - such a happy couple!
Jerry & David – such a happy couple!

You can help!  Are you a My Little Flower Shop newlywed? Send us your wedding photographs for use on our website and blog!  We love all photographs, but are especially building our collection of same sex weddings. All the photographs, regardless of the content, help inspire wedding planning for gay couples all across the country, and the world.

Happy New Year to all, to-be-weds, newlyweds, and all readers.

Live well, and love well.

Dinah