My momma, just like everyone else’s, always said, “if you can’t say something nice, keep it to yourself.” Every day social media is making this common courtesy harder and harder to remember. With so much pressure to let followers “know who you really are” and so on, I simply feel like many of us are forgetting our manners. Especially when it comes to sharing our opinions about weddings and wedding design. It’s completely one thing to discuss among your colleagues and associates your disdain for “yard sale” chic weddings or to share that you’re “so over hipster weddings”, but to announce it to the world, is, quite simply rude. I think we’ve all forgotten how significant this day is to the couples planning them. If they want mustaches, mason jars, plastic animals spray painted gold, and so on, well then, that’s their personal style and just let it be. While, I agree, that many of these trends can be irrelevant to the celebration at hand and maybe I personally wouldn’t do them at my own wedding, but it’s simply not my place to make that judgment. And, if I were a bride who did decide she loved mason jars, I would be pretty disenchanted with the wedding industry as a whole to watch so many leaders speak out against my style.
Weddings are personal. The choices made are agonized over for days, weeks and sometimes even months. And, some couples out there simply want a day that feels right to them, whether it’s the most unique celebration in the world or just a lovely party that they created via inspiration from blogs, pinterest and the top designers of our industry. This being said, you wouldn’t walk up to a stranger and tell them you hate their shoes, so why would you ever announce the world, including thousands and thousands of adoring brides that you hate her personal style? Of course, our job is to guide our paying clients on design decisions and help them create a unique and cohesive look. And believe me, with my clients, I can be very vocal about what works and what doesn’t. But for that lovely bride out there, who lives for DIY and is simply trying to pull together a charming day that she truly loves, can we please try to be a little kinder all around? And, maybe, even though we are writing behind the safety of our computers, we can remember to simply mind our manners.
