Son had a large wedding and reception but because it was in the afternoon, no dancing. But if we did have a song it would be Celine Dion's "Because You Loved Me." His small high school graduating class sang that to the parents then they gave the mom's a rose. Talk about crying! DIL knows what a close knit family we are and she loves how close I am to my son's. Now that she's a mother of a son she really understands the special bond between son and mother which is not like the old saying goes, "A son is a son until he takes a wife, a daugther is a daughter for the rest of her life." Heck, I still get onto my children! I'll always remember Barbara Bush speaking about Jr., "Just because he's the President doesn't mean he can put his feet on my coffee table!" lol

It is an important day for sure, but Auntjen made some great points. Here's some stuff we did for my daughter's wedding and it was a beautiful ceremony and great fun at the reception. - Dress on sale--that should be a given. Daughter made her own veil with a ring of flowers from Michael's and tulle. - Bridesmaids (only 2) dresses were made by groom's grandmother at minimum cost. - Kept guest list to mainly family (86 people). - Found a florist--a young girl with an impressive album of her work that did the chapel and reception (not in the same place) for practically nothing. It was beautiful. - Wedding was at 1 p.m. followed by the reception, so we had a couple of canapes (including some really good crab somethings) followed by finger sandwiches, beautiful strawberries dipped in chocolate, veg. platters and other finger food. Too early for a big dinner. - We served beer, wine, sodas, water and coffee. Mixed drinks were available, however. - The reception was held at a hotel on the water and the reception room had french doors leading out to a deck where they set up the bar. Nice water view. The hotel was new and they were looking for repeat business or hoping for new business from the guests. - No band. They didn't want one since they don't dance. There was music, just no band or DJ. - No favors. Don't know how that custom got started, but I don't buy it. - Splurged on the cake. Man, it was good! People are still talking about that cake today. There wasn't a single piece left and it was a big three layer. The whole thing was way under $2500. Granted it was 14 years ago, but it was inexpensive even for then. Whatever you decide, I hope you have a wonderful wedding and life. Enjoy!

I do not mind normal noise from 7am to 11pm, after that I do not think it is too much too ask for people to be a bit quiet, taking loud phone calls any time of day in the hall is really a nono to me. If we are staying somewhere several days, I pick a nicer hotel. If it is just for a night, I am not as picky. Really it does not matter much if it is a pricey place or not, people are rude everywhere. Pudgeder, in Tahoe we had a room next to the laudry room and we were like 'oh no'. It was one of the quietest rooms we had ever been in. I think they must have insulated it more. I made note of the room # for future stays. I used to worry about being in a room next to dogs. Now I prefer it, esp if the dog owners are older, they are the most polite and quiet people and the dogs are so sweet.

I heard on tv somewhere that her dress was silk cotton lace - that sounds soft and lovely to me. I can't get enough of the pictures of the entire wedding party and guests LOL, not sure why it has such a fascination to me. I also remember being entranced with Diana at her wedding and afterwards when her babies were born, I just never got tired of seeing them. I also fondly remember following Tricia Nixon Cox and Julie Eisenhower when they were married, and I even took a day off from work to watch Tara and Phillip get married on All My Children (that was pre-vcr recording days)! I'm sure when I put my mind to it I'll remember some more weddings that fascinated me. Oh right, Jenna Bush Hager just popped into my head. And Katie Couric's second wedding looked lovely! I guess I could keep going!