Wedding Invitations

Parents of both the bride and groom can have a huge influence on the stress levels of the happy couple during the wedding and in the years thereafter, especially of the in-laws don’t get along.

Are you worried the in-laws will contend at the wedding and reception?

Have the in-laws even met but you’re worried they won’t have anything in common or even like each other?

Assuming they have not met yet, might I suggest giving both sets of parents the benefit of the doubt.

Even if you have reservations about your in-laws, try to never ever say anything negative about them to your parents before your parents have a chance to get to know them for themselves. Vise versa. This would put a negative bias in their heads.  

However, if there is something very serious your parents should know, it’s ok to give them a heads up. For example, if your in-laws are a little hot headed about a certain political subject and you know someone may bring it up, you may want to tell your parents to avoid that discussion.

Assuming the soon to be in-laws have already met and they act more like out-laws towards one another, the last thing you want to do on your wedding day is play referee.

Hopefully both sets of in-laws will have the common decency not to cause contention at the wedding or reception, but just incase, here are some suggestions…

1. Remember the expression, “if you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything at all”.  If you tell your parents something negative about the in-laws OR if you tell your in-laws something negative about your parents, it will only fuel the fires and give them  something to gnaw on.

2. Make sure their accommodations are at a different location.

3. Arrange seating during the ceremony and reception far apart from each other.

A note to the In-laws: It would be good wedding etiquette to keep this a happy day and save any disagreements for another time.

Have a wonderful weekend.