At the risk of sounding incredibly old-fashioned, we have received a wedding invitation.

A beautifully engraved invitation that, when opened, made me want to gag. For within it, along with the normal printed who, where and when, is a list of gifts they want (flat-screen TV, etc) - along with a notation that during the reception, the bride and groom will be having a 'cash gift fountain'.

Egad and tacky, tacky. Or is it just me feeling this way, I wonder?

Yes, it's considered rude to expect gives, let alone put requests in an invitation and send it out-that's what there's gift registries for. I believe that cash should be given in either a card or during the "dollar dance". To make a cash fountain puts guests "on the spot" as it makes them put their monetary gift out in front of others, when they might only be able to afford $10 while the person watching them just put down $50-could be embarrassing.

Of course, this is just MHO, and has nothing to do with the fact that I've photographed well over 100 weddings and planned/organized a few along the way, not to mention the ones that I've been guests at!

That passed by 'tacky' when they wrote up the invitation.

Crass is a better description

I like the description "crass" - much better!

And thank goodness both of you agree with my ugh response to the invitation - was worried things were changing and stuff like this was actually 'acceptable' now - eep!

Thinking about stuff like this - while I realize that it's now common place, I'm always a tad taken-back when one attends a wedding and then is expected to pay for something - for example, drinks. If a host can't afford an open bar or doesn't want to risk a bunch of drunken guests, whatever happened to simply serving only wine or even iced tea.

(Steve, I love weddings - all sorts of weddings, including the beautiful and 'oh my dod!' ones - wanna share some of your memories of all the ones you've been to?)

The best pictures I got at a wedding was done at a castle on an island (Boldt Castle)-simply beautiful shots! The worst wedding I was at the Bride and Groom got into an argument at the reception and the night ended early (they divorced within a year). Other than that it's all work to me when I show up for photos!

Off to discover what I can about Boldt Castle - sounds lovely! Only wish we could see these beautiful shots - drat.

The other couple, divorced within a year - but there seems to be a lot of that 'going around - huge sigh. One of our friendlie's daughters married ($65,000 wedding - eep!) and the marriage made it less than a month. Darn near was enough to make me lament the expensive wedding gift we'd given.