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We will see his family & show off my ring & talk about the wedding plans and hope that no one questions if or why we didn't invite the 25+ children to the ceremony. We have to practice an answer because saying "My parents are not spending over $XYZ a head for your children to come and spit out an oyster and spill their coke." isn't exactly polite. Of course that is the watered down version but it is also the quick version. 

The long version includes the realization that there are a lot of kids between our family & friends, that those kids would increase the reception bill exponentially and out of our price range, the fact that we are doing an appetizer & cocktail reception not a sit down dinner, and of course the food won't even be coming out until close to 8:00 pm. That does not make for a child-friendly reception and frankly, BISMOW and I have an image of something a little more elegant & adult. That isn't to say we haven't been to many wonderful receptions with adorable dressed up children who behaved well and added a touch of whismy to the whole affair- but we just don't think it fits with our overall image of the evening. So, in true Father of the Bride fashion, we cut all the kids from the list. His family, my family, our friends.  No children other than those in the wedding party! Whew. It is fair & equally applied decision but we expect it to cause some family drama this weekend and his family is rather large so if they all come at me at once I know I'm going to just have to play dead. That or beat them off with my rather large wedding binder. 

I suppose this isn't the weekend to tell them that the hotel with the group accommodation rate is out of king sized beds is it? 

There is also the drama of "and guest" and the fact that our wedding guest list has grown out of control and what do you do about your friends who don't have a long-term significant other when you really truly don't have room for them to bring their flavor-of-the-week boyfriend or girlfriend? I'll tell you what we do....we've applied a hard & fast rule of no "and guest" for anyone outside the wedding party whose significant other hasn't been around for awhile or who we haven't met. It might seem harsh but the reception venue is rapidly filling up with people my airline pilot father keeps meeting in airport terminals & on the ski lifts & inviting. (You think I'm joking?) BISMOW & I have experienced such a rush of support from family & friends and we have people traveling to Savannah from China, the Bahamas, Israel & the Philippines to attend and frankly even after we politely un-invite my Father's ski lift add-on's we are bursting at the seams.  This means we are not extending an "and guest" invitation to our single friends and well, I hope no one has hurt feelings over that. 

That and I hope I survive this weekend because Monday is my first day at the new job. 

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