Is it just me or do some people just not take RSVPs seriously??? It's as though they just expect that we know they are coming and they don't have to bother letting us know. I wanted people to send their replies in the traditional way "via post" so on the invitation I stated the closing date, August 1st, followed by our home address. Yet some people have decided that facebook and texting will suffice! I really wanted to keep the cards and letters and only my side of the family has made any effort at all. Maybe I'm just being spoiled and picky but since I put our address down I thought that would be a hint.
Another gripe I have is with my OHs uncle. We called him a week ago to invite him and explained that it was on a Monday and he said that it didn't matter which day we were getting married, he would make it. Whilst talking to his mum a few days ago she broke the news to OH that the uncle apparently can't afford the time off work and that he's not coming. Excuse me?! Where was the phone call to let us know?! OH tried to diffuse the situation by saying he may not have known his number and yet when we invited him to the wedding he sent us a text after the phone call to say he had a partner. He could have written to us, emailed?? He's friends with OH on Facebook and so he could easily have sent him a private message, he seems more intent on rambling on about his amazing holiday in Spain. To me, that just seems utterly rude and bad-mannered and because we made an exception to invite him last minute and very soon to the closing date for RSVPs he simply should have let us know.
Then there's the deal with OHs sister. Initially her RSVP was a yes and then last week she decided she wasn't coming. Now initially we were told it was because of an evening class she wanted to join but after a conversation with MIL we have found out that it's actually because on the invitation I stated "We would politely request that guests respect our privacy and ask that photographs and video footage are not uploaded to Facebook or any other social networking sites." The reason? Because we simply do not want strangers viewing our pictures. This statement on the invitation was directly aimed at his sister because she takes pictures of everything and uploads them to facebook, she takes the most unflattering pictures ever and her facebook account is COMPLETELY accessible. She does not have any privacy settings in place and we have certain people in our lives who we do not want to see pictures of us. Now his sister took offence to this rule and has decided that "she would feel uncomfortable not being able to take pictures at the wedding." HELLO?!?!?! Directly above the statement about social networking sites it says "Please feel free to bring cameras/camcorders to the day, we are relying on family members to capture the special moments for us and so the more cameras the better!" I thought I had worded the whole thing pretty well but obviously I haven't. She is taking a strop because I don't want all of her 609 friends viewing pictures of our special day, she can take as many pictures as she ruddy well pleases but I just do not want them on the internet. If she wants to show family why can't she just make copies and take them round to their house?! I was going to upload ONE photo to Facebook for the relatives who weren't invited to have a look at, if I want to show my family I will send copies. Since when did Facebook become such an important part of life? So important to some people that because they can't upload their pictures to their profile they are actually going to miss their only brother's wedding.
Please tell me I'm not being unreasonable?!!?
