Coping with family disputes
by Shari Beck, Sandcastles

One of the most difficult aspects of planning a wedding is trying to handle the opinions of family members, especially parents and grandparents. You want to have your wedding YOUR way, but they have been dreaming of this day since you were born.

In the case of a multi-cultural or interfaith wedding, this problem seems to be magnified. Both sides are afraid that the wedding will not reflect their culture.

In this situation, I always advise couples to listen to the ideas that the families have, and then try to incorporate some of them into the wedding plans.

A good way to do it is this: Have each parent and grandparent write down ONE thing that they absolutely MUST see in the wedding, and plan to include it. That way, no matter what else happens, each of them will have their most important wish honoured.