Manners and weddings

I had a reader write in this week asking the following:

"Just out of curiosity, do the manners tend to be better at small weddings than large ones, or is rudeness completely independent of wedding size? And are more distant friends and relatives somewhat more inclined to be rude than close friends and relatives, or not?"

Great questions! (It is sad, though that we even have to be talking about bad manners, especially at weddings.) Bad manners has no size limit. There is rudeness at the smallest of weddings to the largest. By and by, people just don't have the respect for occasions like they used to. There is no dressing up, no watching, so to speak, of mannerisms, and certainly no patience. Wedding guests seem to want to be fed and catered to on their schedule, forget the wedding couple---this is their time to get free food and drink!

As to answer the second question, I have observed that close friends and family tend to be the rudest. I am not sure why, except to think that being close to the wedding couple gives them a license to butt in, be obnoxious, and demanding. Unfortunately I have seen this over and over again. Maids of Honor who don't even care if they throw the Bride a shower; BestMen who are so drunk, they forget who just got married, and Mothers of the Groom who cry and pout when they don't get their way. It is enough to make a Wedding Planner cry.

Does this happen at all weddings? Absolutely not! But it is becoming more of the accepted norm than ever before. Disturbing, isn't it?