How much to change wedding to accommodate family?

as a formerly devout and studiously practicing religious person, I find it totally absurd that your sister would put whatever religious tradition or ceremony over family. I do not believe that is the essence of any form of religion, except for the ones catering to the crazies. so how close are you with your sister? and what does your fiance think?

Unless Mordy is marrying a man, which would certainly make the religion thing even more interesting.

Mordecai - it's your wedding, you guys are (presumably) shelling out the money, taking the time to organize this thing, etc., stick to your guns and have it on Saturday. Unless, of course, your fianceE is completely fine with changing it, and you want to change it.

Really, if she doesn't come, who will regret it more in ten years? You or her?

It would be fiancée in that case.

Anyway, go forward with your plans. It is likely that there will be others, some close to you or your partner, on your guest list that won't be able to attend due to conflicts. You cannot accomodate everyone. I know nothing of you or your soon-to-be wife, let alone your sister, but this sounds like attention seeking behavior. Your sister isn't the star and she's diverting your attention to herself.

We had a similar issue at our wedding. A number of people from my wife's side claimed that the date we chose would be far better the following week. We chose a date 9 months in advance, before anyone had booked vacations or anything else. My wife's uncle still chose to go on his vacation and missed our wedding, but there was no way I could accomodate everyone. It went on as scheduled and everyone got over it.

Good luck with the planning!
Edited by HansderHund - 9/20/12 at 9:46am

Edit - nm not much to add here

ok, let me get in here for a second- there are two reasons that she wouldn't attend on saturday, and you have to think about which one it is


1. as a religious jew, she can't travel on saturday and so she can't get to the location. that is not a trivial thing, if she simply doen't ever get in a car, and there is no way to get to the location without driving, then she won't be able to attend without breaking her position on her faith. if this is the case, can you find a place for her to stay that is close? that would be the correct comprimise - for the sake of her brother, she should be willing to discomfort herself somewhat - walk a long distance, sleep in a shitty motel, etc. that is perfectly reasonable. if there is no other option, then you have to think about that, too. if you are having your wedding someplace that is simply impossible to approach without a car, and this is the reason that she isn't attending, then she isn't being unreasonable.

2. jews don't, traidtionally, have weddings on saturday. if this is the reason she doesn't want you to, then fuck her.

3. you have to decide what is more important to you - to piss off your sister, and possibly create a tear in your relationship that won't be fixed, or to comprimise, I hate my sister. I tried to comprimise for my wedding, and she still tried to ruin it and pissed me and my wife off. so, if I were you I'd send her an envelope full of shit just to emphasise your position. but you could decide that your relationship is more important.

4. in 10 years, you probably won't see your sister very much, especitally if she is religous and you are secular. you'll talk to her a few times a year, and that's about it. you'll see your wife every day.


so, I lean towards the fuck you side

don't do anything that you don't want just because your sister pissed you off. but, yes, fuck her.

tough postion. On the one hand, it's very tempting to take the money for what is a good and somewhat smart purpose.

on the other hand, it's kind of saying "fuck this, it's such a pain in the ass for everybody, including us, that we're just taking the money and putting it elsewhere. We will maybe let you know if we eventually get married down at city hall". Unless, of course, you just resign to staying together but never actually getting married, which will also annoy plenty of family anyways.


the whole planning process is usually full of snags of all sorts. We basically said "fuck all of these requests" and did our own thing and everybody had a good time (which is the point).

Elope! (Unless your wife will hold it against you forever)

I'm eloping in less than a month's time. Saving tons of money vs a traditional wedding. To appease family we're having a dinner with each side. They're separated by thousands of miles anyway so having people attend was always going to be impractical and we don't want to spend the money.

well, I might not be the most impartial, but I would say you want to make it clear to your sister that you have your own way of understanding your religion, and she has fuck all of a say in the matter.

one thing that surprised me with wedding planning was how willing people were to help out by telling you what they think you should do.