Another Word About Wedding Etiquette

Etiquette does not prescribe how much you should spend. Photo by Peter Coombs.

I have another pithy little quote for you from Miss Manners on {Painfully Proper} Weddings by Judith Martin.  She is here talking about the misplaced notion that etiquette requires spending huge sums of money on any wedding.

Etiquette was portrayed as the villain–the handmaiden of commercialism, whose insidious ceremonial and emotional arguments always favored the spending of extravagant sums of money.  It is made to seem rude to ask prices for commercial services and incorrect to limit wedding expenditures…  Miss Manners is outraged.  Etiquette does not practice extortion.

I’ve touched on this before, so this is just a reminder:  If any wedding vendor tries to induce you to spend more by citing the requirements of etiquette, you can tell them that Miss Manners says that “Etiquette does not practice extortion.”  And then maybe find a better vendor.