The Ranty Bride {Liz Lewis}: Vocabulary Lesson #1

Wedding Vocabulary – "Painting the Birdcage" – a symbolic gesture employed by the bride-to-be to regain control of her wedding.

Image Courtesy of: Hurtwood Media

We all have that friend or family member. You know, the one who volunteers to help and actually means it. This person is talented and actually LIKES doing whatever it is – crafting, designing invitations, etc. You desperately need the help, so there's no way you're turning them down.

The problem? They're used to running the show. And you, the overworked and overtired bride-to-be, are happy to have a few decisions you don't have to make. So what if your table runners have morphed into table squares? It *is* less work, after all. No, I guess you really don't need those cute little tins to hold the chalk for your chalkboard mason jar favors. You open the cardboard box that contains your recently ordered antique-looking birdcages, and they're gold, not champagne. "They're FINE," your well-meaning helper argues, and you feel silly for even looking at the can of spray paint you bought to address the issue.

Image Courtesy of: Silke Leffler

Then, slowly, it hits you – your wedding is turning into someone else's vision.

For weeks, the gold birdcages sit silently, mocking you. You go about your wedding planning and crafting, trying to ignore them, but they eat away at your patience daily. Funny, you notice it eroding faster and faster with every helpful suggestion your well-meaning helper gives you.

Then, one day, you can't take it anymore. Despite everything else under the sun that needs to be completed for your wedding, you grab a brush, and in a few glorious swipes, you regain all you lost along the wedding planning way.

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You paint the birdcage. And, dammit, champagne DOES look better than gold.

For a few glorious minutes, your wedding is yours again.