Comments on: Save-the-Dates? No, Really, Save Those Dates!

By: Fabrisse

Fabrisse — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 18:31:07 +0000

I remember when Sally Quinn was the “homewrecker “who broke up Bradlee’s first marriage back in the 1970s. I was reading the Style pages of the Washington Post (I was somewhere between 10 and 14) and she was an up and coming young journalist. Greta’s mother was one of the children from that marriage.

She runs the “On Faith” blog at the Post website now, and her dirty laundry is aired regularly by commenters whenever she tries to make a moral point. On the one hand, I feel a little sorry for her. She’s constantly blamed and it does take two to have an affair. On the other hand, she has the unfortunate tendency to, in the British phrase, drop bricks which makes some of the kerfuffles seem like she created them.

Yes. Save the date cards and entering it on all your relevant calendars if you receive on is a good idea.

By: The gold digger

The gold digger — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 14:43:35 +0000

LBD, that may be the case. I don’t know who Sally Quinn is or what she usually writes about (politics? society?), but I would think that even if others had brought it up, it still would have been better to leave it alone. Or at least leave out the line about the “existing tensions.”

I don’t think it’s a big deal to write about how she handled a scheduling conflict, but I do think it is TMI to discuss the tension between the two families when you are a public figure like that. Surely she could have come up with a diplomatic way to explain why they weren’t going to the granddaughter’s wedding – or better, she should not have offered any excuse at all about why they wouldn’t have gone even there had not been the scheduling conflict. After all, the scheduling conflict and her messing it up should have been enough of an explanation, but she brought in the family dirt so that her screwup wouldn’t look so bad.

Even though I hang the family laundry out to dry on my blog under fake names and although I am pretty sure my outlaws or anyone they know will never ever see it, I still don’t write everything. There are things I would not write unless my husband were dead because they are very much private family crap and I wouldn’t want to embarrass him. (Any more than he is already embarrassed by his crazy parents, that is.)

By: Anne

Anne — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 05:02:58 +0000

La BellaDonna: Other people criticized her in print first, yes, due to the sudden change of plans, since they’re a big family in D.C. “society” and this sort of thing does not go unnoticed. One has to wonder if she wasn’t trying to get that sort of response, what with her history. There are some pretty telling stories floating around of how she handled scheduling conflicts in the past.

And the epilogue: after her column got canceled, she apparently moved her son’s wedding back to its original October date. Which is really very strange if having the baby in wedlock was so important to trigger the move in the first place.

By: La BellaDonna

La BellaDonna — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 21:54:34 +0000

Gold Digger: I thought that Ms. Quinn had responded in print, because other people had made comments, allegations, etc., in print. It was my impression, possibly mistaken, that her hand had been forced, and she wrote what she did to protect/defend her family from smears, not to throw them in front of the train.

By: Anne

Anne — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 14:55:19 +0000

Fun fact: This is the article that got Sally Quinn’s column (which some of you may know from the whole Clinton mess back in the day, or the time she took communion at a Catholic funeral despite not being Catholic) canceled.

While the sentiment of save-the-date cards is a smart one, one has to doubt the sincerity of the article, considering the whole back story with Ms. Quinn’s own marriage.

By: SusanC

SusanC — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 21:35:14 +0000

Yes, it seems like there’s an interesting back story involved.

In situations where families and associates are going to be upset because you were soooo cruel as to schedule your wedding to create a conflict with another wedding (or anniversary party or whatever)…. I recommend elopement.

By: The gold digger

The gold digger — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 13:15:04 +0000

LBD – You actually raise the bigger issue. Why was she writing about this stuff in the first place? I would definitely put this in the category of private family business or, to be more direct, dirty laundry. Yes, I air mine in my blog, but I use fake names and I am not a nationally syndicated columnist.

By: La BellaDonna

La BellaDonna — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 19:50:23 +0000

And here I was thinking: Oh! How AWFUL! Why should they be driven to put IN PRINT that there was tension in the families!?

Something like that I consider painful and PRIVATE. Ugh. Those poor people.

By: The gold digger

The gold digger — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 15:45:16 +0000

Greta’s mother and I came to an understanding that, because of existing tensions, it would be best for all if none of us attended Greta’s wedding

What was the tension? What was the tension? Oh come on! You want to know! Why would Greta’s own grandfather not go to her wedding?