Wedding competition with my soon to be sister-in-law.

Honestly, your wedding day is OUR WEDDING DAY. Be thankful and happy to have found your best friend in life and don't worry about what others do. If that's what she wants then good for her. Focus on your wedding and everything will be okay. It's about celebrating a glorious moment in your life

If you have chairs at your wedding, you win

Really though, you can have two family weddings close to each other as long as your future in laws are okay with it IF They are contributing. If they are not contributing, have it whenever works for you and your fiance

Why is this an issue in which you should do anything? If your FSIL wants to push her wedding up so that she gets married before you do, who cares? And if she decides to have a 'bring your own chair' wedding, what does that have to do with your future wedding?

Honestly, I wouldn't worry about it. She wants to get her wedding in before you, but that doesn't diminish yours (besides, with her moving hers up, she has less time to plan/save up money...asking people to bring their own chairs???).

My suggestions would be to just keep planning your wedding, do your best to just be happy for your FSIL, and don't share any details about what you're doing for your wedding (this way she can't try to use the ideas you have). Your wedding will be special.

And, look on the bright side...she could've scheduled her wedding for the same week or a week before yours... At least she's scheduling it a few months before instead.

This is a non-issue.

Your weddings won't be close together - and if she wants to have her wedding pushed up, don't worry about it. It's her wedding, not yours and hopefully she won't worry about your wedding!

^^ what they said. Not an issue. Yours is far enough away people will be excited for. And give them nice chairs

Buy a chair, set a date. It'll be fine.

I agree with everyone else. Just take a deep breath and relax! Enjoy your day and don't worry about her. As Kate says, if you offer to seat your guests, you're already winning.

My sister got engaged a year after me, then planned her wedding for January when mine was in May (this is my first marriage I'm talking about). At first I was a little pissy, but I quickly got over it. It's two separate events and people can honestly be happy for two separate people.

I planned the wedding I wanted, she planned the wedding she wanted. They were both nice, but different. It was FINE.

I did take notes at her wedding - what worked well, what I wouldn't do, etc. There's an advantage to coming "second."

I sympathize-- I got engaged in September, and in November my older sister announced she was engaged. I was taken aback, since *she* was the one who'd mentioned some old rule about a year between family weddings. On the Bright Side, I found in the end it was a lot of fun to have two weddings being planned at once. Instead of boring each other with wedding talk, when the other one was totally *not* in that space, we were both really interested in each other's details.

So, accept that this is annoying and try to find a bright side.

I sympathize-- I got engaged in September, and in November my older sister announced she was engaged. I was taken aback, since *she* was the one who'd mentioned some old rule about a year between family weddings. On the Bright Side, I found in the end it was a lot of fun to have two weddings being planned at once. Instead of boring each other with wedding talk, when the other one was totally *not* in that space, we were both really interested in each other's details.

So, accept that this is annoying and try to find a bright side.

I agree with Paris. I was engaged first and then my sister got engaged and now she is getting married this November. At first I was a little mad, but now that we are planning her wedding I am taking a lot of notes! Because this is the first wedding in my family (immediate family), my sister has missed a lot of little things. So I know what I need to make sure I have and do so I don't miss things.

May I ask if your SIL is getting married in Iowa?

We had a bride with a very similar story pop up on here a month or so ago. They were expecting 350-400 guests for their farm-style wedding in Iowa. She was debating whether she should have her guests bring lawn chairs or provide chairs for her guests.

Aside from all that. I wouldn't put to much thought in the dates. It's your day so it will be special regardless!

Thanks everyone that made me feel better and I have to start saying our wedding. Also I have noticed how fun it is to plan with her. I was stressed but now I see the brighter side of this. We both are getting married at the age of 19.