Spin-Off from Wedding Vent Thread

[Bianca and Bernard]

• Year: 1999
• Planning: We planned it all (what little there was to plan) with help from the wedding chapel manager.
• Venue: Wedding chapel, and small get together at our house
• Style: informal
• Finances: OOP I borrowed the dress (a simple knee-length tea dress), bought some flowers to carry (all the flower shop had were carnations, LOL), made a cake (2 layer, nothing fancy). DH wore a nice shirt and tie.
• Attendants: MOH and Best Man (married friends) plus flower girl (DD#2) .
• Guests: 10 or so, no out of town family, all friends
• Kids Included: yes
• Pre-Wedding Events: bachelorette party the night before, DH had his bachelor party 2 weeks before
• Post-Wedding Events: None other than having cake and drinks at our house for about an hour. I sent the leftover cake with our friends who were taking DD#2 for three days (then passing her off to our other friends for the next 3) before going on our way.
• Honeymoon: 6 days in Reno, NV. We ate, drank, gambled, did adult stuff, and came home with more money than we left with.

 

[mickeyboat]

• Year: 1992
• Planning: I planned most of it wih my DH, my MIL and my mom. I was in college in NC and the wedding was in Vermont, so I needed a lot of help. We were engaged for two years.
• Venue: Local Catholic Church, country club reception We decorated the church with flowers and altar bows, and the reception tables with floating candles and chocolates. We had a cash bar and a mimosa toast. We used the same photographer and florist that DH's three older sisters had used.
• Style: Traditional, my parents renewed their vows during our ceremony as they had been married for 25 years.
• Finances: My parents gave me a set amount, which paid for my dress and the reception. DH's parents gave us a set amount which paid for the honeymoon, and they hosted several events. We financed the rest, which really wasn't much.
• Attendants: 2 bridesmaids, 3 groomsmen. It is a long story. They paid for their own dresses and shoes, which I thought at the time they could wear again, but who was I kidding? They both had to travel to get to the wedding. The groomsmen paid for their own tuxes.
• Guests: 75
• Kids Included: We did not invite any, but DH's cousin brought her daughter. It was no big deal. Our little nieces and nephew came to the end of the reception for some photos and dancing.
• Pre-Wedding Events: My MIL threw a shower, my mom's work threw one, and my bridesmaids threw one. My MOH hosted a college kids bachelorette party which was a blast. DH's Best Man was his father, so his bachelor party was at his house, and pretty low key. DH's parents hosted our family's out of town guests at a BBQ at her house on Thursday night, and the rehearsal dinner at the restaurant where DH and I had our first real date.
• Post-Wedding Events: My in laws also hosted a party at her house the evening after the wedding, and a breakfast on Sunday morning where we opened our gifts. I had wonderful in laws.
• Honeymoon: One week on St. John, USVI.

 

[brooke789]

• Year: 2004
• Planning: I picked the location. My Mom did everything else!
• Venue: Planned: Beach Actual: Hard Rock Cafe
• Style: Very casual
• Finances: I paid deposits, my dress and things. My Mom paid for reception. Don't remember how we ended up paying in TN.
• Attendants: None
• Guests: 75 RSVPs
• Kids Included: I don't think we had anyone on our guests list with kids below teenagers.
• Pre-Wedding Events: None
• Post-Wedding Events: None.

So, what actually happened is there was a hurricane headed straight for where we were getting married. We were under an evacuation. The place holding our reception boarded up and closed. We had to call all guests and tell them not to come. We still wanted to get married and drove to Gatlinburg, TN (the only place anyone could think of where you could get married the same day) and were married in the Hard Rock Cafe!

• Honeymoon: Non quite - we spent a few more days in the town where we were married.

 

[powellrj]

• Year:1978
• Planning:My mom and I
• Venue: Family Church
• Style:small church style. Had reception in church basement with a buffet dinner prepared by my mom and her friends at the church. My Grandfather was a professional baker so he made the cake.
• Finances: Parents paid for wedding and in-laws paid for rehersal dinner at a local bar.
• Attendants: 2 bridesmaid, 2 grooms men
• Guests: 75+ Didn't do RSVP and invited church so I wasn't sure exactly how many came.
• Kids Included: yes
• Pre-Wedding Events: Attendants and I met up with DH and his grooms man at our new apartment and spent the evening just hanging out. I had several showers in the weeks before, but no bachelorette or bachelor party. Dh worked the morning of our wedding and then got the the car washed. I got up and just got ready on my own. Did my own hair, make-up and nails. People pretty much all did their own make-up and nails in those days. I had a Dorthy Hamill hair cut so there really wasn't anything to do.
• Post-Wedding Events: We took pictures at the church after service and then went to the basement and ate and opened gifts. We went to my house and changed clothes and then went back to the church to help clean up. The ladies at the church sent us on our way.
• Honeymoon: We only had 3 days so we honeymooned in Dayton OH. We did stay at a hotel that had a big golf outing that weekend and President Ford and Bob Hope were both staying there.

When and where we got married, girls got married young and it wasn't common to live together before you got married. It was old school where you went from your parents to your husbands house. I lived at home for college. Going back to reunions, most of the kids that were couples in HS that got married are still married today almost 40 years later. Many of the weddings were just like ours. Its not that way today.

 

[focusondisney]

• Year: 1978 (Yep, I'm OLD!!! Lol!)

• Planning: All me! My parents were happy my DH & I were getting married, but my mom just wasn't interested in planning a wedding. I was right out of college, she expressed that she had expected me to live at home & pay board for awhile(!) before getting married. My dad loved my DH & was thrilled I was marrying him tho.

• Venue: Afternoon ceremony in my church. Evening reception in church hall. Drove around in paper flower decorated cars & did pictures in between. DH,s stepmom did put together a little snack/ drink setup for wedding party in between, which was very nice of her. My parents went home for a nap (!). No, they weren't old- late 40's.

• Style: Traditional best describes it I guess.

• Finances: Father in law paid for the liquor (we had beer, wine, whiskey & vodka), my parents paid for caterer (no hor dourves. Dinner was family style.) DH & I paid for everything else: my dress, flowers, invitations, band, favors, cake, hall etc.

• Attendants: Our siblings plus a few friends of DH as groomsmen (we have more sisters than brothers)

• Guests: Mostly family, some friends. About 150 I think, can't remember exact count.

• Kids Included: Yes, I was very close with my young cousins. Plus we both had siblings under 18. We probably had 15 kids under 18.

• Pre-Wedding Events: I had a shower in the same church hall thrown by my mom & aunts. My mom did all the cooking & serving. We did pizza & wings for our rehersal dinner at the hall as we decorated it after the rehersal.

• Post-Wedding Events: None

• Honeymoon: I forgot about booking a hotel room for night of wedding til about a week before. There was a professional sporting event near our town that night so the hotels we wanted were fully booked. So we spent the night in our apartment. I had just started a new job 3 months before wedding so I had to be back to work 4 days later. We drove to Toronto & spent 3 days in a nice to us hotel there. We did do a week at a Pocono Mountains honeymoon hotel for our 1 year anniversary.

All in all, we had fun. But would have loved my mom being more excited & involved. She even seemed resentful at times. Explains why I wa so happy to participate in my kids weddings. We gave money, no strings attached & gave whatever help or input we were asked for. And made sure to always be enthusiastic & supportive.

 

[smiths02]

• Year: 2002
  
• Planning: DH and I were engaged with plans to marry when I finished college (2003). He finished college in 2001 and went to boot camp to be in the USMC Reserves. September 11th happened when he was in boot camp. I knew we had to get married asap because I knew he would be called up. He finished basic training and MOS training. I called the courthouse in Alabama to find out dates that corresponded to when I would have a long weekend from school.
  (Alabama was the closet place that didn't require blood tests, and I didn't want to wait for blood tests)
  
• Venue: Courthouse
• Style: Ummmm....Alabama courthouse
  
• Finances: DH already had a suit. My suit was bought with a JC Penney gift card I got for Christmas (it was like $40) His parents sent us $1000 which we used towards the honeymoon.
  
• Attendants: none
• Guests: none
  
• Kids Included: No
• Pre-Wedding Events: We picked up wedding bands
  
• Honeymoon: We spent 3 night at Callaway Gardens.
  
• Wedding Shower: DH's mom secured the church fellowship hall (free) and bought us a grocery store cake and some finger foods. A few family members and church members came. This was a few weeks after the marriage ceremony. MIL probably spent less than $150 on food and decorations. This was much more like a wedding shower.
• What I Would Change: Nothing. At that point in our life, we were poor college (just out of college for DH) kids. We took care of all our living expenses and had no debt, but we didn't have $25,000 just sitting about. If parents could have spent $25000 on a wedding, I would have asked for a car or down payment for a house instead.

 

[apirateslifeforme]

• Year: 2011
  
• Planning: DH and I did the planning, with our moms and vendors offering their suggestions as well.
  
• Venue: Everything at a country club - ceremony in the same room as the reception; guests sat at their tables and the cocktail hour began right after the ceremony ended.
  
• Style: Informal, I guess? DH, his brother and father still wore tuxes. I wore a purple dress (technically a mother's gown). My SIL wore a knee-length dress with a black shirt-style top and full silver skirt. Our moms wore formal pants outfits.
• Finances: Everyone just paid for what they wanted to pay for and could afford (we kept it low-budget because our intent was to pay for it all ourselves, but our parents did want to help).
  
• Attendants: DH's brother was his best man, DH's sister was my MOH. His three nieces were our flower girls and SIL (his brother's wife) did a reading.
  
• Guests: Including us and the family, 55.
  
• Kids Included: The three nieces, plus the two children of a few of my friends.
  
• Pre-Wedding Events: A bridal shower for me, and I think DH went out to dinner with his brother one night (or to a concert, I don't remember). We had a rehearsal at the country club and then went to dinner and a nice restaurant with the family.
  
• Post-Wedding Events: Nothing. We drove home in dress and tux with a car full of gifts. DH was asleep in his chair in front of the TV within 2 hours (the whole event was from 11:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.).
  
• Honeymoon: Four days in Las Vegas.

 

[marthachick]

Year:1983

• Planning:My mom and I

• Venue: Family Church

• Style: Small church wedding. We had a "Cake cutting" after rehearsal with cake, mints, nuts, punch, etc. No reception after wedding. That was kind of the tradition in our area.

• Finances: Parents paid for flowers and cake. I paid for my dress and hat ($325) and other items. No rehearsal dinner.

• Attendants: 3 bridesmaids, 3 grooms men, +1 junior attendant of each

• Guests: 75+ Didn't do RSVPs and invited church so I wasn't sure exactly how many came.

• Kids Included: yes

• Pre-Wedding Events: Showers from both families in homes. Church shower in fellowship hall. Everyone did their own hair and makeup except me. No bachelor/bachelorette parties.

• Post-Wedding Events: None. We left immediately and went home.

• Honeymoon: Left the next morning to go to the beach for a week.

Celebrated our 33rd anniversary last weekend.

 

[Minnesota!]

o Year: 2000

o Planning: I think it was me, my mom, and my husband. My dad had just died and it is a bit foggy. I know my mom was with to get the dress, cake, and reception location.

o Venue: Catholic Church for ceremony, gorgeous hotel ballroom on the river for reception.

o Style: Um, I guess formal? Like I said, religious ceremony, reception had cocktail hour with beer/wine/mixed free, tons of appetizers. Then a buffet dinner of some fancier things (I cannot recall what – I know it wasn’t the traditional roast beef/turkey, though.). After that, open bar for beer/wine/mix ins. Lots of dancing..

o Finances: I paid for my flowers and pictures and my mom paid for everything else.

o Attendants: MOH and 2 Best Men, 5 bm/5 groomsmen

o Guests: A lot…200+ invited? I think it was right around 200 that showed.

o Kids Included: Yes. I don’t think I have been to a wedding where kids were excluded. It’s not done around here..

o Pre-Wedding Events: Bridal showers (3?)…huge rehearsal dinner at Buca. YUM!

o Post-Wedding Events: Hotel where reception was. Gift opening in our apartment with us and my new MIL the next day

o Honeymoon: Vegas for 2 nights a week later. We were young and broke.

 

[NCRedding]

Year:1989

• Planning:My mom and I, but we both agreed not to micromanage. For example, I hired the musicians I wanted, and other than the processional, and recessional, I told them to pick the music. I told the florist how much I wanted to spend on bouquets, and showed them the dresses, but let them decide the rest. It made it so much less stressful.

• Venue: Family Church and country club

• Style: Formal evening church wedding. Reception at country club with great band, heavy hors d'oeuvres, beer, wine and champagne

• Finances My parents paid for the wedding and reception; I paid for miscellaneous gifts for bridesmaids, etc.; DH's parents paid for rehearsal dinner, our honeymoon, and paid for all the out of town guests hotel rooms.

• Attendants: 6 bridesmaids, 6 grooms men, 2 ring bearers (my nephews)

• Guests: about 275 attended

• Kids Included: yes, we had a nursery at the church, and then had a kid's table with attendants at the reception. Most of the children were family members.

• Pre-Wedding Events: Showers from family and college friends. Rehearsal dinner for wedding party and out of town guests the night before. After the rehearsal, the college friends went to DH's apartment to get together. Traditional (at that time) southern bridesmaids luncheon, featuring homemade chicken salad. The day of the wedding, DH's aunt hosted a burger and hot dog lunch at the country club. Everyone did their own hair and makeup. No bachelor/bachelorette parties.

• Post-Wedding Events: We left the reception about midnight. My family and friends stayed until about 1, then went to the hotel and continued to enjoy some activities, until politely requested by the hotel to end said party. The parents hosted a brunch the next day for out of towners, while my college friends nursed their post wedding hangovers at Shoney's which was our usual tradition at wedding.

• Honeymoon: DH and I drove to the Marriott at the airport for the first night, then left the next day for Europe, where we drove around Germany, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, and Belgium for two and half weeks with no written itinerary, no hotel reservations and no cell phones. I'm not sure how anyone would have gotten in touch with us if they needed to. Oh, and I wrote thank you notes on the plane, coming and going home.
• Changes: I don't think I would change a thing. It was fairly relaxed and stress-free; everyone appeared to have a good time. I do remember being disappointed when a fairly large percentage of people left after the cake cutting, but those who remained made up for it. We had a blast.

 

[Minnesota!]

Post-Wedding Events: Road the bus from downtown St Paul to downtown Minneapolis (the back, ala "The Graduate"), and had dinner at a restaurant.

I think that was the 16 bus? I have taken it many times...

 

[pryncess527]

• Year: 2004
• Planning: TheKnot.com baby!!! The only way to plan a wedding in the mid 2000s
• Venue: Destination Wedding, of course! We spent a week in Tuscany.
• Style: Weird combination of formal and casual, tbh. The ceremony was formal, but my bridesmaids wore flip flops, for example. Italy lends things a formal air, but we had a very relaxed group. And my motto for the week was, "No matter what goes wrong, at least we are in Italy! how bad could it be?"
• Finances: My mother generously paid for the entire wedding.
• Attendants: DH just had a best man. I had an Maid of Honor, Matron of Honor, and 5 bridesmaids ;p
• Guests: 30 total guests (so yes, my bridal party made up like 20% of the guests)
• Kids Included: Since it was a Destination Wedding, they were invited, but the small number of people with children opted to leave them at home for an adults-only vacation.
• Pre-Wedding Events: 1 small bridal shower. I hosted a luncheon for my bridesmaids. No bachlorette party. We hosted a Welcome Dinner the night our guests arrived in Tuscany
• Post-Wedding Events: None. Though some friends did decide to delay the next leg of their vacation so the day after the wedding we hung out by the pool together and relaxed, drinking up the rest of the wine.
• Honeymoon: Since we were already in Italy, DH and I planned a 2 week journey through Europe. We paid for that. Our desire to honeymoon in Europe was a large factor in our selection of Tuscany for the wedding.

 

[hopemax]

• Year: 1998
• Planning: DH, my Mom and me. No wedding planner.
• Venue: In my hometown, there is a ferry service to Alaska, and our wedding & reception was held in the event venue upstairs at the Ferry Terminal. The local high schools had their proms there. We apparently freaked DH's family out when we said that we were getting married in a ferry terminal, because in Seattle the terminals are not elegant, but utilitarian and they couldn't imagine why we would choose to get married in one.
• Style: We tried to strike the balance between traditional/formal while still being a casual, fun event. A friend of DH's family who was a Lutheran minister performed the ceremony, reception was a buffet line with a DJ. And it was the 4th of July, so the affair ended with a view of the city fireworks. Family still tell us it was their favorite wedding, so I think we pulled it off.
• Finances: My parents provided $X dollars, which we worked out a budget. If in a particular category we went over the budget, DH and I paid the difference. DH's family paid for the alcohol and rehearsal dinner.
• Attendants: 3 each, but we had both a Best Woman and Man of Honor. Also, a junior bridesmaid and a ring bearer.
• Guests: About 100. All of my family was out-of-state, but I still ended up with about 20 family members present. All my aunts and uncles came, and on my Dad's side his cousins had "girls weekend" and so it was my Great-Aunt, her three daughters and then one of the daughters had two girls. I was so shocked they were willing to come the 2500 miles.
• Kids Included: Yes
• Pre-Wedding Events: One of our bridesmaid/groomsman pair got married a week before we did. A week before that, the four of us and a bunch of friends got together one night, made pizza, watched movies, played video games and just hung out. Oh, and I had the ever so tacky, "my mom hosted a bridal shower." I just don't really have close, female friends, no sisters, no family living near by, so either it was no shower or she did it, and she wasn't letting me have no shower.
• Post-Wedding Events: The morning after the wedding, we invited out-of-state family, and the wedding party to my parents house for brunch and we opened our presents. Then in the afternoon the previously mentioned couple, DH and I took a limo to the airport and spent 4 days at Disneyland.
• Honeymoon: We had two. Our big honeymoon was Christmas at WDW. We got married in July, so obviously there was a gap. About 2 months before we got married, our friends that were also getting married called us up and said they had a crazy idea that we should all go to Disneyland. So we did!

Thankfully, we are still together. Our friends "celebrated" their first anniversary by getting divorced. In a weird coincidence the female friend and DH & I ended up in the same community in a different state; about 3 miles away from each other. She got remarried and has 2 girls. Male friend met his second wife while they were both working in the UK, they also have 2 girls and have moved back to where DH and friend grew up. So it has all worked out, and after some time, we are in the position to be friends with both sides.

 

[mrsheppo]

• Year: 1998

• Planning: DH decided at 1am that we should get married that afternoon after I got off work. I wore a dress I had in my closet and changed clothes in the employee restroom

• Venue: Justice of the Peace

• Style: Simple. My 16 yo DD made the cake. No flowers. Kids took pictures. I carried the bible my mom carried when she got married.

• Finances: DH and I paid for everything...the license, ring and dinner.

• Attendants: 1 for DH & 1 for me

• Guests: 10

• Kids Included: Yes, 4 of the guests were my kids

• Pre-Wedding Events: My husband had to go out and buy my ring and a shirt to wear. I had to work that day

• Post-Wedding Events: Went to dinner with all our guests at a local restaurant and then went back to our house for cake

• Honeymoon: None.

 

[donac]

• Year: 1978

• Planning: Dh and I with some input from families

• Venue: Church and Knight of Columbus Hall

• Style: Simple. Buffet

• Finances: DH and I paid for everything. I did wear my mother's dress. We made the attendants dresses.

• Attendants: MOH, 2 bridesmaids and 2 jr bridesmads. 2 of my sisters did not want to be in the wedding party. My mother had me ask them and they both said. No. Dh had a best man and 2 ushers.

• Guests: 150

• Kids Included: Yes many of my cousins were young.

• Pre-Wedding Events: Just my shower

• Post-Wedding Events:Went back to our first apartment and spent our first night together

• Honeymoon: A week long car trip to California. The first day was in Disneyland. In 2 years for our 40th we are going back with our boys and their wives.

 

[tigercat]

I'll play at least the most I know.

Year 1974

Planning: most of it was done by my Dad. I had very little say in most things.

Venue: A church near us for the ceremony and then the Holiday Inn in town for the dinner.

Style: Umm formal in a way. Sit down dinner

Finances: My parents. My soon to be husband worked for my Dad and his business and did not make a lot of money. My parents had money. I had just graduated H.S. at the time and no job.

Attendants: I come from a big family so had 3 sisters as well as a two nieces. A nephew was a ring bearer.

Guests: I believe 125. My Dad insisted on people coming and since he was paying we just let it go.

Kids included: yup

Pre Wedding: I had a family friend shower, a family shower and then a friend shower. Non thrown by my family. My Mum also held a Trousseau Tea a week before the wedding. His family hosted the rehearsal dinner at a Chinese food restaurant.

Post Wedding: everyone went their own way.

Honeymoon: we had rented a small cabin in the woods for a week for our honeymoon. I said at that time that the 25th wedding anniversary trip was going to be mine to decide. For this one I had to cook and clean the whole week. For our 25th wedding trip we went on our first cruise from Vancouver B.C. to the Hawaiian Islands. Great trip and I didn't have to cook or clean.

As a side note I couldn't buy a dress as I was too small and too short. I was only 4' 9" tall and weighed 85 lbs. We tried to go to bridal stores but they refused to even talk to us or let us even try on a dress. My sister finally made my dress. She also made the bridesmaids dresses.
Also there was no alcohol at the dinner. My parents do not drink (his Dad was an alcoholic and gave him up as a baby) my husband and I don't drink and my husbands Dad was an alcoholic as well. I wanted nothing to do with it or the problems that come with it.

tigercat

 

[RedAngie]

Year: May 1987

Planning: Mostly myself and exH. Both mothers contributed but stayed in the background and didn't try to interfere or push their ideas.

Venue: Large catering facility. Ceremony was outside in the garden area, then reception inside. Another reception was going on at the same time in another room.

Style: Non-religious but fairly traditional. 15 minute ceremony by a JoP, then cocktails/hors d'oeuvres, then sit down dinner. Full open bar. A woman played the harp during the ceremony, and there was a band during the reception.

Finances: Both sets of parents paid for everything related to the venue: JoP fee, booze, music, flowers, etc. ExH and I paid for my gown, honeymoon, and everything for the attendants, dresses, shoes, hair and makeup, tux rentals, bouquets and boutineers, etc.

Attendants: MoH and two bridesmaids. Best Man and two groomsmen.

Guests: About 200 were invited, about 175 responded yes. There were 5 or 6 no-shows. Since parents paid, they got to invite some of their friends and business associates, most of whom I never met before and never saw again.

Kids Included: Yes, about a dozen showed up, the youngest about 7. The venue had a staffed kids activity room.

Pre-Wedding Events: An aunt threw a bridal shower at her house. A few of the gals from work also took me out for dinner for a small shower. MoH and bridesmaids took me to Atlantic City for a bachelorette party a week before the wedding, nothing fancy, just some bar hopping and gambling. We ended up getting a room at a cheap motel. ExH had a bachelor party two weeks before the wedding. I don't know for a fact, but I think they ended up at a notoriously raunchy strip club near the Philadelphia airport. No rehearsal dinner.

Post Wedding Events: None. OK, party's over, scram.

Honeymoon: Three days after the wedding we flew to London and Paris for 8 days. 5 London/3 Paris.


Second Wedding

Year: October 2012

Planning: Not much, a quickie wedding three weeks after we decided to get married.

Venue: Outside in a nearby park by JoP, followed by dinner in a private dining room at a restaurant.

Style: Not much

Finances: Everything paid by DH and me.

Attendants: None really, same MoH from my first wedding and DH's brother.

Guests: 18

Kids Included: My two daughters, DH's son. All were already college-aged. DH's sister's 15 y/o daughter.

Pre and Post Wedding Events: None

Honeymoon: Two weeks after the wedding we went to Dallas for a long weekend, but that trip was already planned before we decided to get married. In March 2013 we went to WDW. I half-jokingly told DH we should wear "Just Married" buttons and Mickey and Minnie wedding ears, but he adamantly refused. No, no way, end of discussion, period.

 

[ronandannette]

I'll play at least the most I know.

Year 1974

Planning: most of it was done by my Dad. I had very little say in most things.

Venue: A church near us for the ceremony and then the Holiday Inn in town for the dinner.

Style: Umm formal in a way. Sit down dinner

Finances: My parents. My soon to be husband worked for my Dad and his business and did not make a lot of money. My parents had money. I had just graduated H.S. at the time and no job.

Attendants: I come from a big family so had 3 sisters as well as a two nieces. A nephew was a ring bearer.

Guests: I believe 125. My Dad insisted on people coming and since he was paying we just let it go.

Kids included: yup

Pre Wedding: I had a family friend shower, a family shower and then a friend shower. Non thrown by my family. My Mum also held a Trousseau Tea a week before the wedding. His family hosted the rehearsal dinner at a Chinese food restaurant.

Post Wedding: everyone went their own way.

Honeymoon: we had rented a small cabin in the woods for a week for our honeymoon. I said at that time that the 25th wedding anniversary trip was going to be mine to decide. For this one I had to cook and clean the whole week. For our 25th wedding trip we went on our first cruise from Vancouver B.C. to the Hawaiian Islands. Great trip and I didn't have to cook or clean.

As a side note I couldn't buy a dress as I was too small and too short. I was only 4' 9" tall and weighed 85 lbs. We tried to go to bridal stores but they refused to even talk to us or let us even try on a dress. My sister finally made my dress. She also made the bridesmaids dresses.
Also there was no alcohol at the dinner. My parents do not drink (his Dad was an alcoholic and gave him up as a baby) my husband and I don't drink and my husbands Dad was an alcoholic as well. I wanted nothing to do with it or the problems that come with it.

tigercat

My Ddad really, really realllly wanted me to have a different kind of wedding - the kind that was the norm in my rural home town. I "got fancy" when I moved to the city. He was a wonderful, gracious person though, and he loved me like the dickens - he quietly sucked it up and shelled out for the event we planned. All he asked was that we let him "recreate" the entire event 3 weeks later back in my hometown in the Legion Hall. My parents threw us a huge shebang to the standards they were happy with, for all the family friends and neighbours that hadn't been invited to the "real" wedding. Back there, weddings were "y'all come" open-houses, and he had been mortified by our small guest list.

and in case anybody's wondering - no it was not a "gift grab". The invitation, which was a poster tacked up on the bulletin board of the general store said NO GIFTS PLEASE. Our close family members had already given us gifts and and two or three good friends brought cards with a little cash. Oh, and only those attendants of ours that were family members even knew this party happened - they certainly weren't expected to attend.

 

[Monykalyn]

Year:1993

• Planning: Mostly DH along with his mom, I was in school 3 hours away (graduated the semester after we got married)

• Venue: Family Church and venue that did these kinds of parties/receptions-was basically "1 stop shopping" as they had a baker, photographer and DJ they worked with (or we could use whomever we wanted too). Made it super easy. DH even picked the cake - he wanted a fountain in the cake.

• Style: Family church wedding, with reception at the venue mentioned above, appetizers, then buffet, and full open bar for 4 hours

• Finances Both sets of inlaws (his parents had been divorced and remarried for a few years) and my parents gave us $500 each, we paid rest-but we did really well with budget. We bought accessories and shoes for bridesmaides and gifts for groomsmen. Did my own (silk) flowers, hair, makeup.

• Attendants: 3 each side,

• Guests: invited ~150? ~120 came

• Kids Included: yes,

• Pre-Wedding Events: Shower hosted by sister and MIL and mom, bachelorette party week before wedding. DH also had bachelor party before wedding. Rehearsal dinner at local restaurant

• Post-Wedding Events: We left the reception about 45 minutes before the end-we had to catch a flight to Miami. Out of town family went to in laws or my parents house to carry on party (my side is catholic...) and Friends also carried on the party at one of their houses. We hosted a BBQ (at my parents as DH was we were in tiny apartment while I finished the last semester of college) a week after we got back for our friends and bridal party who lived in town. We wanted to say thanks and hang out with them more. This was NOT a "you need to come" but rather "hey come hangout if you want-free food and booze". Since most of us were broke college students or recent college grads free food is always a lure

• Honeymoon: Best man drove us to MIL house so we could change then to airport. Got into Miami ~11pm. Was supposed to have a special suite with fruit, cheese and champagne but hotel messed up (room got comped) called for takeout pizza right before places closed as we were STARVING. Flew to Cayman Islands next day (honeymoon gift from FIL-gave us a week timeshare and points for air tickets-we only had to come up with spending money). Gorgeous 3 bed condo right on beach and next door to bar made famous in The Firm.
• Changes: The only thing I would change would be to not fly out til 1-2 days later. We didn't get to see as much as out of town family as we would have liked and it would have been nice to visit longer. Most of our extended family lived out of state.

 

[shoney]

• Year: 1992

• Planning: My Dh and I planned most of it. When we narrowed down a catering hall, my parents joined us for a tasting night.

• Venue: Church ceremony in the afternoon & catering hall at night

• Style: Quick church service (we are not religious) in the afternoon. I found a cute white church and asked them to marry us. For $300, they agreed. I wanted pics in front of a church. Formal 5 hour party from 7pm to 12 pm. Cocktail hour had pass arounds, cooking stations, ice sculptures. Multi course sit down meal at the reception. Dessert cart complete with yummy chocolate cups for cordials.

• Finances: My parents paid for everything.

• Attendants: MOH and Best Man, 2 bridesmaids and 2 groomsmen.

• Guests: about 120.

• Kids Included: No, used a cut off age of 18.

• Pre-Wedding Events: Bridal shower, bachelor and bachelorette parties.

• Post-Wedding Events: None.

• Honeymoon: Left the next morning for a week at Sandal's in Jamaica.

My wedding was perfect for us at the time.