Ours was really different. We had it in a museum so people kind of wandered around a lot. But I think people had fun. They certainly ate and drank and danced a lot. It was a big party. I didn't have that much fun because I hate being the center of attention but I think everyone else did.
Yeah, I am so over being in weddings - as a bridesmaid or as the bride (lol). H and I have each been in about 6-8 over the last three years and I am DONE.
I just want to go to as a regular guest. No rehearsal dinner, no taking up my entire weekend, no responsibilities, wear whatever dress I want, no STUPID ASS POSED PICTURES. NO I AM NOT JUMPING INTO THE AIR I AM A GROWN ASS WOMAN GET THE FUCK OUTTA HERE.
My friends and I all decided that while our own weddings might have been our favorite, our second best weddings were the first weddings we each went to after our own.
"You mean, all I have to do is show up on time, appropriately dressed, bring a gift, and in exchange you will feed me, booze me, keep me entertained, and provide a discounted rate on a hotel? WELL FUCK YES." :-)
My cousin's was the first wedding we attended after ours, and it was awful. She's obsessed with appearances and...not a nice person. As an example of the former, she wanted to party into the night with the guests (fine) but the amount of time she had paid the photographer was ending. So they did a fake "getaway" and then circled back to the reception. LOL
I loved my wedding. Although the church was probably ugly (lol), the reception was at a beautiful historic landmark with no gap, great food/drinks, a photobooth, and delicious cake. We had a jazz trio play at the reception; some people danced, but it wasn't a wild DJ party like many weddings are. I do think some people might have been bored by the low-key reception atmosphere, but it's what DH and I wanted. Plus it gave us the chance to mingle and actually talk with our guests, instead of shouting over loud music.
I really enjoyed my wedding because it was just what I wanted- a big party. The food was good, drinks were flowing, everyone spent the night on the dance floor, and we got great pictures.
We got married pretty young and were on a pretty small budget for our area so there were places we scrimped- lots of smaller cakes vs a tiered, cheap centerpieces, not the prettiest reception location... but those things still don't matter to me and everyone was begging to take home the leftover cake and centerpieces! lol.
Post by redpenmama on Nov 16, 2015 15:15:05 GMT -5
Of the ones I attended, I rank it tied for 2nd. One of my bridesmaids had an amazing wedding in South Florida with an incredible band, and it was a blast (even being 30w pregnant and sober). It was easily a $50K wedding (probably way more), and it showed -- it was beautiful and a blast.
But, I was so happy with our wedding -- the bakery screwed up the groom's cake but everything else went off without a hitch. Our venue was pretty, everything was in one location for the convenience of guests, the booze was flowing (to the point that some people were getting cut off at the bar), and everyone danced all night. We had a row of buses waiting to transport everyone to the after party, which was just as fun. We kept it relatively small (with small families, that was easy) at 85 people, and I'm glad we did.
Oh, and like 5 minutes after our ceremony ended, everyone got to watch the space shuttle take off over our venue. Thanks, NASA!
Post by dulcemariamar on Nov 16, 2015 15:17:38 GMT -5
I think my wedding was pretty great. We basically put all our money into the food budget and it was amazing. But I got married in Spain so it is hard to eat bad food there. I also added things that were popular for American weddings like a candy bar so it was different for our guests.
I guess the only bad thing was that we had it on a Sunday but we still offered a full free bar.
Post by dulcemariamar on Nov 16, 2015 15:20:18 GMT -5
And I also had the wedding ceremony and wedding reception in the same location. So people just had to walk five minutes from one location to the next. There was basically no wait time for guests.
I haven't actually been to a ton of weddings, but I said mine was the best because it is the best ceremony I've ever been to. We had it personalized entirely to us. Our rabbi (mil's cousin) spent time talking to each of us separately and then incorporated what we talked about and why we love each other into the ceremony. We didn't know what she was going to say, so it was amazing, because we were able to laugh and cry with everybody else there.
We still have people tell us it was the best ceremony they have ever experienced (5 years later)
My friends and I all decided that while our own weddings might have been our favorite, our second best weddings were the first weddings we each went to after our own.
"You mean, all I have to do is show up on time, appropriately dressed, bring a gift, and in exchange you will feed me, booze me, keep me entertained, and provide a discounted rate on a hotel? WELL FUCK YES." :-)
My cousin's was the first wedding we attended after ours, and it was awful. She's obsessed with appearances and...not a nice person. As an example of the former, she wanted to party into the night with the guests (fine) but the amount of time she had paid the photographer was ending. So they did a fake "getaway" and then circled back to the reception. LOL
Well our wedding proper was pretty nice. We had a destination wedding with immediate family only, and we hung out in the beach for a couple hours, got married in a 10 minute ceremony, took pictures and then went out to eat. Everyone could eat or drink whatever at the restaurant, the end. It wasn't flawless, but it was low key and a beautiful day with our closest family.
Post by aprilsails on Nov 16, 2015 16:37:42 GMT -5
Our wedding was awesome. I'm not humble.
It was very us and very cheap while still being a load of fun. I put a lot of effort into that wedding and it showed. We also had an open bar and the best weather imaginable for an outdoor reception.
It was the best I've attended and I get queried by every newly engaged couple on how we pulled it together.
I haven't been to many but mine was best of those. That being said, even priests, friends/siblings who've been to dozens, older guests said it was the nicest, most fun wedding they'd ever been to....so I guess I'm not super biased. I will say, mine was unusual too. My sisters is a few days away....dreading bring MOH but I'll probably end up having fun.
Post by pinkdutchtulips on Nov 16, 2015 17:04:11 GMT -5
I loved the location, the decor, the food, the booze, my cake, the fact that my Gpa performed our wedding ... a lot of people told us it was one of the most personal initimate weddings they've been to
There's a lot I really DID NOT like about it- now xh was MIA delaying the ceremony 25 minutes ( he wasn't picking his cell no matter WHO called or we had no idea where he was. I was THIS close to calling the whole thing off), I paid for the vast majority of it (my dad paid the hall rental fee and xh paid for the open bar he INSISTED on), as soon as pics were over xh changed out of his tux and into shorts and a t-shirt , most couples on their wedding day are all lovey dovey - we were not !
DD has watched our wedding video a handful of times and the shots of xh and I together are few and FAR between.
Post by redheadbaker on Nov 16, 2015 17:30:01 GMT -5
Guests at my first wedding were still talking about the reception (in a positive way) two years later.
Endless amounts of appetizers. There were so many, some people thought that was dinner. Then a four-course meal. The reception was 7 hours long, so at midnight, they put out a breakfast buffet.
I wish I could have attended a wedding there as a guest, but the building owner ended the caterer's lease so he could renovate the room into a gym.
People kept telling us they really enjoyed our wedding. I am inclined to believe they are not just puffing me up
The ceremony venue is spectacular in a lot of ways, the music was good, the choir I'm in sang which was nice, the reception venue had a lot going for it too, I think having people walk from the ceremony to reception was a sort of mood boost.
I kinda sorta wish our music playlist was something a little more thematic than "whatever dancepop the bride and groom enjoy", but eh.
My college roommate's wedding was probably "better", but I'm sure it also cost eleventy hojillion dollars. And I liked my cousin's wedding, even if her husband is an islamophobic gun nut.
We had a top hip hop DJ and had top shelf open bar and fish and steak for all guests. The dance floor was literally packed all night. I still think our wedding was one of the most fun ones we've ever been at
Post by winnieandwine on Nov 16, 2015 17:51:51 GMT -5
I think my wedding was objectively awesome. No gap, no switching locations, 15 minute ceremony, open bar, delicious food, packed dance floor the whole night, dessert buffet, quick dinner, only 2 speeches, great dj, and limited interruptions (no garter toss, cake cutting etc). If we had a bigger budget it would have been fun to hire a band, but really I'm reaching there. I am so grateful for that day.
Our reception was at a chain restaurant though. I feel like that might be flamed here.
Whatever, I love my Rigatoni D.
Twins!
It was something like $40/head for a ton of food, full open bar, banquet hall, and the cake. I couldn't beat that price anywhere else and I tend to think Maggianos is better food than most wedding crap.
Mine was probably average to above average. It was pretty standard Chicago suburbs wedding (church and hotel ballroom). But the ceremony was really personal and the cake was really good, so I picked above average.
Despite the averageness, I was so, so happy that day. I just remember feeling like I was lit up.
I think my wedding was objectively awesome. No gap, no switching locations, 15 minute ceremony, open bar, delicious food, packed dance floor the whole night, dessert buffet, quick dinner, only 2 speeches, great dj, and limited interruptions (no garter toss, cake cutting etc). If we had a bigger budget it would have been fun to hire a band, but really I'm reaching there. I am so grateful for that day.
Flameworthy? I kind of hate wedding bands. Like, we went to a wedding a month ago that had one of the best regarded wedding bands in NY, and I barely danced at all because I'm so meh on wedding bands. I'll take an MP3 any day over a wedding band's take on Calvin Harris. And really, if you're covering Frank Sinatra and Jay-Z and Fun, chances are pretty good that you're doing at least one of those not so well.
I did like the band at marshmallow's wedding because it was a bar band and not a wedding band. But I appreciated that she had a DJ too
That said, I've seen such embarrassing DJs at some of the weddings I've gone to that I can see the argument against them too.
Post by undecidedowl on Nov 16, 2015 18:48:51 GMT -5
It was average to above average. Guests liked the choreographed first dance, fried chicken meal served family style, and alcohol. It wasn't super fancy or anything though.
It was average to above average. Guests liked the choreographed first dance, fried chicken meal served family style, and alcohol. It wasn't super fancy or anything though.
One of DH's friends had a wedding about a year after us, and all through it I was like wow, this is so similar to our wedding! I love it! At their reception they mentioned they really liked our wedding and realized they wanted to do a similar thing for theirs.
It was a nice compliment, but their wedding was definitely a lot better than our wedding (wilted)
DH and I kind of spur of the moment got married after 5 years of dating. Neither of us wanted to plan a wedding or deal with the financial headache of saving for one either. We gave a month notice and spent under $500 (Mom bought my dress), getting married in a small town out in the middle of BFE where my parents live.
Nothing fancy, it was around lunch so we had a picnic style catered lunch (sandwiches, fruit, meat and cheese platter, mac salad, etc.), and 25 bottles of pink champagne. We had enough food and cake left over that we offered it to guests to take if they would like.
For the last night crowd, we headed into town for bar hopping and karaoke.
Post by teatimefor2 on Nov 16, 2015 20:53:02 GMT -5
In my hometown area it was above average, but compared to other places, it was just average. However, it was definitely most memorable. We had two ambulance trips, including stopping dinner service and a stretcher.... thankfully everyone lived. It took me YEARS to be able to laugh about my wedding. We will be married nine years next month, and everyone always tells me that out of all the weddings in that time frame, they never forget ours!