spill the beans on great/ awful weddings

[allthegearnoidea]

Hi all,
I'm planning my wedding for August next year and want to know the things that really bug you at weddings and things that you really like. Anything you feel is really unoriginal, or things that made you go ooh, aaaah!
help me make it great for all!!

[ArtichokeTagine]

These are the things we did at our wedding which I felt made it really special:

• did NOT get hung up on the "perfect" day, didn't care if fabrics matched exactly etc, just went with the flow
  
• got all our friends to chip in. the cake was homemade, one friend DJed, another did my makeup, another friend with a nice car was chaffeur etc;
  
• had other personal touches. we love cheese so our main cake was many tiers of gorgeous big round cheese decorated with herbs;
  
• had a table on which there was a cheap polaroid camera, a pile of nice card and some photo albums. asked each guest to take a photo of themselves and their partners and then stick the polaroid in an album and write a message on a card to stick next to it;
  
• had a slide show of photos of DH and I as kids growing up and then meeting etc
  
  
  Then finally, and crucially, we were very generous with alcohol so everyone had a great time

[Kathyis6incheshigh]

You have to make sure people are not thirsty or starving at any point. So if there is a long gap between the ceremony and the reception FGS give them something to eat while they're waiting.

[aloha]

Don't have your wedding at 1pm and no food until 7pm. I've starved at several weddings. Champagne is nice but it's not a meal replacement!

[aloha]

snap!

[allthegearnoidea]

love the 'cheese' cake idea, mum is making our cake. unfortunately budget can't stretch to lots of alcohol but can do a few drinks. like you i don't want to get too bridezilla about little things, just want all guests to be happy and relaxed!

[expatinscotland]

I've been to weddings where they ran out of food.

That was pretty sad.

[allthegearnoidea]

have covered that, married at 3 food at 5! also i won't be abke to cope without regular food intake!

[collisionfrances]

Definitely make sure that there is something to eat and drink for the guests inbetween the church bit and the reception while you are having all your photos done. that part can be soooooooooooooooooooooooo boring and no one knows what is happening. If you give them champagne then the guests will be happier!!

We got married at 3pm so only had to feed people once at 4.30pm after the champagne and canapes and then at 11pm there were bacon butties for everyone.

Chip vans can be hired now which are cool and we had one at my bros wedding and it was great fun.

Chill out, dont get het up about little details, dont get into debt over it and enjoy yourself!

[aloha]

We went to France and bought a lot of alcohol for not much money.
Friends did us favours - cake, photographs, flowers. It was very informal. We had sweet peas in jam jars.

[janeite]

Artichoke's sounds lovely and similar to the nicest wedding I've ever been to. Invitations were home made, as were the order of service etc. They had Scottish dancing in a hall (can't spell Ceidligh or whatever it is sorry) with a park right outside so the children could play football, feed the ducks etc. No top table or anything; all really laid back. Gorgeous. And lots of food and drink to pick at throughout the day!

[dassie]

Remember that you have invited people so they are your guests. There is nothing worse than a wedding where the bride and groom seem to think they have done you a favour by inviting you.

[allthegearnoidea]

went to a wedding where bride and groom had rehearsed the dirty dancing 'lift' dance sequence..and he dropped her!

[AlbusPercivalWulfricBrianSun]

Love weddings but the one thing that spoils them for me is if there is a long time standing around drinking while the main party have photos taken. People always end up drinking too much. It might be too expensive but it's a good time for canapes - and be generous with them.
If you're having young kids take some toys along and get the reception venue to make a creche area. We did this recently at DS's naming ceremony and got so many comments of how great it was and it was a big relief for a lot of the parents as they could stay longer as the kids would be occupied.

[collisionfrances]

If you are having children there then think about hiring a bouncy castle to keep them entertained. We did that and had an entertainer and it was great as they didnt interrupt the speeches or get in the way of the dancing.

[aloha]

Yes, don't do a burlesque dance in your underwear. V unseemly

What have you got planned so far?

[Whizzz]

a bad DJ.....cringe......
"please take to the floor for The Shoop Shoop song"

[expatinscotland]

Venues where your heels sink into the ground - grass, lots of shale, etc.

[allthegearnoidea]

it will all hopefully be quite informal, i've been to lots of stuffy weddings! sweet peas in jam jars sounds gorgeous!

[aloha]

at my wedding it was all in one big house and there were big fat canapes and drinks waiting as people walked onto the lawn after the ceremony - and the food was already laid out on big tables outside. Then fish and chips at around 11pm for anyone who wanted.

[dassie]

Venues where guests aren't allowed to wear heels because it will sratch the floor.

Oh, and my friend went to a wedding recently where the entertainment was a burlesque strip - the bride did not partake though

[Kathyis6incheshigh]

Oh, I know.
Don't have the kind of smoochy music that you can only dance to if you're in a couple. I went to a couple of weddings like that when I was single and it was miserable.

[aloha]

we had frisbee and croquet and boat rides at mine. I wanted a tombola,hoopla and hook a duck (am fete fanatic) but it didn't happen

[allthegearnoidea]

so far aloha, we have church ceremony at 3. then 5 minute drive to reception place which is a farm house, we are having a cream tea, cakes and pims as didn't want a very formal meal, other than that not too sure yet!

[aloha]

How many people? Will some be coming a long way?

[FrayedKnot]

Choose a beautiful, original venue

I love church weddings althogh we didn;t have one

Make stuff yourslef if you are in any way arty & creative

Simple is better

Don't wear a dead bird on your head

Agree about food & drink

Live music often better than disco