Details that made a wedding

why have duller bits in the first place?

définitely not in the arse end of nowhere

@Gopin
there is just one thing you need, that’s this guy. He will play all fay if you let him. Incredible.

Following with interest, we're getting married next month and I've been trying to think of little elements that will help people get through the duller bits 😂

I think get the basics right and everything else will be grand:
Good food
Good music
Reasonable length ceremony
Short distance between ceremony and reception
Short speeches
No long gaps!

You've said you are already hitting a lot of these so I wouldn't worry about overplanning entertainment or spending a fortune on other bits. Enjoy your day

We provided drinks and canapes while we were having photos taken.

Don't take yourself too seriously. Think of it from perspective of guests and make sure they have a good time.

Consider the needs of all guests - older people who might need to sit, kids who get bored, people who don't know anyone else there etc.

Think less of appearance and more of experience.

big buffet, no sit down meal with tiny portions that leave you starving

We had some modelling balloons on each table. They came with rolls of stick-on eyes. No one was bothered about the balloons, but the eye stickers gave hours of amusement to lots of our guests.

Find time to chat to your guests after the meal and during the evening.
You've invited them to share your day and I really appreciated everyone who'd made the effort to attend.

I agree with PP, good food and as much free drink as you can afford. If people are going to be waiting around make sure there are chairs. I don't think there are any small details that really "make" a wedding tbh.

We had a photobooth that printed two sets of photos and a guest book with pens and prix stix so guests could put a picture and a little note, most people hate writing in guest books but this was really popular, you can see people get more pissed and the messages get worse as the night goes on - its my favorite keepsake 😁

Reading this thread just shows how different people have different opinions on weddings and only you know what would be appreciated by the guests you have invited. For example people saying don’t ask guests to leave their kids at home or to serve continuous tea and coffee. We’re child free and so are most of our friends so we absolutely didn’t want any at our wedding as it would have been a totally different vibe. Same with tea and coffee. It would have been wasted as our guests were 90% in their 30s and much more interested in alcohol than hot drinks.

Agreed with pp's that say no details make a wedding.

I went to my brother's wedding last year, and it was such an amazing day. Mainly made so great by the fact it felt like a reunion seeing and drinking with old friends and a DJ playing all of our favourite songs, bringing back so many memories.

That's what made it for me.

To echo others, there was no waiting around between anything which, in hindsight, obviously helped.

Definitely something for any children coming to keep them entertained and let parents have a chance to mingle. We had a few children and I put together a favour box for each of them with little toys plus a comic/magazine which went down well. The tiny Lego sets were particularly well received (little bride and groom figures). For the evening, we had some large pots of curry and rice which were polished off.
Ditto what's already been said about plenty of nice non alcoholic drinks: I'm almost always the driver and there's a limit to how much J2O I can drink (i.e., none because I find it horrifically sweet).

Plenty of canapés because it is a loooong wait for food after the ceremony and I’m usually starving.

Sweets on the table for the same reason.

Getting the temperature right in the room.

I think it’s nice to have stuff for the kids like a colouring book.

Sweets at the evening do on a trolley.

Basically not a wedding where you’re cold and hungry!

Everything on one site (ceremony, reception, overnight accommodation) is really fab as it just takes all the headache out of the logistics.

One family wedding I want to had a table near the top table that had lovely black and white photos honouring relatives who had passed away.

I went to a Greek wedding as a child and I loved all the dancing.

As an adult, I'm sorry to say, guests don't actually care about details. It's only the person organising it (usually the bridge) who cares. What I would appreciate as a guest is a location that is not a field in the middle of nowhere, short speeches, a free bar and edible food (doesn't have to be expensive). Oh, and no DJ (they're always crap); just spotify with your favourite dancing songs on it.

and please don't go child free, it's so unfair on parents. Only exception being evening guests when the venue is local as it's far easier to get an evening sitter at your house for 4-5 hours than a 3 day sitter for travel, 2 overnights

And decent info about parking, taxis etc. can often be an issue and it gets stressful.

Every wedding I go to has flip flops , sewing kit for emergencies, deodorant sometimes Sally Hansen for tan emergencies mostly in the ladies loo I'm not sure what the men get but the flip flops are so appreciated by the ladies

Yes!

Plenty of food and no waiting around is a good start, I would also do let people know what drinks if any are included and if money is required, whether cash is needed and a drinks list so people know what they need to budget. Ensure there's decent non alcoholic options for the toast and on the table if applicable, some of us can't drink orange or apple juice!

Make sure evening only guests can go straight in

Places to sit, different rooms, beautiful things to look at/talk about if you don’t know what to say. One venue I went to had a cocktail stand and they were lovely!

I love all the details in people's weddings, they can be in proportion with one's budget. Our budget was small so we did an awful lot ourselves and I enjoyed it.

It sounds like you've already thought of a lot so I'm sure it will be lovely.

I agree that tea and coffee (and water!) available at all times.