What was your wedding like?

[Helmlover1]

So my partner and I want to get married next year but we are 2 of the most indecisive people in the world. We both agree we want a small wedding but other than that we are completely clueless, so I was hoping to get some ideas from those kind enough to share their wedding experiences? Thanks in advance.

130 people, ceremony at 4pm, drinks and one man band guitarist, then hog roast and unallocated seating on loooooong trestle tables in a teepee with a dj and free bar. It was awesome.

We had 20 friends and relatives for a service in a beautiful room at a fancy local hotel, then a sit down meal. There was a cellist playing in the background. We used the three bouquets for the service for table decoration. One long table. Nice long meal with speeches and toasts. DH then joined friends in the pub. Loved it!

Mine was 10 years ago now! 40 people to ceremony, got married in a garden of a Manor House. Additional 80 in the evening in a large marquee. Loved it. There’s very little I’d change about it looking back x

Beautiful modern barn wedding. We had the most perfect day! Highly recommend spending money on a good photographer and a videographer. Four years married and we still look back at photos and watch our wedding video.

we had 70 guests and went for a hotel package in October and they were flexible in taking off everything we didn't need so it really wasn't too stressful any of the organising.

20 people invited to service. Taxis to our favourite restaurant. Taxis back to reception venue. 200 to evening party. Wouldn't change a thing.

Mine is the opposite of what you might want: I was 40 first marriage my husband divorced. Black tie wedding in central London for 120; ceremony, drinks dinner and dancing all same venue. Tried to do wedding late as possible so no hanging around, string quartet for ceremony and tribute band for dancing. I took women who had travelled far out to dinner night before, my husband the men and my parents treated guests from another country to brunch morning after. Expensive, stressful and amazing and I never want to do that again!
It was all organised in a few months with the size, venue and date being the things we had to nail down first.

Mine was nearly 11 years ago, and was small and informal. 30ish relatives and close friends to the ceremony in our local Guildhall. Back to reception venue for drinks and early dinner of hog roast. Then later on a dj and another 30 or so guests.

We did all the decorations and favours ourselves, my dress was from a sample sale and so was dd's (aged 2) dress.

The following day the three of us flew to tje Dominican for two weeks.

For is it was about getting married and having an amazing holiday for 3 of us. Everything else was for everyone else iykwim.

About 40 guests to the wedding which was held in an old merchant house that you can hire out for the day, stayed there all day & evening.
Had caterers in to do food for day and evening, buffet for both.
No photographer but put disposable cameras out for everyone to take pictures and a friend took some organised group pictures.
No line up, no top table, pay bar for the evening.
Disco and live band outside in the evening.
Very very relaxed and informal, I loved it !

Brilliant, and one of the highly derided church-hotel-resident’s bar- next day BBQ that gets sniffed at!

Food was great, dance floor was full all night, there’s folk neither of us know in the photos and people are still coming out with stories that I missed on the day

We had a ball.

Nearly twenty years ago, we had a great day. Just over 100 people, ceremony at our church at 3pm which gave people from far away (other than those who came from abroad) time to travel there on the day and to have lunch before so there were no rumbling stomachs in the ceremony. Reception with sit down meal but no top table, we all sat at round tables and DH and I sat at a table in the middle. No photographer because I'd been to too many weddings where they took over everything. Barn dance as entertainment because DH and I wanted it to be fun and we both dislike discos. My mum and dad made the wedding cake and we paid for it to be decorated. My teenage God daughter was my bridesmaid as I didn't want to leave out any friends. She chose the colour of dress she liked and we themed the flowers around that. As you can see we didn't follow "rules" but did what we wanted, and I'm pretty sure people enjoyed it.
The best weddings I've been to have been the least bridezilla ones. The worst have been those when the couple (or the parents of the couple) want Instagram perfection.
Have fun OP, do what you both want and don't be swayed by the wedding industry.

Late afternoon wedding followed by a dinner party for the 80 guests at a local restaurant. It was a brilliant night.

Mine was too much long ago to be relevant!

Mine was last year and it was brilliant!
We did it on a weekday, which meant a couple of people couldn’t come or couldn’t stay late, but so be it. It meant we could afford to have it at a place where the food and drink were very good quality so it was worth the slight sacrifice.
We had 70ish guests for the whole thing and the ceremony was on site. There were rooms onsite too so close friends and family stayed there which made it all really easy.
We didn’t piss about with loads of decorations and personal touches, but splashed a bit on flowers for the tables and a kind of themed (not tacky) name place thingy for everyone.
We bought cakes from Marks & Spencer, saving loads instead of a fancy “wedding” cake and everyone loved them.
My dress was a bargain as it was a sample.
We hired a band and danced the night away with our friends and family and got rather drunk.
The whole thing still cost more than we’d budgeted but was 100% worth it.
I love being married. I thoroughly recommend it

I had a lovely relaxed wedding very small and intimate. 28 people at the day in the middle of summer. At the wedding breakfast we had one long table beautifully dressed with no seating plan to allow everyone to sit comfortably.

In the evening we had an extra 150 people to dance and party.

It was perfect for us

We got married nearly 37 years ago.
Married at 3pm followed by reception and meal in a local hotel with 60 guests. Then, continuing on in the same hotel, an evening party with buffet and a further 30 or so guests.
It was okay I suppose, but I was very shy then (only 23) and hated walking down the aisle, everyone staring at me/us and being the centre of attention. I don’t recall it as one of the best days of my life.
Therefore, I would give some real thought to what the two of you would actually like as opposed to what tradition/family etc. may dictate.

130 people, traditional church wedding with a sit down meal afterwards. The venue was a conference centre so nothing special to look at, but had the advantages of location (5 mins walk from the church) and space (exclusive to us; two large rooms so after the meal one became the bar and the other the dance floor). Live band. It was fab! That was 16 years ago.

We got married in our garden in our holiday house in Cyprus. We didn't tell anyone it was just dh, dd and my niece.
It was exactly what I wanted. Came home and had a party for our family and friends.

13 years ago in October, 16 guests, in the tropical gardens of a hotel in Las Vegas followed by a buffet in a different hotel. Limo ride around The Strip for photos at various locations all over Vegas. For us it was absolutely perfect and we'd do it again in a heartbeat!

24 people in Cyprus, it was lovely, lots of fun

Reading with interest. I never did get married to my ex (should have taken the hint, really) and was with him for 30 years.

I'd like to start dating once lockdown is over, so mildly interested at modern wedding ideas.

22 people two weeks in Cyprus.

Lovely. Five star hotel. All inclusive.

Very relaxing for everyone. 5pm service.

Cocktails and dancing with bbq on a small ya hot type boat after it.

Not romantic as we shared our wedding night with the kids but it was perfect for us.

15 people, plus us obvs, at our register office ceremony, then about a dozen more at the pub afterwards.

We had no formal, sit-down meal or speeches (we had an informal buffet instead) and no formal first dance (we did a bit of a dance but we were both pissed and neither of us can remember what the song was). It was just a fun, relaxed, easy-going celebration with both of our families and a few friends at the pub enjoying a drink and some food. We had a dj but most of us spent most of the day outside in the beer garden. There was a play area too so the children had something to do.

Everyone wore nice clothes and we had the fancy car, a few bottles of champagne, a good photographer and some fantastic cakes though.

Got married 2 years ago. Just me, DH, 'y 2 kids and both sets of our parents. Went to a local spa hotel, did ceremony and afternoon tea, then my parents took the kids home with them and DH and I had a long spa weekend, no expenses spared.

We've had some shit from his siblings for not including more family but we still wouldn't have changed a thing.

60 people (adults and kids) for ceremony at 4pm in a brewery we booked just for us. Drinks, speeches, 3 course dinner with loads of wine, 10 piece live band. Another 100 folk in the evening. It was the best party ever.