How was your wedding day?

[Bluemooninmyeyes1]

I’m in the middle of planning my wedding at the moment for next year and to be honest I’m a bit out of my depth. It doesn’t help given the current situation but I’m hoping some restrictions will have lifted by next year (it’s going to be a small wedding anyway). Just wondered what the positives and negatives were from your own weddings? Basically-I need some ideas! TIA

it was good. taxis to a registry office then to a private room at a michelin starred restaurant with lots and lots of food and drink.
private sitting room attached with log fire ( October wedding) lots of board games / lego for the kids.
There were 14 of us in total.
No seating plan, no speeches, no walking down the aisle, no cutting cake, just an awesome day of chatting, laughing and enjoying the company of lovely people.

oh, and planning took about a dozen phone calls, maybe 2 hours or so in total.

@peasaregood your wedding day sounds lovely. I couldn’t imagine having a massive wedding, we want to keep it small and intimate.

Ours was the exact opposite! My dream would have been a beach, bare foot, 29 or so nearest and dearest by DH wanted the big white 100+ sit down guest affair so we did. It absolutely was a wonderful day and I did enjoy every moment BUT it was horrendously expensive for what it was, and we kept things fairly low key and did a bit ourselves. The best bit was undoubtably having everyone all in one place at the same time, it so rarely happens.

I wouldn't change anything but I would like to renew our vows on a beach with our children one day

Only real hiccup was the Best Man suffering a serious concussion a few hours before the wedding (but soldiering through, becoming a bit more incoherent as the day went on as no one realised it was serious).

Positives... Don't take things too seriously. Minor mishaps can happen. But they aren't catastrophes. But things like the bridesmaids zip breaking, or some of the guests being hungover, (or the band not turning up, and an emergency DJ being sourced- that was a relatives- no one apart from wedding party knew until afterwards!). Go with the flow. Enjoy yourself.

Things to concentrate on... Good food, nice drink and a good time.

29 is very specific ha ha - meant 20 or so, stupid phone.

Actually the food was one below par point, when catering for that many it is difficult to get amazing food without breaking the bank. I definitely would have preferred the Michelin meal!

Whereabouts are you op?

another thing.
If you're having a small "do", then DON'T mention the wedding word.
We just booked the private room as a family event.
They even provided flowers on the table and around the room and asked for our music to be played as that's what they always do when you hire the private room.

@peasaregood I’m in the North east but we’re planning to get married in Scotland as that’s where my partners family are from.

That's a shame, I was going to tell you to book the Northcote in Lancashire, really can't praise them enough.
Afraid I don't know scotland at all, but small and intimate is awesome and stress free.
Hope you find somewhere lovely

@peasaregood if we were in the area I definitely would as it sounds wonderful, and thank you!

It was ok. We wanted small, no fuss, relaxed with good food and good music. I have a huge family but managed to get it down to 40 by having our wedding not on the mainland.

We had a late-ish wedding (4pm) which allowed plenty of time for getting ready (and drunk) beforehand. Our venue and registrar never understood that we really wanted a casual, laid back wedding so both really pushed and actually achieved a more formal wedding in parts but ultimately we got married, no one, at any point, was waiting around, hungry or without drink. We had arranged for a minibus that would drive people back to their hotels from 10pm onwards should they want it.

Feedback from those who attended said it was one of the most relaxed weddings they had attended so it went well. We only regret not sorting the wedding music (I walked in to a round of fucking applause as the registrar thought it should be a thing) and the DJ (who was old as ok’ Father Time and played the most awful music until the guests spent the evening asking for specific tunes which, to his credit, he did play). I do also regret not taking Tupperware for the evening buffet as so much went to waste and it was simply outstanding food. Our venue really did the most outstanding food for out wedding.

The things to spend the money on are the food (and drink if that's your thing) your rings and the photographer. Everything else is extra. Rings and photos are all you'll have once the day is over and a wedding with bad/not enough food will always be crap!

I had a huge wedding (130 people to the day) and loved it. Had a fantastic day even though one of the major motorways was shut meaning some guests were very late. We focused on making sure we had the people we wanted, good food, plenty to drink and a fun disco. Nothing worse than weddings where you don’t get enough to eat or drink and for bigger weddings when there is no atmosphere/dancing in the evening! Our wedding venue wasn’t the prettiest and wouldn’t have made the pages of a wedding magazine but we had so much fun! We got married at 3pm and were still drinking in the bar at 4am 😬

Amazing! I don't remember much planning other than the basics. I've never seen rain so heavy - we got married at 2.30pm and pics of guests arriving at the church look like they were taken at 10pm it's was so dark! We chose our reception venue for the beautiful gardens for photos. It was too wet so we had them done indoors. Beautiful photos in the oak panelled dining room with roaring fire which I'd never even noticed. The band played the wrong song for our 1st dance and everyone was on the floor instantly. They never sat down. 23 years later and people still talk about how much fun they had. What I'm trying to say is, don't worry too much about it all!

Ours was very small too- similar day to peasaregood except we had it all at the one venue. Planned it all in 4 months which proved to be great from a cost saving perspective. The one thing we didn’t scrimp on was the photographer, a friend recommended that we had two photographers which meant we got photos from lots of different angles- the end result was amazing. Wedding fairs were invaluable for finding suppliers/ideas but I assume they are not taking place at the moment? If you don’t have a venue yet I would highly recommend Dalhousie Castle near Edinburgh. We stayed more local to where we live so didn’t have our wedding there but the castle and setting were amazing and they offer small wedding packages. The venue will also help you by providing a list of recommended local suppliers for things like flowers and cakes if you need it. Enjoy the planning!