What's the coolest wedding you've ever been to?

[Jacaranda75]

Whilst I thoroughly enjoy all the bitchy threads about child-free weddings, expensive hen nights and money poems, it does get a bit tedious. So I thought I'd ask about the coolest wedding you've been to.

When I was little, my friend from school was a bridesmaid at her aunty's wedding. It was 1975 when the Bay City Rollers were huge. Most bridesmaids at the time wore purple polyester bridesmaids dresses, but my friend's aunty had all the little bridemaids dressed up as Bay City Rollers! They had the trousers and the scarves around their wrists... it was so cool at the time and I've never forgotten it.

I am sure there are some more recent examples of cool weddings, so over to you, Mumsnetters!

Apart from my own the best one I went to was in a field on a rainy day. Everybody wore smart casual. There was bouncy castles etc. Everybody got filthy but had so much fun!

My dh is a wedding photographer and in the early days I was his assistant, so I’ve attended loads of weddings. But a few stand out and the reason they do is because the couple made it personal to them.
One of my favourite was a tipi in a field the couple met through their love of badminton so had nets set up for guests to play, hay bail seats outside with blankets in case guest got cold. They were a musical family so over the course of the night various members got up and played instruments and sang it was great fun.

Marquee in the garden m, food cooked in the aga and a live jazz band then a guest got out a guitar and they sat singing traditional Eastern European folk songs (various languages) until 3am. The grudge was Croatian and had friends from many countries

Registry Office, lunch at the Indian restaurant that groom had proposed in then drinks upstairs in the couple's local pub.

What made it cool was all the love and happiness.

Not stiff and formal.

Ceremony in a castle then a church hall reception!
Simple, fun, themed.
No stupid frills
Was all about them, and their friends.
I've also been to the wedding of someone with a very wealthy family. Was crass and ott. Very "try hard"
My favourites have always been the ones in church halls actually

Civil partnership, years ago. The couple felt free to discard all the rituals they didn’t want (and that they associated primarily with straight people). So no cake, no posed photos (they did reportage), no flowers, no favours, no car, no ‘giving away’, no bridesmaids (obvs!) and no groomsmen or wedding party or best man.

The result was a relaxed, joyous day. So much love and so much laughter. They did a short (and lovely) civil ceremony at a town hall, then drinks in a really cool riverside bar all afternoon, then dinner at a swanky restaurant. Each venue walkable from the last. Everyone just hung out and mixed and chatted. It was so beautiful but also so chilled.

90-year-old granny stood up and made a speech about love and acceptance and joy, in place of best man/father-of-bride speech.

It was glorious.

My Dsis's wedding! A knees-up in the village hall with a band and amazing food dished up by the local WI.

Nothing fancy, just everyone coming together and having a bloody good time.

Friends’ wedding celebration in the back garden of his parents’ house. Best man’s speech lasted 30 seconds.

An elopement where me and my OH were the only guests! We were witnesses to my friends wedding. They got married in a registry office, then we went for a lovely meal. We took photos, they took selfies - that was it. No fuss at all - just love.

Two stand out.

A teepee wedding in the middle of a forest, hog roast, bonfire, glow sticks, a choir, hay bales and wandering performers. Informal and just great fun.
There was even a bridal teepee set up in the middle all ready for the wedding night.

The second, the couple had loads of people to invite and no money so they had a wedding in church then hired the church hall immediately afterwards. They asked guests to bring a cake instead of a present and it ended up with a massive informal afternoon tea. No set up photographs, the photographer just wandered amongst people and took photos as he caught s them.

In both cases the key was that the weddings were relaxed and didn't force guests to stand around for hours whilst endless formalities happened.

Very informal in my aunt's beautiful garden on a hot day. The bride and groom provided all the drinks and the guests brought the food. Everyone has pushed the boat out with the food and I don't think there was a sausage roll or pork pie anywhere.

They hired crockery, cutlery and glasses and a couple of people to serve and wash up, and the whole day was perfect.

Sadly, the marriage didn't last.

(Oh, and children were welcome )

All the weddings I've been to have been so stiff, and formal and boring. The last wedding I went to, everyone gave up by 9pm.

My own wedding was tbe best one I've been to. My DP (DH) are very lazy and wanted an easy day. So his side had a minibus, and my side had one, and we met at the register office. Then we got back on the minibuses and went to a pub. We had a disco and buffet. I did a speech, no-one else. No photographer, we just asked people to email us their best pictures which we put in a scrapbook. DH got his suit from M&S, and I wore a cream suit from Debenhams, and a pink blouse from H&M. The pub was near a tube station so everyone left by tube! People still say they had the best time.

I love all weddings but the one that started with a massive game of rounders on the green followed by a bring and share meal in the village hall stands out. Everyone including the bride and groom wore something they'd bought from a charity shop, in lieu of buying a present. Just lots of fun and joy. They'd done the ceremony the day before with just their parents and kids.

Agree with others in that a church hall type arrangement, low key informal catering is best .. and don't drag on for so long, ceremony, drink, meal, a little socialising is all I want. I don't like the trend for an 'evening reception', I loathe dancing - I've never danced at a wedding, in fact I usually leave before the evening starts which I realise now is very rude .

The best wedding I have been to was my DB&SIL's. He married for the first time in his 50s. Church service, then short walk to local hotel/country house for reception. Beautiful views and weather, and lots of friendly guests who were all delighted to see them both finally together. Different parts of the day in different spaces so no being turfed out or hanging around whilst rooms were reset. They had really considered the guests.

In a European city, formal ceremony followed by a bus tour round the sights and a big party at an interesting venue. It was joyous, we had such a good time even though there was a language barrier with the groom's family - we made it work after a few glasses of beer! Everyone still talks about it.

I’m told mine was pretty good. Morning ceremony in my church, lunch reception at a local restaurant (chef from down the road) that everyone could walk to with good food, two fabulous girls singing, glorious day. Afterwards, people got changed then sausages on the bbq at dp’s. Again, everyone could walk. If it was high summer, they would have seen the sun come up.

I’m country so lots of people involved that I had known for years. You know, priest, dressmaker, restaurant, wines, flowers, photographs, singers. Yes, I paid for everything but it still all came from the heart from them all.

Two both at opposite ends of the scale
First one on the windiest, coldest, wettest day in February. It was lashing down, on the coast so wind chill was higher.. Church followed by church hall. Everyone was shuffled together for photos in the church and the party just took off from there
Second in a European country, no expense spared. Big full mass Catholic wedding. No one spoke a common language but the hand gestures and the laughter was just contagious

My own by far!! I used a 1950s British seaside theme and had a huge sandpit outside with vintage buckets and spades and flags etc, new flip flops for everyone who wanted to play in the sand, giant garden games like naughts and crosses, postcards for messages instead of a guest book and loads of stripey deckchairs. Did our own sweet table with retro sweets and a vintage trunk filled with dressing up props like blow up guitars and silly wigs, everyone took their own photos on their phones and then uploaded to instagram and Facebook using our hashtag. We even used his and hers tiny deckchairs as our cake topper.

Best day ever, but now I'm all sad and wishing I could do it again!

Mine Ceremony at 5pm so no standing around all day, I booked hotels in the local town for everyone and put on a coach to transport everyone from the hotel, to church, on to the reception and back to the hotel, so nobody had to worry about logistics.

Champagne, canopies and a jazz band after the service at 6pm, 4 course, candlelight dinner at 7pm, finishing with as much cheese and port as you could manage. Free bar all night, no separate evening reception/disco, but fireworks and sparklers to round the night off at 11pm. I'm told everyone went back to the hotel and carried on drinking afterwards.

Oh I've been to some brilliant weddings.

The super-chic London wedding - registry office in the King's Road, Routemaster bus to take all the guests to a fancy hotel, cocktails, private dinner for 25, reasonably early finish.

The cricket club - hog roast, English v Scots rounders, bouncy castle for the kids, sort of hybrid of a barn dance and ceilidh. All the staff knew the B&G because it was their local place so it all felt lovely.

One of the first civil partnerships in Scotland - so cool. Walking up the Royal Mile in our finery, drinking champagne on a roof terrace in Edinburgh Castle, no less, just the best speeches.

Winter wedding in a church followed by a church hall reception. So laid back, everyone just full of love for the B&G, excellent playlist.

I do love a wedding though which I know is an unfashionable view on MN!

My own! 10 guests, quick ceremony, no flowers, no cake. DH and I drove their together and afterwards we went for a quick lunch with our guests. No speeches and I spent the whole time doing the childrens activity pack with my nephew.

Finished by dinner time, DH and I went home and binge watched Battlestar Galactica. Was awesome.

I worked at loooooads of weddings at a local hotel while at Uni and they were all exactly the same! Even down to the brides dresses and hair, it was bordering on creepy. Loving some of the weddings described above, sound much more my thing.

My own, obviously.

I overheard a guest commenting to their husband that they didn’t realise that you could do weddings like this. They had gone down the cookie-cutter traditional wedding package route. We were are lot more relaxed.

I can't stand church or "by the book" barn type weddings and luckily haven't been to many recently.

The best weddings I've been to were:

ceremony in a registry office and then a bus to a really cool art gallery type reception with amazing Spanish food I think it was...

And a beach wedding in Europe, really laid-back late evening ceremony all at one venue on the beach.

I enjoyed the one with the ice-cream cart.