Has anyone experienced any little touches that made a small wedding feel special?

[Blondbombsite]

Like many other people we had to cancel our 2020 wedding and for various reasons are now having something much more low key than we’d originally planned. Overall I’m pretty happy about this as I’m not a big one for being the centre of attention.

I do want it to feel special though. We’ve sacrificed a lot over the past few years and what a celebration that we’ll enjoy as well as all of our guests to have an amazing time.

We’re having 30 guests for a registry office wedding. The reception is being held in a small pub/ hotel where we will have a drinks reception/ canapés in the bar before having the wedding breakfast in a library room, which well then be in all night for a party. We are pretty much free to do what we like so any ideas for lovely touches that will make it special without breaking the bank will be amazing.

We’re having a desert (with chocolate fondue for children) and cheese table set up, which will be there all night. The venue have said that we won’t need any more food but I would like to air on the side of caution so we’ll probably have some sharing platters brought out at around 10 with the wedding cake.

Its in November so we’ve arranged for mulled wine to be a welcome drink alongside Prosecco and beer but we’ll have a tab running to pay for any drinks anyone wants for the whole night. We’ve also hired all 7 rooms in the hotel so the wedding party and close family can all stay and we’ll be having a survivor’s breakfast the next day.

Make sure nobody is standing around too long without a purpose (usually the photos bit), hungry or thirsty. No long speeches, have a cap on how long they can be, they can absolutely kill a wedding for me. Music that takes into account the audience, entertained kids. Instant cameras, with a book to stick them in and a few pritt sticks and sharpies so everyone can stick in their photos and write and draw around them, fun and also great for you to look back on.
If you can, get a mate who is willing to be on top of things for the day, answer questions from the venue or guests, remember where things are, knows about timings so you aren't "on" all day and can actually relax.

Set up an activity table for younger children. Someone hired to man the table would be good.

Bubbles.

My nephew and his wife had goldfishes on the tables instead of flowers.

Whippy ice creams.

I’d wouldn’t bother with the mulled wine either, November is too early for that. Prosecco as a welcome drink is perfect. You could offer Bellini cocktails and Bucks Fizz too if you wanted a bit of variety.

With regards to the weather, we had a November wedding (in the UK)…..and it was a hot & sunny day. So you might to use the garden of the venue.

An activity table sounds good but there will only be two one year olds and a 2 1/2 year old. Bubbles would work though!

Goldfishes sounds quite cruel and a recipe for disaster!

Definitely going to get some instant cameras and guest a guest book to stick pics in!

Favours are there imo to spark conversation. We had chocolate coins that were Victoria sixpences and pennies, there was lots of conversation about those. My other idea was Rubik's toys, snakes and Magic and cubes of varying sizes. I didn

Consumable favours. My heart sinks at weddings when there’s tat, especially meaningfully engraved with the couple’s name or date tat, on the table for me to have to cart home then throw out. I don’t want a single wine goblet/fridge magnet/ornamental elephant/bookend/toy with “Jeremy and Susan” on it.

If you’ve got a seating plan, please seat friends and family together instead of doing that awful thing where you mix the bride’s and groom’s friends so people are sitting next to stranger’s while their best mate is across the room.

Love the idea of a survivor’s breakfast, and I’d definitely eat more food at 10pm. On the whole, a small informal wedding where the bride and groom get to talk to everyone, is always memorable. And weddings where guests have pitched in decorating tables (or once, a boat), or there’s been lots of mingling like day-after breakfasts, have been lovely.

We had the cake cut for dessert. While it was being done anyone who wanted to stood up and said a few words. MIL started it saying she just wanted to say how lucky she was, and how her son had better realise she'd lamp him if he messed up. We had so many laughs.

We had a few photos with those little bubble pots for everyone outside. The pure joy on my aunties faces was just wonderful.

Thanks truly horrific

what happened to the gold fish afterwards?

That is not Thanks

I’m worried about the goldfish too. It sounds hideous

@Blondbombsite We budgeted around £20 for each, so we spent about £600 in total. It was well worth it. The things varied from a personalised guitar plectrum to a giant box of favourite sweets!

I love it when there are lots of family pictures to look at- of the couple as kids, then later on of their life since they met, pictures of relatives who can't be there etc. That's lovely!

I’m on the fence about favours. We’ll only do them if I can think of something useful for the day (so if we do a quiz I’ll get some engraved pencils, that sort of thing).

We’re just going to have one large table that we’re all
around but we’ll definitely put people next to those they know. The advantage of a smaller wedding is that most people will have met before so hopefully it will have a nice friendly vibe.

That sounds lovely.

On the photography front, I think it is worth having a professional photographer and making sure you get staged photos of family groups. Dh and I will have been married 25 years this year, and I was looking at the album, and it wasn't the photos of us I sighed over, it was the mum/dad/gran ones (all dead) and the ones of the extended family and all the changes. We never have all the people together normally, and its hard to catch family groups informally (even for a professional, I noticed on my nieces/nephews wedding photos last year that in the informal pictures there were none of vvvv ill MIL but loads of their friends).
Nephew did the polaroid and guest book thing, and there were nice pictures, but the best man spent all his time chasing people to do it.
I think the nicest thing at a wedding is a happy bride and groom who have the time to enjoy it, talk to people and relax. You don't need favours or party games (games have their place at a big long wedding where you are trying to pass the time though). I think well done, short speeches are nice, and can make you feel like you know the other family/ the extended family better

I think so too but I know DF will hate that idea as he hates any photos of him 😂😂😂

I have to say I like speeches as long as they don’t go on too long, like the 45min best man speech I once hat to sit through…

Mulled wine is fine in november, we did it and lots of people saying how nice it was to have something warm.

So right there really don’t bother spending on engraves pencils for the quiz

the vast majority will be left on the table at the end of the evening. And only one person generally fills in the quiz sheet.

I was thinking the groom, my maid of honour and best man. 5 mins max each.

Since it’s only a short registry office ceremony I’d like to include music that’s personal to us and a reading (possibly by my 13 year old nephew if I can find one that’s suitable). The get our siblings to be witnesses.

But that's just an additional expense when everyone has a camera on their phone.

I like the warm aspect but might see if they can do spiced cider instead (which I like better anyway…).

One table for more than thirty people? Is there no other option?

likited to talking to people either side of you. And I imagine very noisy and a bit hectic with drink pouring a etc.

We did an eye spy game for the younger members at our wedding, they had to take photos of certain things, brides flowers, cake, bride and groom holding hands etc and also did them some of those fortune teller paper things so we got people to pull silly faces etc for photos and selfies then got everyone to Air drop them at the end of the night.

We got some seed bags personalised as favours so maybe something little like that?