Boring wedding AIBU

[Inselaffe]

DP and I are having a minor disagreement over ice cream (we are having this instead of formal pudding). I will print out the thread and we will go with the majority opinion.

We are having our wedding party (not really a reception - we are getting married much earlier in the year) in a stately home-type place. At least 15 of the 100 guests are children and there will be an open alcoholic bar. In your experience:

a) It's better to hire an ice cream van because mess will be self-contained and outside.

b) It's much more cool (and cheap) to buy loads of lovely ice cream, toppings etc. and let people assemble their own indoors from an 'ice cream bar'. They can be trusted not to make a mess.

Who is U, a) or b)?

A

A sounds much better, you can get everyone outside again which is much nicer than being stuck inside. Plus less mess, no worries about hygiene (by the time 100 people have helped themselves it'll all be melted). Find a local artisan ice cream van - we have one comes to our school summer fair and does a roaring trade in unusual flavours.

I suppose the only problem is whether to do it before or after the speeches, but you could do them outside once everyone's had their ice cream.

You could always have the ice cream van set up with nice sprinkles and sauces set out on a table next to it for people to help themselves like you do with the ketchup at a burger van.

Friend had a fab dessert stations (she got a very cheap deal). She had candy floss, popcorn, chocolate fountain and ice cream counter. All were staffed though, it was fab

B will be messy and unhygenic. Think of all the stick fingers being dipped in, licked and redipped...

B is a nice theory but in practice would be awful! A all the way.

Thanks everyone :) I am A and DP is B. I think A is in the lead, yay!

Unfortunately not in South Wales WelshMaenad, but I've never heard of the ice cream alliance so I will definitely contact therm, thank you.

I think B would be an unmitigated nightmare in terms of mess.

I think A too, but bear in mind ice-cream vans are way louder than anyone thinks. Constant loud humming, like your neighbour's doing some drilling. So park it far, far away.

Have an extra "A", van outside, but with a selection of stuff, not just 99s and supplied with lots of wet wipes for compulsory wipe downs.

Can you get something between the two, like a set up of the type of ice cream parlour you get at the beach, with someone serving different flavours? Inside then rather than a van, but no kids messing it up?

Marriage is all about compromise, you know

I prefer the idea of B, but only if you can arrange for staff to serve your guests. I think self service will be a sticky nightmare.

The van idea sounds to my too much like Mr Whippy.

A is better. My friend had a DIY chocolate fountain at hers and the children were covered from head to toe.

If you have any sort of soft serve type stuff, dont forget that some pregnant guests "cant" eat that

A

Whichever will mean the best quality ice cream. I think in general the stuff from vans is pretty vile.

I'm for A - love ice cream vans

Ice cream van is more fun.

B - with hot choc fudge sauce and maraschino cherries.

A. Less mess. Plus B be swamped by kids and the adults won't get a look in!

Would your venue allow option B? Have you checked?

A free bar followed by an open ice cream bar on a hot day... Could be messy with serving and temptation to stuff one's face when half cut could cause vomit problems!!

Our friends just had a wedding where they picked option c, a staffed ice cream bar. It worked really well, there was just one bloke there who put your flavour/s of choice into a cup or cone and added a topping. And the ice creams were great too, salted caramel, tiramisu etc. Was fantastic.

...when writing that I just typed fattastic. It was that too. :)

A