Would this wedding idea make me stingy/cheap

[Flissity83]

A bit of advice please...

Me and my partner want to get married but we have very little money due to debts and childcare costs etc...

We'd rather not wait for ages to save some money so I am thinking of ways of having a big celebration but not costing thousands.

Would it be a cop out to have a late ish wedding service (say around 4ish). Then hire a space to have a party. Ignore the sit down meal with speeches but to have a hog roast/decent buffet, some music and some booze. That way people can see us get married and celebrate with us but we avoid all the usual traditions in the middle.

AIBU?

Of course YANBU - that sounds lovely.

Sounds good to me, similar to a number of wedding we have been to recently

Sounds good, just make sure you have something for the veggies and/or people who don't eat pork for religious reasons. I am fairly well off but had a 4pm wedding because we thought the hanging around for hours was boring for guests.

Great idea, wish I'd have done that !!

We went to a wedding about ten years ago, when we received the invite it said that no wedding presents we required as the couple already had a home but £10 per person for the meal would be appreciated. It was a church wedding and afterwards in the village hall where family and friends had done the decorating and catering. It was lovely and no wedding gift dilemma!

Sounds lovely. No to hog roast though.

Why is it always a pig roast?
Why not a sheep roast? Are they just not big enough or something?

I'd also say maybe choose a barbecue, or even a fish and chip van thing (although lots of people don't like fish either) rather than a pig roast, just because it's a bit limited and not everyone can eat pork.

Look, someones not going to like it. Your aunt or MIL or random friend is going to tell you its all wrong and you can't do it. Some feckin eejit on these threads always pipes up with an inane objection.

But its fine. Sounds lovely. It's your wedding, and as long as you're not a dick to your guests (not feeding them, demanding cash with poems, making them hang around for hours without a drink etc), you should do what you like and what suits your budget. Thats all.

YANBU we are doing the same.

I've joined a group of B2B on Facebook to get some ideas about things and I can't believe what some people buy for weddings.

Anything from a sweet cart to a wishing well to a fingerprint guestbook? Also weird little words of advice cards for the bride and groom?

As long as there good food and booze. I'm happy.

Oh and don't even get me started on the poems...

Presence over presents then moan someone puts a tenner in the card..

And apparently you can now have signs made to say don't put anything on Facebook.. But like the presents it is done in a rather corny poem.

Yanbu
Having a sit down three course meal for 100 people is overrated imo.

And it's not the easiest task for the caterers to have 100 meals piping hot and ready to serve all in one go so often the quality is compromised.

I went to a wedding like this a couple of years ago - it was great, really enjoyed ourselves. The only drawback was the bride wished the day had been longer, she felt it went by too quickly.

That is exactly what I did! Wedding ceremony at 4pm, straight onto the party with a hog roast and buffet for 6:30 and dancing into the early hours. It worked very well indeed I thought.

Mmmm Thumb - you've got me salivating now. Why don't you ever hear of sheep roasts? I leurve lamb, but am really not keen on pork.

Not that I'd complain if it were a wedding OP !! The format sounds lovely.

Don't know - maybe spit roasting doesn't work so well for the sheep meat? But yes, it would be lush...

Pretty much what I'm doing, but not because of budget constraints, just because the faff of the so-called traditional wedding doesn't appeal.

I had a 4pm ceremony. It worked well.

Also, the late ceremony gave people time to get there from different parts of the country on the day and stay just one night.

Your wedding day is probably the one day when you can be completely selfish and do exactly what you want. Go for it - sounds like a great day!

there's a hog roast company near me that does lamb!

Sounds great. Hog roast and salads for the fussy ones maybe?

Lamb is more expensive and doesn't go as far, therefore hog roast is cheaper. If you don't like pork there's always the veggie option.

Friends had a brilliant hog roast recently which the local pub put on for them. Homemade coleslaw (seriously, white cabbage goes a hell of a long way), mini baked spuds and salad provided by the party throwers.

There's a company in Salisbury who do an amazing three meat carvery in much the same format as a hog roast. Rolls, stuffing, gravy, sauces, sides and a Yorkshire pudding. It was amazing.

Sounds fab - exactly what I wanted to do. Watch the price though - it'll not necessarily be as cheap as you might imagine. I know from doing research that even with a buffet the costs can mount up bloody quickly!

Sounds wonderful.
All day weddings are exhausting!