Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

What's the best thing you did at your wedding

159 replies

Horriblewoman · 29/08/2021 20:48

Something you're glad you spent money on? Or didn't think would matter but definitely did?

A month to go and planning is under control so I'm looking for anything we might have missed to make the day even more special (around 90 guests, non-church, in the countryside).

OP posts:
saleorbouy · 30/08/2021 00:11

Binned off all the wedding waste that no one cares about or remembers ( car to the venue, loads of flowers, favours on the table etc.) Spent it on the things you do remember, the food and the entertainment.
People still talk about the day nearly ten years on. Howard Wing was the best singer/ entertainment.

Agadorsparticus · 30/08/2021 00:20

Went abroad for a low key ceremony.

hahahayoumustbejoking · 30/08/2021 00:22

@HalfCakeHalfBiscuit

Shagged the best man on the bogs
We're you the bride?
goose1964 · 30/08/2021 00:33

Hired a bus to get people from the church to the reception. Most people parked near the reception and shared taxis to the church.

GintyMcGinty · 30/08/2021 00:39

We kept it chilled and laid back.

No gimmicks just good food, good bar, good disco, quieter are fir those who wanted to chat.

WhoIsPepeSilva · 30/08/2021 00:54

@Kintsugi16

I wish we had planned how we would get home Hmm
This ^ we ended up driving home from the venue in our separate cars the morning after the wedding, it was quite odd and I remember wishing we had planned to travel home together so we could chat and giggle.

We lived about an hour from our wedding venue so it made sense to make our own way there at the time since I was staying the night before and he was travelling on the day.

Boo1982 · 30/08/2021 01:01

There are three things we did that I loved.. other than the normal stuff-

My absolute favourite was our table numbers- we put folded cards with an envelope on every table. Every card and envelope had the number that corresponded with the table number and the people sat at the tables were invited to write messages to our future selves in the cards…
Card no 1 (table no 1) is opened on our first anniversary, card no 2 on 2nd anniversary etc etc.. it’s honestly SO wonderful to open and read a card that was written for you years before. Sometimes the messages are from people who are no longer with us and honestly it’s so special.

The second thing we did was had a close friend of ours interview each of us separately about our relationship. Some were silly questions and some more serious. We played the video of that whilst we were signing the register (church wedding) which is otherwise often a bit of an empty time. It helped guests to get to know us a bit better and it played well for laughs… it’s also fun to watch back now!

Thirdly.. we switched round the order of the wedding breakfast and the evening ‘free for all.’ We had a church with lots of space so we did the wedding and then everyone stayed behind for a sort of afternoon tea/garden party type of reception and then close friends and family came on to a sit down meal (the wedding breakfast) in the evening. It worked well because no one had to leave the ceremony, loiter around for the afternoon and come back later.

But honestly.. if you do anything, do the cards.. it’s the best!

zeddybrek · 30/08/2021 01:07

Doing our formal photos before the guests arrived. It was far more enjoyable as we could take our time and knew no one was waiting for us. Also all our guests were grateful they weren't made to wait for ages too so we could spend more time with them.

Heartofglass12345 · 30/08/2021 01:08

Ordered way too much buffet food for the night (weren't sure how many people would be there) so loads of people got to take food home with them. Think they were pleased with that haha

MrsDThomas · 30/08/2021 07:32

Best thing was no guests. Absolutely.

ninaibs · 30/08/2021 07:43
  1. If you're having a formal sit down meal, and your venue charge you excess for your guests to have a choice of meals rather than one set meal- play it! Was nice every one had something they wanted rather than us having to choose a generic chicken meal on behalf of everyone.
  2. evening food- bacon and sausage rolls. Went down a treat. 3)A babysitters/nanny to take the kids up to bed at 9 so adults could relax and drink- best £100 we spent.

Biggest waste of money- cake! Looked great but barely touched. Should have got much less.

Frazzled2207 · 30/08/2021 07:47

A band! They were really fab.

whatthehelldowecare · 30/08/2021 08:25

We got married at the end of last month and made the last minute decision to hire a saxophonist for just after the meal and that went down an absolute treat!

FoxgloveSummers · 30/08/2021 09:35

A kids area - just some toys and blankets etc in a quiet corner of the venue but it made sure families with tinies felt welcome.

Definitely live music but I imagine you’ve booked that by now!

I think one of the things our guests actually appreciated was that there weren’t millions of fussy bits, just good music, food, booze and a chilled atmosphere. So don’t go mad.

RyanReynoldsHusband · 30/08/2021 09:55

Giant lawn games. They were so much fun and killed a lot of time

MatildaOfFlanders · 30/08/2021 13:07

Agree about a band. We had a DJ, which was fine, but on reflection would have got a band.

ShadowsInTheDarkness · 30/08/2021 13:14

We ditched the formalities. No speeches or dances, the lunch time meal was a hot buffet which everyone helped themselves to, and then we had pizzas in the evening. Photos were done by family later on in the day so no one disappeared off and father in law made it a fun relaxed experience and less formal and staged. I'm holding a mug of tea in one and it's one of my favourite photos!

LizzieVereker · 30/08/2021 13:16

Wore my jeans.

Forgothowmuchlhatehomeschoolin · 30/08/2021 18:21

@EmoIsntDead

It didn’t cost anything but the best thing we not mix the seating for dinner. Sat groups of friends together, relatives with folk they knew etc. Lots of people commented on how much fun they had at their tables. Nothing worse than being stuck with people you don’t know.
100% this Went to a wedding once where the happy couple thought it would be a great idea to mix everyone up but actually we all just wanted to sit with people we knew - as soon as the meal was over, we all went to sit with our friends and left our table as quickly as we could
LuaDipa · 30/08/2021 18:40

I married many years ago when they were more common, but we had disposable cameras on each table. We had two wonderful photographers, one taking ‘formal’ shots, the other candid. But my absolute favourites are the pictures taken on the cheap table cameras by our family and friends of both us and them enjoying the day.

No cost, but take a moment with your nearest and dearest as well as your dp to appreciate the day and to just be. These moments with dm, dfil and new dh particularly are to this day among my favourite memories.

Have a wonderful day.

Blossomtoes · 30/08/2021 18:47

Oh @SnotandBothered, you made my eyes fill.

We had our reception at home with twice as much fizz as we thought we’d need. I drank nothing else all day. The best bit was having all our family and friends here.

SimonJT · 30/08/2021 18:54

Booked out a bar restaurant for the whole thing (where we had our first date ☺️), this meant guests could order the food they wanted whenever they wanted and sit wherever they wanted.

Bought the dog a suit, he looked great.

Didn’t do any of the formal stuff like speeches or anything, so it was more like food and a night out with mates.

BasiliskStare · 30/08/2021 19:15

@HungryHippo11 - I agree with flowers - my mother has won prizes for flower arranging , but ( we did not have an evening do - just canapés & the wedding cake - made by MIL - after the wedding breakfast - in our very small house ) we bought nice flowers from a market and stuck them into every vase / vessel we had - it looked lovely ) buffet and cake for the evening. As an aside our neighbours were married the day before us in the same church - they phoned and said don't spend money on flowers we are leaving ours. - They were lovely ( both neighbours and flowers )

The one thing I am happy about is I did not overspend on my wedding dress ( we were saving up for house deposit. ) My mother wanted me to spend about 4 / 5 x but I did not - it was an evening dress on sale & I bought a lovely french veil dyed with tea to match . I would not change that. DSIL spent a fortune on her wedding dress - & they wanted a "big do " - her choice - but they had to wait to get their windows changed which were leaking and old . I suppose I am more practical. But I still think my wedding dress was lovely for the day.

Compared to today our wedding was pretty inexpensive but I think ( I would ) quite smart

Again the informal photographs are often better than the formal ones. I have one 26 years later of my mother and it is the best picture of her.

Whatever you do - I wish you well @Horriblewoman

Brollypackedforscottishholiday · 30/08/2021 19:20

Uninvited mil!!
Grin

Haggisfish3 · 30/08/2021 19:25

And had chocolate wedding cake that we served as pudding.