To expect a water supply at a wedding

[Shadowmallow]

The wedding I went to on Saturday was 'festival' themed, all day from 12-12. We were told it was kid friendly and that there would be a kids' entertainer. Great!

Venue was lovely, in a field with a lake and some woods. The couple getting married are BIG party people and their priority for the day appeared to only be to get absolutely trashed (totally fine), and had spent all their budget on a big stage setup and a couple of (albeit very talented and entertaining) bands.

It was a hot day - there was no shade and no water supply at all. Only two small bars selling beer and cider - the only soft drink options were cans of coke and sprite at £3 a pop. There was a small block of four toilet cubicles with sinks to serve a crowd of 150+ which had ran out of water by 5pm. Lunch was deep fried, super salty stuff with chips - thirst inducing and not substantial at all for a 12 hour day. Of course I took water, suncream, snacks, hat etc. but another kind parent ended up doing a Tesco run (25 min drive away) to get a load more bottled water for all the kids.

I guess they nailed the festival theme! But as a wedding touted as kid friendly, not great? If I'm being invited to an all day wedding at a rural venue in an open field I would have expected a water supply at least? Also they've had 2+ years to organise - it was postponed from 2020.

Look, there's a lot to organise, not everyone is good at this stuff. They fucked up.

I doubt they discussed this at length and made a conscious decision to leave their guests thirsty and uncomfortable.

@Staynow Yes, it was quite obvious a lot of thought had been put into the decoration and Instagramability rather than actually thinking about their guests. They apparently spent £5k on a light up sign of their names which wasn't that great - they could have spent that on water/the bar? A lot of people noticeably left pretty early. We left around just before 8pm and had expected to stay until 10.

Never mind the children, surely some of the guests will have been say the ages of their parents. Thoughtless.

I have to say I think it's very poor planning and I hate it when couples put more thought/money into gimmicks than their guests' comfort. Or say blow their budget on the venue/dress whatever but don't serve enough food. Providing water (and shade) is just such a basic thing to provide for your guests.

We attended a wedding once where no drinks were provided at all! Not a welcome drink and not even for the toast, the bar was extortionate but probably what you expect from a nice hotel bar but they refused to serve tap water. It was winter but the venue was boiling hot and there were lots of thirsty children. Someone ended up running out to the shops to buy water , plastic cups and squash ! I think they also purchased their own supply of alcohol too. It seemed so mean not to provide guests with a drink after they had all travelled so far to the wedding and bought gifts and paid for hotels. However they had a chocolate fountain!! Surely they could have paid for a drink instead . Some weddings are not very ‘guest friendly’!

I agree

I went to a wedding with no water too, the couple were trying to save money by doing a dry hire. But by the time they'd paid for the venue and hired all the tables/chairs/crockery/plates/food trucks etc they would've saved money paying for a package.
It was the hottest day of the year and there was one loo for 200 people, no water at all, and no fridge so no milk for tea. Also, no wine or other soft drinks. It was really odd

I am not sure if the rules apply in the UK but where I am, it is illegal to serve alcohol with a licence (temporary or permanent) without supplying (free) water for people to drink. It's all about responsible service of alcohol.

the bar was extortionate but probably what you expect from a nice hotel bar but they refused to serve tap water

If they were licensed and in the UK, they are legally obliged to.

@fatballs my thoughts too but they refused , kept saying they had run out of glasses or water etc. I suspect it was because no one was buying from the bar but asking for free water.

I’ve wondered if they only have to supply customers with free water. Presumably, if people aren’t buying anything, they aren’t customers.

@Fatballs possibly. It was such a stingy wedding . Guests ended up in the local pizza restaurant half way through the wedding reception as there was also no food served.

I think the first thing you do when hosting an event is to think of your guests' comfort. Which means food, drink, seating, toilet facilities and shade.

If they're high earners, they can't be that stupid.

I mean, before we even get to the water issue, inviting people to an event and THEN charging them for drinks (and maybe even food, it's not totally clear if that was free or not) on top of the travel, clothes, and gift they shelled out for on your behalf is incredibly rude and trashy and it's absolutely a point of shame in this country that it's the norm, but I know that's a battle already lost.

That's annoying. Weddings are expensive for guests, so I think the basic needs of guests should be met. It's a long day and a lot of effort after all.