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Parties/celebrations

Whether you're planning a birthday or a hen do, you'll find plenty of ideas for your celebration on our Party forum.

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Original poster

spill the beans on great/ awful weddings

138 replies

allthegearnoidea · 10/07/2007 20:53

Hi all,
I'm planning my wedding for August next year and want to know the things that really bug you at weddings and things that you really like. Anything you feel is really unoriginal, or things that made you go ooh, aaaah!
help me make it great for all!!

OP posts:

Original poster

allthegearnoidea · 10/07/2007 21:25

love bacon butties. chip van for later, wil just add that to scrap book now!

OP posts:

AlbusPercivalWulfricBrianSun · 10/07/2007 21:25

Some friends, who had a marquee in a country estate, did a treasure hunt with a prize for the kids which worked really well.

Snaf · 10/07/2007 21:25

Keep it informal. There's nothing worse than being made to stand around for hours through endless photocalls, receiving lines [my pet hate], speeches, etc. The best weddings are always the ones where the reception is basically a big party.

Plenty of food, booze and music and who gives a shit if the tablecloth doesn't match the curtains?

expatinscotland · 10/07/2007 21:25

Yes, bad music is a buzzkill.

aloha · 10/07/2007 21:26

We had a giant cream and jam scone pyramid too!

dassie · 10/07/2007 21:26

If its going on late make sure there is enough food. People tend to expect a proper meal so may end up nipping out for McDonalds if they don't fill up enough!

AlbusPercivalWulfricBrianSun · 10/07/2007 21:27

In terms of food I love hog roasts, pie and mash and mezze.

Original poster

allthegearnoidea · 10/07/2007 21:27

70 adults and 10 children (very mixed ages).
a few coming from afar

OP posts:

Heated · 10/07/2007 21:28

No to making your guests stand around for hours whilst having photos taken. The best imo are mostly reportage/natural that you'll want to display not stiffly posed forced smiles. Spent 2+ hours waiting for bro & SIL while they went somewhere else to have their photos and then they returned and did more!

Yes to paying for entertainment ppl actually want to get up and dance to. No to god awful discos. Best was our ceidhl (sp!) band which had young, old and even the grumpy dancing into the wee hours.

No to spending hours making favours for guests to throw away at the earliest opportunity. Never saw the point in these.

aloha · 10/07/2007 21:28

Yes, then you will need some proper food too IMO. They may have just had a motorway sarnie on the way and be starving.
Is there lots of room for children to run about?

dassie · 10/07/2007 21:28

I would have a receiving line with just the bride and groom so that you get to speak to everyone briefly and thank them for coming.

mymama · 10/07/2007 21:28

Went to a wedding of a good friend years ago that was very personalised which made it lovely. Bride and groom both made speeches. They also put a lot of thought into seating arrangements and hand wrote personal notes to each guest telling them what they appreciated about their friendship/relationship.

Disposable cameras on the tables for guests to take photos is another good idea. You get some photos of bits that you miss as a bride and groom.

Brother's wedding last year was horrid. Seating arrangements were half bride's family/half groom's family. Most people were sat with people they had never met before and spent most of the night wandering around talking to people they knew.

AlbusPercivalWulfricBrianSun · 10/07/2007 21:28

I'm not married but at DS's naming we had food straight after the ceremony (a fab buffet) and then pie and mash later (Pieminster pies yum yum) which worked really well.

aloha · 10/07/2007 21:28

commercial favours waste of time and money. Ours were bunches of lavender from our garden, tied up with a scrap of ribbon.

Original poster

allthegearnoidea · 10/07/2007 21:30

huge consensus about not making people wait around, and was conscious of that when booking it all.
get it about lots of food and drink too.
how do people feel about favours? feel obliged to ahve them, but don't want to do sugared almonds! any ideas?

OP posts:

expatinscotland · 10/07/2007 21:30

Oh, yes, favours where you threw rice.

All the brides I've known hated it because they got rice everywhere - down their dress, in their shoes, etc.

dassie · 10/07/2007 21:31

Favours aren't an English tradition so don't feel you have to have them (I had traditional French ones because my Mum is French).

I would recommend something that is edible or lavendar like Aloha had. people don't really want to have to take these things home and they aren't going to keep them (well maybe your parents will!)

Snaf · 10/07/2007 21:32

Favours are a total waste of time, imo. Why do you feel obliged to have them? Aloha's idea of lavender is lovely, but that's as far as I'd go. Can anyone honestly say they treasure the the darn things afterwards?

aloha · 10/07/2007 21:32

Honestly, it's OK not to have them. You could offer people your flowers to take home if they live locally. Or have a polaroid station with friends taking it in turns to polaroid all the guests so they can take home a photo. You just provide a camera and lots of film.

SlightlyMadSpider · 10/07/2007 21:32

Best wedding we went to went like this:

Arrive at hotel and wait in bar/patio out front until time for ceremony.
When bride has been seen arriving (seen from Patio) everyone made way up to room where ceremony took place whilst there was a few pics of bride etc.
Ceremony
Back down to bar for an hour whilst they had family photos
To the back hall where we had a good English Roast and Black Forest Gataeux. No ponce. Short speeches.
Mingled around bar/grounds for a couple of hours before evening do at the same hotel.

Another good point from a different wedding was that all the children where given a shoebox sized box of age appropriate goodies just before speeches. They contained things like little colouring pads & wax crayons for littlies, cats craddle for older children etc.

Worst wedding hours and hours and hours and hours and hours and hours of photos

Original poster

allthegearnoidea · 10/07/2007 21:32

there is space for kids to run around and will organise some food for later on too

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AlbusPercivalWulfricBrianSun · 10/07/2007 21:32

While I remember, went to a lovely wedding in LA a few years ago. Lots of us travlled out from the UK and elsewhere. The phtotgrapher took pictures of the bride, groom, their families and the LA based people. Those of us from elsewhere didn't feature (despite there being about 600 pics). If I'd been the B&G I'd have been furious not to have pics of everyone who attended at least once.

BettySpaghetti · 10/07/2007 21:33

Another vote for a ceilidh (??spelling?? can anyone spell it?) -it gets both young and old on the dancefloor. DS (just 3) loved the one we went to last weekend.

Some simple things to entertain children eg. bubbles, colouring.

aloha · 10/07/2007 21:34

My stepdaughter (just eight at the time) did a lucky dip for younger children. And we had a stream, a boat and a 'fairy' wood which kept the children very happy. Also big house for hide and seek. We lit the log fires in the evening.

Original poster

allthegearnoidea · 10/07/2007 21:35

from your own experiences were the best photos the natural ones rather than posed?

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