ok, here's my plan - where are the flaws?

[DingDongMerrilyAsCheese]

3.30pm wedding in church

4.30 nibbles and drinks while we do the photos around the marquee in the field next to the church

5.30 tuck into a bunch of home made cakes
6.pm speeches and cutting 'the' cake
General mingling throughout that lot with nice summery sound track in the background
7.30 BBQ and disco (with pre arranged music as I'm rather anal about music!)

130 people coming to the whole thing.

Childrens tent with games in the afternoon and then story telling, snuggling and childminders in the evening so parents can have a boogie then scoop up sleeping children when it's time to go home.

oh and nickel I have to go in to PacoBells (???sp) Canon as my Dad is walking me up the aisle and he requested that and as he's walking me up the aisle which niether of us thought would ever happen, he can have what he wants for that moment in his life

DingDong - the bacon sarnies were demolished!

Sounds perfect BUT what happens if it rains or is just generally chilly? Is there room in the marquee for everyone?

And toilets? Posh portaloos maybe?

got posh portaloos with molton brown soap in them better than at home

this is the marquee so lots of room for everyone - check out the Capri

Those marquees look fab! Loos sound good too.

Pachelbel's Canon - lovely piece :)

So what kind of nibbles?
How are they served? laid out on tables/waiters? & the drinks?
Hot nibbles cooked by?

Homemade cakes made by? & when?
(hopefully not you the day before)

Will everyone sit down for speeches at 6?
Otherwise some people milling around by the bar could spoil things a bit.

BBQ & disco all sounds good.

What about the end? music going to finish at what time?

Have you got an idea of how many kids?
Have you sorted the childminders & from where?

If it rains can every go from church to into marquee and stay there?
Where will loos be in relation to marquee?

Trying to think of anything that could go wrong that needs thinking about in advance. It really does sound like a fab wedding :)

aww, so sweet about your first dances! I have heard of a wedding where the put in an extra bit for the offspring, to show that they were all becoming a family together - I think in this case it was a step-child, but they both said to the DC that they promised to look after each other and be a family.

I like Pachelbell's canon, that's lovely that your Dad chose it, and that it means something huge to him. Dads really are soppy, aren't they! (remembering my own dad grinning like a loon, despite pretending to be grumpy about me marrying in a church... )

you don't need childminders!

We tried to get all the kids up the front of the church, in the action, and some of them did. We gave each child an age-appropriate goodie bag at the beginning of the service, and put a big bowl of popcorn (in little bags) and boxes of raisins in it - I was actually quite surprised to see the raisins were demolished! And they all kept dipping in throughout the afternoon.
To be honest, we had about 30 children there (of all ages from 12 downwards) and they were all great - they were allowed to toddle around wherever they wanted, and they loved the disco!
Biggest tip is to have baollons aroundthe dance floor - they were a hit with all the kids (and one or two of the adults!)

littleding is my son from my first marriage, that's why his attitude of 'we're all getting married together' is so lovely for DP and I

Dad always swore he wouldn't ever go to a second wedding, so I wasn't really expecting him to say he'd come, ket alone walk me down the aisle and it was his Mums favourite piece of music and he's already told me we have to do some 'practising' to get the timing just right, his pride and joy about it make me blub just thinking about that part of the day.

Littleding loves camping so that's the reason we're doing a separate tent and lots of our friends children are the same sort of age - their tent isn't for them to be in all the time, it's there for when they want to go and have a bit of a relax (or inthe case of the teenies a bit of a sleep - might well be in there myself as well for a while for a wee snuggle with all the gorgeous babies!)

Are you the official mn wedding planner btw? - I'm coming back to you with all my queries :)

Justkeepswimming

Nibbles on tables we decided in the end.
Cakes made by the 'ladies of the wedding party' My mum, sister, future MIL and SIL's and some family friends. I'm doing the wedding cake at request of DP so can sort that in April (Wedding is at the end of July)

Sitting for the speeches.

Will end at 11.30pm

Marquee is a 2 minute walk from the church to the school field. the loos will be connected by a sort of tunnel thing so you don't have to go stumbling around outside.
Childminders from littleding's old Nursery
about 40 children altogether and we didn't want to lose half our guests by 10pm because the childers needed to go to bed.

I'm a self-appointed busy-body

aw, the kids' tent sounds good fun (for them!)

Do you think then, given that it is a new family that the idea of littleding being welcomed would work for you? Just in case he feels left out when you're both talking to each other and he's not included in that bit?
Or do you think he's busy with his important stuff?

A lto of our children guests were dancing right till theend (we finished officially at 11, and I think about half the kids were still there!)

I didn't mean to be rude by asking! Certainly not that you're a busy body, I love talking about it.

I'm not sure littleding would co-operate with a formal bit in the ceremony he needed to participate in - he likes choosing his own ways to be the centre of attention

We are hoping he might join my nephew in doing the 'when you go to a wedding' reading but aren't going to broach that with him til closer to the time. At the moment he thinks he wants to wear his PE kit as well..

LOL at pe kit!

All sounds perfect, I want to get married again and do it your way :)

And your Dad sounds like a right ol' softie!

:) My Dad is really but I'm not just being dramatic about it, we all (Mum included) nearly fell over when he said he was coming - not a big deal it's just been a principle of his all his life - though he does love DP, and I guess he's glad to see littleding and I settling down with a really super man.