Weddings...

[Great Plum]

Thinking of our wedding, we had all the people that were invited to the church invited to the main reception. We had 100 people throughout - what I don't understand is why some peopl have a wedding service at 1.30 then, tell all bar about 30 people to go and hide somewhere for three hours before the majority can come back again for the evening reception...

[blondie95]

my plan is

70 are invited to the ceremony and reception then a further 40 will be attending the evening do after the wedding breakfast is complete!

and according to a lot of reception venues ive spoken to 70 is very small for a wedding breakfast./..looking at the prices how did people afford to feed more?

[Angela Woodford]

Just been emailed by Susannah with pictures of the "venue" and prospective flower decorations and bouquets etc.! She has booked a Sinatra-style band for the party afterwards...

I am going to sound really ancient here and say that I preferred the days when the bride and groom changed and made their escape for honeymoon straight after the reception! I must say that after my first (church, traditional) wedding, I couldn't wait to escape - I'd had Enough!

i'd like to add my voice to everyone who is appalled by Caroline's son's now Ex ending their relationship by text message at a most inappropriate time. The very height of bad manners; hurtful in the extreme, and indicative of a ghastly girl. Awful! Oh Caroline...

Love, Munch

[sejintenej]

Thinking of our wedding, we had all the people that were invited to the church invited to the main reception. We had 100 people throughout - what I don't understand is why some peopl have a wedding service at 1.30 then, tell all bar about 30 people to go and hide somewhere for three hours before the majority can come back again for the evening reception...

I agree with you over timing; the breakfast should follow on reasonably soon (photos always take an age so you can fill in with more or less aperitifs). However there will be those friends who want to go to the shindig but (want to or are forced to) miss the preaching bit.

OTOH I think Amy has a very valid point. With some of our local places charging £40 to £60 a head for the hall and meal with drinks on top then the bride's father is looking at 4K to 6K for just 100 guests PLUS wine plus THE dress, cars, legal, photographer, bridesmaids dresses etc ad infinitum ad absurdum. It is simply a case of having to be selective or you will get 500 at the breakfast.

There are ways of reducing the bill without the guests realising it but even after that it is stil a lot of lolly to fork out

[blondie95]

our small number of guests at the ceremony is because both me and the fiance want to say our vows infront of those we really care about and are close too; not everybody we have ever met in our lives.

[kerrensimmonds]

Hello Amy.That sounds really meaningful... you have both obviously given this a lot of thought! Will you be posting photos on the Forum in due course ? (please, pretty please?!)
I am sure that for both of you it will be the most important day of your lives thus far.....and I hope that you will both enjoy every moment.
Kerren

[Great Plum]

our small number of guests at the ceremony is because both me and the fiance want to say our vows infront of those we really care about and are close too; not everybody we have ever met in our lives.

That is a very nice idea... I like that! (Can you fit more into Itchingfield anyway?)

We wanted as many of our friends as possible to come to everything because to us, the most important part of the day was saying our vows in front of God and our friends - we had the 100 that were invited to the wedding, and probably nearly that again of the regular congregation of the church (we go there!) so that was very special...

We were very lucky with the cost of the wedding (i say we, but I mean the parents were!) - we had the reception at CH (food was £20 a head but included a really posh bbq and chocolate profiteroles), the flowers were done (beautifully) by a friend of the family, the pohotgraphs were a wedding gift byt the photographer (another family friend...) etc etc... I think we got the total cost down, including double decker routemaster to around 6k overall...

[sejintenej]

our small number of guests at the ceremony is because both me and the fiance want to say our vows infront of those we really care about and are close too; not everybody we have ever met in our lives.

Lovely thought but perhaps you were lucky / unlucky in not having too big a family. In our case I had 6 guests on my side but my wife's family !!!
Her mother had 3 sisters close by; one had 8 children of whom 7 each had an average of 4 children at that time (it is now up to about 6 kids each with that sort of number of children for each of those kids .......) and there were innumerable cousins and children of cousins .........My father in law's (Italian) family was somewhat bigger .......................

When my daughter got married one aunt made a big public fuss because there wasn't enough room on the top table for her, her husband, 2 children and 4 grandchildren.

Family politics! it is almost worth living in sin

[englishangel]

No one is ever happy. When my cousin got married she was 21 her brother was 20, me 18, my brother 16 then a male cousin 15. The next oldest after that was 12. The three boys were ushers and on the top table, guess who was on the 'children's' table?

aaaarrrggghhh

[J.R.]

Not a comforting thought, but by the sound of it he's well rid of her. (Am I allowed to call her a bitch ?)
Maggie

MOST CERTAINLY !!

Rather a too polite description in my view.

My quaffing buddies in our local watering-hole have a far more descriptive name, but definitely too rich for this site !

[blondie95]

Looking at Itchingfield church we reckon 70 would fill it wich is lovely it will be cosy and warm.

My mum is 1 of 6 who are all partnered off with at least 1 child each and my dad 1 of three. I worked out that this group alone would outnumber the fiance's family 4-1 so have only invited thoses aunts, uncles and cousins i have had the most contact with over the years.

I have ended up with 5 bridesmaids and a flower girl

As for cost well i have incredinbly nice parents who are funding most of the day, although we will pay for something and the my future parents in law are going to pay for the honeymoon.

I still have 20mths to go but it will fly by.

[midget]

Joe's younger daughter got married in Ireland, in the tiny (70 max) Cof I church in the village where stuart's parnts live. The church was only used about once a month, and Kath's was the first wedding in it for over 30 years. They had to clear out a wasp's nest from the vestry the day before, the harmonium didn't work, so the vicar's wife played a squeaky battery powered object. It rained all morning before the 2pm start but the sun came out as they came out of church.
Stuart's mother gave a party the night before a) so the families could get to know each other
b) the day of the wedding was Joe's brother's Golden Wedding
c) " " " " " " her " Silver "

The driver of the bridal car was to take them all round the village so that everyone could see the bride, and got lost so she was late to church.BUT they are still married 10 years on.

[Angela Woodford]

Wonderful, Maggie. Love it!

[cstegerlewis]

Family politics! it is almost worth living in sin

So true - 18 years this year and not even engaged, just 2 children, reaonsable mortgage and a few nice holidays with what would have been 'the wedding fund'

[Great Plum]

No one is ever happy. When my cousin got married she was 21 her brother was 20, me 18, my brother 16 then a male cousin 15. The next oldest after that was 12. The three boys were ushers and on the top table, guess who was on the 'children's' table?

aaaarrrggghhh

We didn't have a seating plan - we let people sit where they liked!