We're about to send invites and both of us feel like it would be nice to invite our work Colleagues, but we're having a small wedding, just 80 people or so How do I send the invite to just them and not their spouse and kids?

Hi everyone!

I’m eloping in Hawaii this December and would love some help accessorizing my dress. What type of jewelry and veil would complement it best?

Thanks in advance for your suggestions!

Hi! Looking for very affordable wedding dress ideas. They don’t even have to be wedding dresses. Timeline, this December and a party the following march or so. Id like to wear the same dress at the party so im thinking I shouldn’t get too festive w the coloring.

Hi everyone - while I no longer spend much time on reddit I did want to share our final wedding budget breakdown. This subreddit showed me how much was possible. We did not end up under 10k... but we did splurge very intentionally. I'm including where friends/family stepped in! The biggest help was when my parents offered to split our total food bill 50/50 and cover mocktails so we could extend our guest list (including some family friends they wanted to have present).

Photos: https://imgur.com/a/FXOhpDF

Food & Drinks: $5,895.82++

• Reception at Silver Fork Lodge: $5,736.56. Includes staffing fee, gratuity, 74 guests, 5 hours of non-alcoholic open bar, BBQ menu. If you live in SLC, I highly recommend them as a venue. The food was spectacular and they worked very closely with us with our drink requests (we had two mocktail recipes they blew out of the water and two non-alcoholic beers they tracked down for us... including one in which they found six different suppliers because no one in the valley had more than a handful available).
• Wedding cake: $156.26. From local bakery - purchased three single tier cakes in increasing sizes and placed onto cake stand with grocery store raspberries. It disappeared FAST and guests were inspired to go buy seconds at the bakery the next day
• Pre-ceremony Picnic Lunch from Harmons grocery store: n/a. Covered by my mum, and she way overestimated because the groom's side of the family did not end up joining us for this portion of the day. Definitely not part of your traditional wedding but great to see all my out of country family and out of state friends. Sandwich, dessert, and fruit platters from local slightly-upscale grocery chain.
• Pre-ceremony Picnic Drinks from Costco: n/a. Covered by my MIL, number of drinks were way overestimated but the weather was much much cooler than the weekend before.
• Rehearsal dinner: n/a. 10 people, covered by our best man as his wedding present to us when he realized how stressed I was about it. We went to a local Indian restaurant used to larger crowds and ordered family style.

Photography: $2,158.97

• Burlap and Blossom: $1837.22. All day coverage and tip. Gabby is amazing. Just check out the photos linked at the bottom.
• Engagement photos: $321.75. Also from burlap and blossom. This allowed us to check we liked her work and that my make-up skills and style left me happy with the results in photos. Completely worth the splurge.

Groom Outfit: $1,613.75

• 3 Piece Custom Suit & White Shirt: $1,482.56. Used Tailor Cooperative in SLC. They were wonderful to work with. We used Black Friday to purchase gift cards and saved ~25% off the sticker cost. This was a complete splurge but my husband didn't own many nice clothes and it was a super fun experience for a suit he'll wear again and again as we enter the wedding years of our friends. (We used it pre-wedding for a friend's wedding already.)
• Shoes (Nordstrom): $75.40
• Tie (tiebar.com): $34.14
• Dry Clean: $21.65

Bride Outfit: $711.77

• Dress: $160. Highly recommend Brides for a Cause if you are on the west coast. It was 100% worth the drive down to Seattle from Vancouver, BC for me. My sister joined me on a visit to see me, we left without the dress, and then I returned three weeks later having made up my mind. I asked for a discount due to some black streaks on the skirt. It was a sample dress donated by the dress shop - original tag showed a cost of ~$1600. I specifically did not want a new dress. This was one area where I wanted to reduce consumption for a single use garment.
• Hemming all three skirt layers and removing train: $285. My mom covered this for me. I did not shop around as much as I should have due to wedding planning fatigue when this came up on the to-do list.
• Dry cleaning dress: $69.84. We also received quotes up to $200 before actually showing up with the dress. My dress is exceedingly simple but don't be caught by surprise if you get high quotes. I highly recommend showing the dress if its a simple one because "wedding dress" covers a very very wide range of dresses.
• Fancy white silk scarf: $106.83. Complete splurge at Nordstrom... I didn't even end up wearing it but it was to be my "warm" shoulder cover if the evening got chilly. I love it and have no regrets.
• Shoes: $45.00. Purchased by my mom on impulse fairly early on. She was adamant I not just wear white flats due to the 12 inch height difference with my husband. I let her win that one.
• Strapless swimsuit for tanning: $21.55. Because I refused to have tan lines. From Target. I wore long sleeves or strapless tops all summer.
• Miscellaneous shipping/parking costs from dress shopping: $19.00

Ceremony Venue: $614.00

• Storm Mountain Amphitheatre: $314.00. Two four hour blocks reserved immediately as they became available 12-months ahead of time. Each included 10 parking spots for guests and there was free street parking for others
• Helpers: $300. $20/hour for two friends to help us set-up and take-down our picnic lunch and minor decorations. They were colleagues that had turned into friends by the wedding. We ended up extending an invitation for them to attend the reception as guests. It was wonderful to have two people we could send to help load cars, pick up the wedding cake, etc.

Decor: $526.98++

• Flowers: $75. Trader Joe's purchase by my mom the day before - I wanted white and green colors with eucalyptus and baby's breath. She delivered based off what looked best. Turns out one of the family friends was a professional florist in a past life. We had no idea but she immediately volunteered to make the bridal bouquet and mini centerpieces and made a greenery garland for the reception. I was blown away. My MIL made the boutonniere for her son.
• Cake Stand and Tea-Honey Box: $275.64. This was a complete splurge to have an actual craftsperson (Seven Boughs out of Oregon) hand make both these objects. I hope to resell the cake stand post honey-moon. Think of the wine box & love letter tradition - we simply made it non-alcoholic with tea brick and super fancy honey.
• Bud vases: $60.00. Purchased by the mother because she didn't like the ones I found. Returned mine for full refund.
• Cork tiles & easel stand: $45.49. Amazon purchase for seating chart.
• Printing costs: $0.85 + $2.25 + $27.02. I designed menu table-tents, fake post-cards for the seating chart, and misc other things. This was to help the significant number of guests that had little spoken English follow along.
• Canva subscription: $15.00. I was using the free trial but forget to cancel so renewed one month. Completely worth it if you are inclined to design your own things.
• IKEA curtain rod: $15.00. To hide ugly wooden board at ceremony.
• Ribbons & bouquet supplies: n/a. Unknown, purchased by family friend and mother. ~<$20
• Home Depot supplies for A-frame sign: n/a. Unknown, purchased by my father because I had forgotten my wallet at the time. ~20$. Remember that home depot has discount wood for various flaws. I stole white spray paint and electrical tape from my work. The sign functioned at the entrance to point people down the path.
• Miscellaneous items I got for free: Stools (from home, IKEA), table tent holders (from a friend clearing her own wedding supplies), "LOVE" sign (from my mom, garage sale $1 purchase), NP Postcards for table numbering (reuse from my souvenir stash), white curtains (made by MIL using excess quilt fabric she'll be reusing), seating chart background (reuse of a JMT map we had floating around the house). The NP theme for the seating chart was unplanned - I simply was looking for inspiration amidst things I already had! Same with using green - it's the color the venue used for their linens and I wasn't about to upgrade.

Rings: $420.23. By McKay Diamond Company in SLC. My husband used his dad's ring and I had them make a custom ring using family gold and a tiny diamond in a tension setting.

Gifts: $357.03 + $213.88. $357 was for friends and helpers, including everyone we asked to give speeches and readings. Nothing was wedding themed and we tried to get things each individual would like (from a marathon day snack/electrolyte kit to a nursing badge to date night gift cards). The $215 was for our two sets of parents who we gifted metal photo prints of family photos (us from engagement shoot, them, and our siblings - so three prints each.)

Hair and Make-Up: $178.31. $125 was for hair cuts for both of us a few weeks before at my favorite salon. The rest is either miscellaneous hair bands/elastics/rollers or minor make up purchases. Don't forget to ask on Buy Nothing for make up.

Transportation: $61.07. Some gas, some Uber, some parking.

Ceremony Booklets: $69.78. Includes the super fancy paper I used and printing costs from our local library. I designed these in Canva.

Marriage license: $55.00. There was no additional cost to have our friend officiant be a "County Designee".

Thank you cards: $100.00 ish. This includes postage. The Shutterfly cards were about $70.

A few miscellaneous notes:

• I used YNAB for tracking purchases. (With some minor challenges with currency changes when I moved back to the US from Canada mid-planning that I tracked separately because I'm a spreadsheet person.. if you haven't been able to tell...) It's my favorite personal finance app and I love their method. It's been very freeing.
• I fully recommend spending some time listening to the podcast: The Unconventional Wedding Podcast. She's absolutely marvelous and her podcast is the reason I didn't feel the need to have the same wedding I see on social media. My husband and I got ready together at home, we didn't have bridesmaid/groomsmen and avoided all associated drama, etc. Everyone loved the simplicity of the day.
• Don't be afraid to ask friends and family for help. But do not press when someone (such as your violinist younger sister, your shy friend) is uncomfortable helping. They may be willing to help in other ways.
• I am the planner between my husband and I. I did a lot of the planning but he took over the final week due to having added time off. The ability to let go and focus on work and seeing all our friends again (some for the first time since before COVID) the week of the wedding was extraordinarily helpful.
• Our guest list grew over the 18 months we were engaged due to a planned move to a new city mid-planning and new friends and colleagues. We did two rounds of invites and then sent a handful more to new friendships in the weeks before the wedding as we got final "no" RSVP's. I think I could have skipped inviting a handful of coworkers in the end to limit costs.

Friend help - including the challenges of using friends and not vendors:

DJ/MC: A friend who recently switched from engineering to musician to outdoor bike/ski guide brought his electric piano and Amazon-rented a battery to play entrance music for our ceremony. Technically did not follow the rules of our ceremony venue but we decided to go for it to have 5 minutes of live piano music... he organized and set up all on his own and was super excited to help out. The same friend functioned as our MC/DJ for the reception and had a blast. He made our cocktail playlist and dinner playlist and we collab'd on a dance playlist (all using Spotify). he also helped edit the first dance songs to shorten them - it was seamless and magic. He made all the announcements (cake cutting, dancing, tables for buffet) and called people up for speeches. He was the one who worked with venue to set up laptop/microphone ahead of everyone arriving to the reception venue. It was an amazing help. Definitely recommend finding a trusted friend to MC the reception even if you don't find a true DJ/plan to use Spotify. I was slightly stressed when he was a little procrastination prone - we didn't get playlists until 10 days before. But I also went to grad school with him and he always finished his homework assignments before me and organized our internet for our shared house. So I held myself back from bugging him.

Officiant: My husband's best friend was our officiant. We had no groomsmen/bridesmaids because we had no desire to single friends out. (We did ask our close friends and families to give toasts or readings depending on their preference.) We wrote out the ceremony script together using bits and pieces found online. It ended up more contentious than expected due to his lack of communication while he was in school. It turned out okay but strained my friendship with him. We used the county process to register him as a "Designee" rather than having him ordained by an online church - simply because I feel weird about "religious" institutions existing just to circumvent these rules... he did a great job running the ceremony part of the day and we have no regrets looking back. The same friend has greater means than us and came two weeks early due to a break-up and a desire to help us (partially as distraction from said break-up). He rented an airbnb and basically covered all our groceries for those two weeks. He cooked us breakfast the morning of and took us out to eat multiple times during the final stretch. I am exceedingly grateful even if we had to sit down and discuss how that level of generous help was a little uncomfortable for me to accept. This same friend also booked a large airbnb for all our friends who were still living a student life style and ended up not letting any of them pay them back. (It was a total $700 for a place with space for 14 people for three nights. It ended up being a fun surprise that so many of our single friends ended up there and all got very close due to it. We hung out with a group of about 20 friends after the wedding reception until 2 am playing games and all drinking (except my sober husband and I). I highly recommend something like this if you can find a way to make it work.)

Set-Up: A close friend of mine who did not want to stand in front of a crowd to do a reading/toast accepted to leave the ceremony prior to family/friend group photos with her partner and complete set up at the ceremony. She borrowed my car for the day to avoid using a rental. (Not everything was exactly as I envisioned, but she got it almost perfect.) I drew out a floor plan with notes on where I wanted everything and what was her responsibility and the venue's responsibility. I sent it to both parties a couple months ahead of time. Note that I also gave everyone a printed packing list and schedule of events at the rehearsal (copies of what I had sent digitally ahead of time) so everyone knew what items where in whose possession at all points of the day.

Hair: A friend of my husband, who lived locally unlike many of our guests, offered to do my hair. She did an amazing job but note that we practiced styles on three different occasions and I went in with almost no expectations. (She actually did the Pinterest searching for me based on her known abilities until I found styles I liked in her screenshots.) She came over the morning of to do my hair, bringing hot chocolate for me since I'm not a caffeine person) before returning home to get her 9-month old and 2-year old ready for the wedding. Aka, superhero. The same friends completely unexpectedly cleaned out entire one bedroom apartment the day after our wedding. (And were a little upset they didn't realize we were spending our wedding night at home and therefore in our extremely messy apartment filled with the wedding things we unloaded at 3 am...) [My husband and I learned how to do his curls in foam rollers overnight with tips from our hair salon stylist and the internet.]

Car Decoration: A high school friend packed chalk markers with her and had 6-8 friends help decorate my dad's BMW Z4 (with hard won permission) for my husband and I to drive between ceremony and reception... they even tied cans to the back. It was beautiful artwork and the only thing that didn't get photographed super well. They did it between picnic and ceremony in the ceremony venue parking lot. (My dad proceeded to drive this car back to LA from SLC without washing... wondering why he was getting honked at the entire time lmao.

The joint bachelorette/bachelor party story.

About 8 months before the wedding I was feeling very down that not having any bridesmaids meant no one was thinking of throwing me a pre-wedding party of any kind. My then-fiancé encouraged me to reach out to friends and talk about it. They all encouraged me to have a party, of course, they would all have had to get on a plane to join us in our new home. I ended up deciding to have a party the Thursday before our Saturday wedding. Asking everyone to take a couple days of vacation time still felt like asking a lot and we wanted to keep it something affordable.

My husband wasn't super interested in just going out for drinks but upon discussion we hit upon the idea of all simply meeting up in the early afternoon at our local climbing gym (which offered a group deal that ended up being ~$25/person who wasn't a member). The gym includes a cafe, courtyard, and yoga and we took advantage of all of it until dinner time. At dinner time we carpooled over to a dining hall nearby and all had dinner from the various stands. After dinner, everyone was still excited to hand out. We split up briefly so everyone could check-in at their various hotels/Airbnb's (many had come direct from the airport!) and then met up at one of the Airbnb's whose apartment complex had a pool and hot tub. We hung out there for another couple hours before getting ready to hit a fancy cocktail bar downtown. Everyone found their own preferred way to the bar and we hung out for another hour there. They purchased our drinks and a friend bought a cheap bow-tie/bridal veil for us. It ended up as an affordable night out for everyone and allowed all our friends a chance to meet and hang out to start off their weekend in SLC. I know many of them proceeded to spend the following days together exploring the city and splitting Uber costs or carpooling in the few rental cars.

Daughter is getting married next week. I was getting everything packed in boxes and discovered the bubbles evaporated. I bought them 6 months ago when I found a torn box on Clearance at Michael's. They were full then, but now almost empty. I refilled all 130 with Walmart bubble solution and a syringe. Don't buy your bubbles early!

Title says it all. Looking for recommendations in Las Vegas for a wedding dinner. No dancing, no music.

Just a place that’s nice that my family can enjoy for 2 to 3 hours. Ideally looking to keep it under $100 per meal since I know there’s typically a room occupancy fee.

If any of you have gotten married in Las Vegas before I’d love to get your recommendations. Thanks in advance!

Hi All! I’m getting married in October 2025 on the north shore of Oahu. Should be around 80 ish guest. I’m open to different hourly prices or packages. Any suggestions on a photographer? I’ve been looking and gosh they are crazy expensive. Hoping for around $1K ish, less would be great!

Any suggestions welcomed!

Hey all! We’re looking to host a reception next Summer in Chicago. Our guest list is 90-100 people, give or take.

We’re leaning towards hosting our reception at a restaurant. We like the vibe and aesthetic of the Hogsalt group restaurants (Bavette’s, Ciccio Mio) but not the price tag 😅

Would love any recommendations!

My bridesmaids will not be getting ready together and will instead show up ready to the hotel. Do I still have to buy them robes and PJs if we aren’t taking getting ready pics ?

For context I’m having a backyard weeding with roughly 150 people. We are doing a buffet and Sam’s club sells really nice plastic hardware plates and silverware. My question is should I have everyone’s plates already on their tables or just have them grab it when they get their food? If you did plastic plating could you show me what yours looked like? Thanks!

I’m looking for an affordable photographer and Reflections Media PA came up but their packages almost seem too good to be true and 90% of the reviews are positive with a few negative here and there. Thoughts? I’m worried it might be a scam.

I’m having ceremony of about 50 people at an outdoor chapel. It will be short and sweet. I was thinking of using 2 large lantern like blue tooth speakers. Is this a bad idea? Should I just hire a musician? Anyone with good or bad experiences using Bluetooth speakers for a smaller/quick ceremony?

Hello! I am planning a spring wedding with about 60 people total. The reception venue is just a private, family property. We are planning for more a celebratory dinner vibe, rather than a huge party.

That said, I don’t think we will need to be providing a ton of alcohol based on our guest list. Ideally, I would like to provide the alcohol from a wholesale club & just leave it an open bar until the supply is gone. Mostly beer, wine, & seltzers. We are also considering doing signature drinks & premaking them.

Since we would like to provide our own alcohol, our caterer won’t serve it. I’m looking at getting a bartender, but can’t decide if it is worth the cost? Is it tacky to skip the bartender & just let everyone grab their own drinks? If we opt out of a bartender, we won’t have any liquor out, just anything that is in the pre-made signature drinks.

None of us are huge drinkers, so I’m just trying to figure out the best way without spending another $500+ on a bartender! Advice appreciated! Thanks!

Want to keep my party under 75 people as the hard upper limit. I have some friends who I know as a couple so I’d want to invite both, but then there are some long time friends with spouses whom I’ve never met. Would it be weird or rude to not invite their +1s while some others are invited as a couple?

We are looking to get married in October 25 or spring 26, and hoping to keep to somewhat affordable by wedding standards. Any recommendations for places in Minnesota, potentially in hotels?

EDIT 3: putting this one at the top bc I feel like it’s the most important. Some of you are saying I’m in the wrong for wanting to get married two weeks before her. I knew it was risky, which is why I asked, if she had just said no we would’ve moved it. It’s that we have 3 dates we could choose from and she blacklisted all of them for being “too close”, even the one after, bc it’s “too close” to the second wedding she’s having a month after the first

EDIT 4: for those of you under the impression that we like rage/jealousy started planning our wedding after her engagement, that’s not correct. We were looking for a house, we didn’t want to pay for a house and a wedding at the same time. We had everything planned, venue picked, dress picked, guest list etc, just no concrete date. It just ended up that we were in a position to confirm it around the same time she was, it wasn’t meant to be malicious

EDIT: for those asking about travel, most of his family is local, but one couple will be flying in from out of state. Her wedding is 3 hours away, despite living locally, while ours is not. Again, not intentionally, I thought it would maybe be convenient for the out of state family to travel and stay for both, rather than travel twice

EDIT 2: we’ve decided to do a month before hers instead, and we agreed that if she makes a huge fuss about that too, we’ll move it back to July. Those of you that emphasised that it’s her special day, not month or year, I needed to hear that. Thank you

I need opinions from others planning a wedding

Throwaway cause I’m a baby, also posted on AITA

My (27f) fiance (26m) and I have been engaged for almost two years, we were waiting for more things in life to line up before we committed to planning a wedding, but at this point we just decided screw it, there may never be a right time.

In the midst of this his sister got engaged and set a date for the beginning of August 2025.

My fiance and I started dating and got engaged on the 20th, so we decided to keep the theme going and get married on a 20 as well. Between 2025 and 2026 we have 9 days that could work (excluding weekdays). That led us to choosing July of 2025, which also happens to be our 8 year dating anniversary. We haven’t booked anything, and I reached out to my SIL to double check with her about the date, specifically because I didn’t want to be rude!! I explained that we had very few days to choose from and part of the reason we chose July was because it was our anniversary. She responded, said it was fine, but with the caveat of “you probably won’t get that date, we didn’t get the day we wanted” Well, we did. Again, we didn’t book it because we had a feeling, but she said it was fine!! And then turned around to her mother and was upset that we were being rude for getting married two weeks before her. This led to my future MIL coming to us and kinda saying that we were TA. She’s having a second wedding the beginning of October, meaning the end of September for us is also out. If we pushed it forward, the earliest date before July would be June, but according to her that’s “still too close”. For reference June 20 and August 9 are too close, July 20 and August 9 are too close (fair) and August 9, September 20, and October 11 (her second wedding) are too close together. Idk what the problem is if we’re getting married after her?

I don’t want to start a fight, she’s already booked and put a down payment on their venue, but she’s got us pinned in a lose-lose situation. She’s not the only one that wants to get married, but she’s dictating what we’re allowed to do. We’re trying to schedule for June 20th instead, with the mindset that it’s over a month away and she can deal. The other part of me (that my fiance strongly disagrees with) feels like if she’s not adult enough to tell us the date is too close that we should just do the date we chose.

Family is really important to my fiance. We wanted to get married with as little issue as possible, but we knew as soon as they got engaged that this was going to be an issue.

What do we do?

So, WIBTA for getting married two weeks before my SIL?

We can’t afford to shell out thousands on a videographer. I really just want a recording of the ceremony without any frills or editing. And I doubt anyone’s phone has enough storage room to record the whole thing lol. I thought about buying a video / cam recorder and a tripod to record the service. Thoughts? Recommendations? TIA for any advice or ideas

Hi, my partner and I are planning a wedding in/near Denver, CO for summer 2026 . We are on a tight budget and are looking for an affordable dinner buffet option for 100 people. We unfortunately have a couple of dietary restrictions: gluten free and dairy free for us and a few family members. We will also need vegetarian options for at least 10 people. I have priced out some middle ground catering options and it has been at least $8,000 before tax and tip. And that was for the cheapest option of tacos. We would be more comfortable spending $2,000 to $4,000. Neither of us are foodies and really just want average food but are restricted by those dietary needs. I hate the idea of paying for a not-so-great but verified “wedding caterer” that just serves dry chicken and iceberg lettuce salads that I feel like a lot of weddings opt for… We honestly would rather do Chipotle or Cava or even Qdoba because it would be filling, we know it tastes good, and easily fit our dietary needs. However, I have no idea how to go about the logistics of ordering that? Will they price jump if you say it’s for a wedding? What time do you order it to be delivered before you need to serve it to keep it warm until dinner? How/where do we hire wait staff to set up and take down the buffet? Has anyone ever done this and do they have any tips for how to go it about it/ how it went?

We are leaning towards an idea like tacos because it’s a “make your own” that can accommodate easily for dietary restrictions. We are also open to other ideas like food trucks or other catering options. Maybe a local Denver restaurant that others have had a good experience with? We would love to think outside the box on this one because we don’t want to spend so much money for food. Any ideas or advice would be much appreciated!! Thank you!!

Hello everyone, I am looking into planning my wedding and quickly realized how things add up! I was wondering if anyone had any advice/suggestions on venues in California, Arizona, Las Vegas or Utah for an outdoor wedding. I am looking to do something in nature or near the beach ( a vineyard?) no preference. I also wanted to see if it could be budgeted to around 5k-6k for 35 guests. If possible for (outside caterer, venue,flowers, chairs, photographer). Venue is most important to me but also trying to work this under a budget. Thanks in advance!

Hi! Has anyone held their wedding reception at Leu Gardens? If so, do you mind sharing what your final cost was including vendors? I want to host mine there but worried about the required catering list pushing me way above budget.

I’ve been browsing online and found a few items I like so I’m trying to see how they’d look all together. I didn’t realize until I put them into a collage that the dress is cream and veil is white, does that look bad?

Hello all, so unfortunately a local bride page blasted my already hired and 50% deposit paid HMUA for my wedding next year. Apparently she cancels night before and sends someone else hours late leaving brides and bridesmaids scrambling. All the negative reviews were under her old name (yeah red flag i missed) her new name had good reviews. My question is should I text her my concerns? Or just cancel and eat the pretty big 50% loss, I don’t think I can dispute through zelle or break my contract . Anyone been in this situation? It’s stressing me out!

I’m not ashamed to have a low budget, but really, reddit?

(no hate to that sub ofc!)

Our daughter's micro wedding was yesterday and thankfully, it went off with relatively few hiccups.

We had designed and printed wedding programs ourselves that included the order of events, a note about which side the guests should sit on (the couple decided to have their guests seated opposite of where they normally are, with the idea that the bride and groom could then look over and actually see their families and friends from where they stood), and a note asking guests to remain unplugged during the ceremony. Looking back at it now, I wonder if a strategically placed sign might've been a better choice, as I'm not sure the guests actually read the darn things.

We did have some minor issues with timing on our mini-processional (no wedding party; just us parents and grandparents, plus a flower girl and ring bearer), as we did this without a wedding coordinator. We initially couldn't hear the music cues well in the foyer of the church, where we were lined up. But it all worked out and we managed to all get down the aisle at the right moment. The ceremony went off as planned and was very sweet.

Another minor hiccup was the photography, only in that we were taking photos in the foyer with guests milling around instead of heading over to the Fellowship Hall. A wedding coordinator would definitely have helped here. The couple did provide a shot list but it kind of went out the window, so I am not sure that they got all the specific photos they wanted. We'll have to see once they come back. The professional photographer is a friend of the groom's, so I believe it was done as a gift. We're grateful for however it comes out.

I had posted previously about adding to the catering that the groom's parents had arranged. The MoG changed her mind a couple of times, going from a light afternoon tea-style spread to drop catering to what we ended up with finally, which was a buffet of sandwich wraps, charcuterie, fruit, veggies, and cheese.

The sandwiches and charcuterie went pretty quickly, leaving a lot of fruit and vegetables left over. Everyone enjoyed the catering and the groom's mom did a great job with it. I am glad, however, that we added a dessert spread. I'm a hobby baker, so we added three types of breads (lemon, banana, and cinnamon crumb cake), apple rose tarts, truffles, and of course, the wedding cake. We ended up with only a small amount of leftovers from the dessert table, especially since the caterers thoughtfully left to-go containers for the guests - a genius addition in this case.

All in all, it went well. Here are my biggest takeaways:

~ If you're not hiring a wedding coordinator, ask a friend or family member to assist at least a little. Having a coordinator would've alleviated some of the craziness surrounding timing of the processional and guests hovering while photos were being taken.

~ We had to scramble to get two family members to open the church doors for the bride's entrance, as it was something we totally forgot about. Again, definitely something a coordinator would've helped catch beforehand.

~ Have a couple of practice sessions with the flower girl, particularly if she's younger. My granddaughter was our flower girl and she very much benefited from getting to practice how fast to walk, sprinkling her flower petals, and such.

~ Leave yourself extra time for pretty much everything, especially if you're DIYing things. Hanging the pew bows took us longer than expected because the curved tops of the pews were more slippery than expected, causing the fabric to slide around and making them hang funny. Thank goodness we had tape handy and got them hung just right.

~ Speaking of tape...make sure your emergency kit has things like tape, scissors, bandaids, moleskin, and safety pins. We needed every one of these things and luckily, we had them.

~ Plan carefully when it comes to food and beverages. We had some leftovers, but I think it's better to have that than not having enough.

~ Make sure you provide a photography shot list and be willing to speak up if needed. My daughter is pretty much a go with the flow kind of person but was a little irritated that some of the shots she wanted were missed.

So, that's it. I appreciated this sub very much, as it provided a lot of great ideas and tips. My girl and her groom were happy with everything for the most part, and it was a great day.

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Hi! I am seeking recommendations for a nice-ish restaraunt that allows large groups. We are on somewhat of a budget and will be having 40 guests at our rehearsal. Any ideas/recommendations would be greatly appreciated!

Hi everyone, I was interested in maybe purchasing bouquets or DIY bouquets from FiftyFlowers but they don't service Canada unfortunately. I'm wondering if there are options for Canadians that have a good reputation? thank you

I need some help coming up with low-cost ideas for my wedding. For some context, I lost my father when I was in high school, and our family financials have never been the same ever since. My fiancé's family likes traditional ways of paying for a wedding, with the bride's family paying for it. Of course, this adds some stress as my mother is low-income, and I am a full-time college student with a limited part-time job. I am so blessed to have some family members/close family friends willing to help pay for my wedding (obviously, there is still a considerable portion on me as well). That said, does anyone have ideas on how to keep things like decorations, catering, etc, at a low cost? My fiancé and I plan to have a small wedding, between 30 and 40 people, with 50 being the absolute max. Is there anything else you wish you knew before planning/having a wedding, and can you offer any advice? Luckily, we have a venue in town that can work with our budget.

Hi all! Hoping some of you might have advice or leads to make this dream happen affordably. My partner and I are set on a small church wedding in Italy—keeping it to close family and friends, just 25 adults and 5 kids. The thing is, we’re on a super tight budget. We’re aiming to spend about €5000 on the whole wedding party, but it seems like every venue and service suddenly quadruples in price the second the word “wedding” comes up!

To make things more frustrating, we already hired a wedding planner who, let’s just say, hasn’t exactly been the hero we hoped for. Honestly, the only good thing she’s done so far is help with setting up the church wedding.

Here’s what we’re really after:

A simple villa or restaurant that’s nicel but budget-friendly for the reception. Preferably something with outdoor space where the kids can roam around and we can enjoy the view! We’re not expecting luxury, just somewhere picturesque, nice, and affordable. If you know of any low-key spots, underrated villas, or reasonably priced restaurants (even if they’re not “wedding” venues) in Italy, please share! Trying to get past the “wedding markup” has been so frustrating.

Thanks 😊