Type of wedding?

[Yaaamiii]

What kind of wedding did you have? Or what type of wedding are you planning on having?

At first my SO and I were going to have a typical 100-130 guest list....but after realizing our budget...and actually thinking about it myself, I realized I don't really want a huge wedding like that...too many people and I'm lazy . So we cut the list to about 30 people, though realistically about 50 will come lol.

Also, the wedding itself will be held at the church we met in, and the reception....is still up in the air, since it might be cheaper to take 30 people to dinner at a restaurant than to pay 1500 for the venue (at my church) and then pay for food on top of that...

[mllebamako]

Just us 2, our daughter, and 2 witnesses at the mayor's office! The 5 of us had lunch and went to the park afterwards.

[Dziubka]

We had 11 guests and went to a restaurant for dinner (and later cake) afterwards.
I liked that we were able to talk to all our guests (and each other!!) and were surrounded by the people we love most and who were going to become family in a way.

I wouldn't mind having a bigger wedding (and we might have one in a few years), but especially with +1s and your spouse's distant relatives, there are going to be so many people you barely know.

[lyonsgirl]

We invited 150, 105 replied "yes". I have no idea how many people actually showed up, since I saw people there that weren't on our guest list. Oh well! It was a great ceremony and the perfect party for us. Had the ceremony in his home church and then the reception was in a nearby art museum.

The food is the most expensive part, by far, so if you're on a strict budget, cut the number of guests you're inviting. Even "simple backyard BBQs" can get really pricey, really quickly.

[nicole]

We had around 50 people, in the grounds of a ruined monastery. The ceremony was simple and secular, and we had a vintage travel theme going on. It was exactly what we both wanted

lyonsgirl is right, the food and drink is what by far took up our budget! We supplied a couple of glasses of wine at the cocktail hour and at dinner and for 50 people, just the drinks alone cost a lot! I don't know how people with a larger guest list have open bars, because we would have been screwed even with 50!

Its very easy to get carried away with all the little extras pinterest tells you you need to have I'm just glad we planned from a distance, or I might have gone crazy with all the extra "details" which you can have a perfect ceremony and reception without. I wanted a photobooth for example, but it was too much bother so we didn't have one in the end. Nobody missed it.

[Yaaamiii]

mllebamako: That came up in conversation once, but there are a handful of people my SO and I would hate not to be there, especially because those people have definitely left their fingerprints on our relationship. But I've heard of people doing it this way and they don't regret it!

Dziubka: The distant relatives was actually where it really started getting expensive. Just from my SO's side, there were like 50 people (cousins, uncles, wives of relatives...etc) and from mine maybe 15-20. It was crazy. Especially because after thinking about it, I realized I would much prefer to have a wedding with the people who have left their mark on us .

lyonsgirl: I've considered an art museum but the only one close to the church so our guests wouldn't have to drive so far is not exactly ideal...and trust me, at this point, my standards are low xD.

nicole: At this point, Pinterest is more like my enemy, it keeps giving me too many ideas I wish I could use! Though you're right, no one would miss it anyway LOL. If you don't mind my asking, what was your budget like? (feel free to give a range if you prefer, like 5,000-10,000, or something lol).

[Dezface]

Someday when my SO and I tie the knot, we'll have a small and simple (but hopefully lovely) wedding. We've both been married before so we feel having a big event would be overkill. Whichever side of the planet we get married on, it will just be close friends and family. We'll invite both sides but the odds of anyone flying over just for that are minimal. So we'll have to make do with just half the people we would want to be there.

[nicole]

nicole: At this point, Pinterest is more like my enemy, it keeps giving me too many ideas I wish I could use! Though you're right, no one would miss it anyway LOL. If you don't mind my asking, what was your budget like? (feel free to give a range if you prefer, like 5,000-10,000, or something lol).

My budget was 10,000GBP- I'd had the money put away until it was time to get married. I managed to stay well under though. I had $8,000 left to put towards our house deposit so I did pretty well! There are things you can do to work in your favour. I had a Friday wedding for example- That alone saved me a grand I would have spent on a Saturday wedding.

[snow]

We're probably going to have a small wedding with just the family in the church and the reception at a nice venue that is not very expensive. Probably going to have around 20-40 people, which seems enough :P

[Yaaamiii]

My budget was 10,000GBP- I'd had the money put away until it was time to get married. I managed to stay well under though. I had $8,000 left to put towards our house deposit so I did pretty well! There are things you can do to work in your favour. I had a Friday wedding for example- That alone saved me a grand I would have spent on a Saturday wedding.

So you only spent $2,000 bucks? =O That's awesome!

Also, we considered doing the wedding on a different date, but our church only does Saturday weddings .

[ioanna]

So you only spent $2,000 bucks? =O That's awesome

They had 10,000GBP aside, that's $16,100 if I don't mixup rates. So about $8000.


My SO and I will be getting married just the two of us and our witnesses, it will be a destination "elopement". Budgeted at around $5K for flights, honeymoon,apparel, and day of services (hair and makeup, bouquet, photos).

I too really enjoy the idea of a smaller wedding

[Yaaamiii]

They had 10,000GBP aside, that's $16,100 if I don't mixup rates. So about $8000.

OH!!! You know I wanted to ask, but then she said $8,000 and got kinda confused xD. Thanks for the clarification!

[Zephii]

I wanted a small but formal pagan wedding. We had 35-40 guests (but paid for 40 at the reception because that was the minimum for the venue) some came to the ceremony only others just the reception. (Which were a few hours apart)

We had three course plated meals, which over here are done in alternate serves (two different meals, served to people like... fish, chicken, fish, chicken... so if you don't like what you got you swap it with the guy next to you) and an open bar of beer and wine, buy your own spirits (that's just how it's done over here most of the time).
A buffet would have been cheaper, but less formal.

We didn't have a theme, rather just combined a bunch of things we liked and kept a colour scheme. Our reception cost us $5000 AUD, not including the cake or centerpieces.

I'm glad we didn't have more people, because I only got to spend a little time with the people we did have.

[maja]

I definitely want a small wedding, preferably outside on the beach - that is where I feel most grounded.
Also I really like the idea of everyone being barefoot. There wouldn't be a theme, but I would want everyone to dress semi-casual (girls in flowing summer dresses, guys in button down, blazer and jeans or white trousers or something like that)
Another idea that I really love if the beach thing doesn't work out is having a big marquee on the country side that also accommodates nature, i.e. to build it around the trees and such and maybe put lots of little lights on the trees so that it looks like a fairy tree.
All in all I just need some earth around me I guess.
Just our close family and friends and only people that don't stress us or hurt us (that actually is a big factor when it comes to my family) because it's supposed to be our day.
I don't want to plan my wedding so it makes everyone else happy.

[80anthea]

The last time I got married we did it all for well under £1000, my dress was just from a normal store, I made all the flowers, we did the catering ourselves at my ex-inlaws house, I think the most expensive thing was the rings. In hindsight knowing how disastrously the wedding turned out, I'm glad we didn't spend anymore!

If/when I get married to my SO, I joked initially about it being in an English Castle.....in reality I don't want to spend too much money again especially when we'll have visas/plane tickets etc. We have said that because he is ultimately going to come here and live that we will get married in the States. I think his Mom would love it too. I'm no-where near planning anything but I'm envisaging again a small secular ceremony with just his close friends and family and maybe a few of mine who can fly over.

I really don't understand people particularly in the UK where deposits for houses are ridiculous at the moment spending so much money on a wedding.