Tell me about your wedding

naomi123 · 01-10-2007, 05:19 PM

Im getting married in 2 and a half months (ARGH!!), would love to get ideas of anything really special any of you guys did on your wedding day.
Any nice readings you had, if you did a speech and what you said in it,(he he, I would love to get the last word in!), what music you had, first dance, etc... Did you have a church wedding or civil ceremony?

hunnybee · 01-10-2007, 05:32 PM

Firstly.... CONGRATULATIONS!

What kind of wedding are you having? Have you got most of the planning done now?

Well, I have been married for a grand total of 11 days! We had a civil ceremony in a hotel and also held the reception and evening there too. It worked so well having it all in the same place because people were able to turn up, check in (if they were staying) and they didn't have to worry about moving on to another place.

As I had a December wedding, we used the colours and had ivory, burgundy and gold, which I felt worked really well.

We had a short reading that our best man gave and was lovely, it was called the art of a good marriage, I can give you a copy if you like, just let me know..

I didn't make a speech, but I really had to stop myself heckling during the other speeches!

I think it would be great if you did a speech! The only reason I didn't is that I hate speaking to a room full of people! We had DH's Dad make a speech which was a nice way of including him too, and then DH's uncle gave a speech in the evening which was hilarious... DH is a cub leader so there was a whole speech about woggles and knockers that had me in hysterics!

For my entrance I had the instrumental version of Phil Collin's groovy kind of love and then we had the proper version as our first dance which was lovely. Guest arrival music was Kenny G, and our recession music was Bon Jovi Thank you for loving me (we both LOVE Bon Jovi and wanted to be a bit different!)

For our favours, I got a load of tea light holders from Ikea and wrote our names and wedding date on in glass pain, put a votive candle in them and put them in an organza bag and for the place settings I got wooden roses (they looked real) and tied the name tags on and they sat in the champagne glasses.

I think one of the biggest special highlights for us was the wedding car, we had a stretched mini which was awesome! Although I did feel like I was in a goldfish bowl when everyone was staring!

Oh I could go on all night! I really had a great time planning my wedding and will happily share more ideas if you need them

cazza77 · 01-10-2007, 07:48 PM

my dad gave a speech at the ceremony and read a poem about love. We got married in the National Glass Centre in Sunderland in the pod which overlooked the river...

http://www.nationalglasscentre.com/visiting.php?o=2&t=1

we had it at 4 pm and then went back to pub that used to be a bonded warehouse for a big party. Our first song was 'Have I told you lately that I love You' by Van Morrison (something that will never go out of date and is in all the romantic films, the one that they sang when they won 'just the two of Us' the other night.

Entered the ceremony to Kissing you by Desree and left with a Will Yound song

It was mint!

Caz xxx

Table decorations i did which i thought were mint were champagne glasses with the date and our names on, filled with jelly beans and topped with a tealight

junior_j · 01-10-2007, 08:00 PM

Im too young to get married lol. But as most teenagers my age we hav already planned the ultimate wedding lol.
Not thinking about deaths nor money or any thing else that could wreck it here was my idea
Horse and carriage with white roses decorating it
a church wedding
huge gawjuz cake
professional photographes
me a size ten and in a fab dress lol
entrance song being unbreakable by westlife
lots a speeches especially by my dad

and big party afterwards
first dance being- zack efron and vanessa an hudgens actually singing the start of something new -- cheesy aye lol
what u think probably cos thousands if i added all the little details like honey moon lol

jacks27 · 01-10-2007, 11:50 PM

we were married at a register office as i only wanted a small wedding but we had a big reception in a hotel which was fab!
our song was "zoom" by fat larrys band, an unusall choice but it means a lot to me and dh!!
because we got married on my birthday which is in january we choose ivory and gold as we thought these would be nice for a winter wedding
everything was great , the speaches were great i didnt do a speach but when my dad gave his speach i was in floods of tears it was lovely!!
have a fantastic day and enjoy every moment!!

PollySis · 01-11-2007, 07:21 AM

We married in 1983 - weddings weren't such a big deal then as they seem to be now. My dress cost £20 and I wore a pair of 1950's shoes I found in Oxfam!

At that time, you either married in a church or a grim register office (which in the case of Birmingham, where we lived then, looked like a very low class public toilet). We had the public toilet wedding as I'm from a stepfamily - so I could have got married in the idyllic village church with roses round the door where all my ancestors were wedded and deaded, but the stepmother would have took over the whole thing (whilst still refusing to pay for it because she had 4 daughters so claimed they couldn't afford to pay for 5 weddings. She afforded a few world cruises anyway, and none of the daughters managed to bag a hubby in the end, anyways but that's another story!)

We're re-enactors so all our re-enactor friends from our regiment (of which my husband was the commanding officer) were invited. Unknown to us, they all turned up in 17thC costume, and did a guard of honour with their swords/muskets at the registry office door! Which was lovely and got in the local paper.

We couldn't afford a reception, so invited everyone back to our place for sarnies etc. We had a tiny flat and it was packed to the gunnels - my most vivid memory of the wedding is of DH's uncle sitting eating his 'buffet' on the toilet, with the door thrown open so he could still join in!

I had to spend my entire wedding morning buying and making the food for after, myself - and I think we did the whole day for very well under £100. But we're still together 20 odd years on, (and we lived together 3 years before we married so this will be our 27th year). Folk spend a fortune on weddings these days only to end up divorced anyway, so I'm kind of glad we did it the way we did.

Looking back, it was one of the most fun days of my life. We had no big wedding, no proper reception, and never had a honeymoon but the trick our friends pulled, doing the guard of honour without us even suspecting they wre planning it, made it the best day ever. People who were there still talk about what fun they had, 20 odd years on, because it was the most unpretentious and relaxed wedding anyone there had ever been to! No-one bothered with 'readings' and such, then.

We didn't have a 'song' as such, or a proper cake, or a first dance or any of that but I'm a very unsentimental person and that kind of thing makes me cringe... And we still don't have 'our' song. We're thinking of doing a renewal of vows and/or a proper handfasting for our 25th anniversary, but am not sure we'll get round to it. And we still couldn't afford a honeymoon!

The 2nd best wedding I went to, after my own, was last year when my best friend (who was my 'best woman' all those years ago) had her civil ceremony and married her partner - they'd been together over 20 years too, but at last could tie the knot. She decided to have an absolutely quiet day - is from Wales, but came up here to where we live to do it, with just DH and I there. It was very very moving. We had a daft party afterwards in our garden, with camp wedding music and my kids messing around and I made them a tiered cake but as I couldn't find 2 brides, I decided to put 2 plastic dogs on it inside (they're dog lovers like me! I wasn't being offensive!) Again, it was informal, almost zero expenditure - and the 2nd best wedding I've ever been to, after my own.

I usually make excuses to get out of going to weddings, must admit, unless they're family and unavoidable. Not my thing!

paddy · 01-11-2007, 08:09 AM

Ah....my wedding day....such great memories!!!

I think whatever you do you will have a fantastic time and it will be YOUR special day. DH and I had such a great time, it was just lovely.

We had a November church wedding, a small country-ish church very near to where I great up in Dublin. We had some lovely biblical readings (catholic wedding) which were read by some of our friends. We had Communion and a very special uncle of mine and a good friend were Minsiters of the Eucharist for us....unless you're catholic you probably won't understand that, but lets just say its a really important job and we were delighted to have special people do it for us. Back then I was a guide leader, and some of my ex-guides where absolutely fabulous singers and they did all the singing. They were fantastic. We had some really beautiful hymns. My entrance song was called 'She moved through the fair'. It wasn't what we had originally planned, but its probably my most favourite song of all time and DH arranged with the singers that they sing that one instead - it was a lovely surprise. The song itself is a bit sad, but its about a really strong love so I felt it was very appropriate.

Our bridesmaids wore black and silver and the grooms party wore kilts - they all looked fab. Bridemaids had white roses and I had red ones.

When I got to the alter DH and I both lit individual candles and then once we had exchanged vows and rings we lit a candle together with the flames from our original candles.

We stopped off on the way to the hotel (where we were having the reception) to play the lottery! We got some strange looks.

The hotel we had was a big old country house which we had booked out. We stayed there for two nights after the wedding. All the family and bridal and grooms parties stayed over too.

Because it was a winter wedding we had mulled wine and some snacks for everyone when they arrived. Log fires were burning and we had a musician to keep everyone entertained. We had a couple of hours of mingling before the reception dinner started. Everyone took their seats and we were led into the reception by a piper!!! It was great fun!

For our wedding favours we wanted to do something fairly cheap and cheerful so we burned a cd for everyone with a compilation of our favourite songs - songs that really meant something to us. People still talk about that cd - four and a half years later.

We had a basic floral arrangement on every table.

Because we are big into the outdoors and the mountains (not great when you live in a flatland!) our wedding cake was made to look like a mountain. There were two sets of footprints going up to the top. On top was a tent, campfire and two pairs of boots! Probably sounds silly, but it suited us totally.

I didn't do a speech and it's probably my only regret about the wedding. So if you want to do one make sure you do.

My father in law said a few words to welcome me to the family....it was lovely. My Dad did a very funny speech about me growing up. The best man's speech was hilarious - he is DH's best friend since they were kiddos and he told some cracking stories. And Denis's speech was very funny and a little bit soppy too.

My biggest tip for you is to invest in a photographer. We had a great one and I really treasure our wedding photographs. We also had a couple of friends who are keen photographers take photos too so we have a really fabulous selection of pics.

OK, I feel like I've written a novel! Sorry...

I love weddings in general and I have great memories of my own. I'm sure your day will be fantastic.

Paddy

Eva37 · 01-11-2007, 09:29 AM

hi

aww - wedding

Mine was a religious wedding, then we had photos in the local rose garden. And reception at a hotel. No music, as there is NO WAY you would get me to dance

loads of talking , etc
eva

naomi123 · 01-11-2007, 09:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PollySis

- my most vivid memory of the wedding is of DH's uncle sitting eating his 'buffet' on the toilet, with the door thrown open so he could still join in!

Quote:

Originally Posted by paddy

We had some really beautiful hymns. My entrance song was called 'She moved through the fair'. It wasn't what we had originally planned, but its probably my most favourite song of all time and DH arranged with the singers that they sing that one instead - it was a lovely surprise.

Of course I know that song! ha ha I used to be the biggest Boyzone fan ever (back when they were really popular) and that was on one of their cds. I used to love that song!

We are having a church wedding at the church up the road from us, with a reception at a country house type of place. Im really looking forward to it, but getting really scared now! Theres so much to sort out still!!

Eva37 · 01-11-2007, 11:12 AM

aww - you'll get all your wedding things done in time, im sure

eva

Ratbag · 01-11-2007, 01:48 PM

We married in May 1999, it was a scorching hot day and my DH and his best man were in thick wool military uniforms (DH army, BM RAF)

I can't remember what my entrance music was called but is was quite slow and was played on the church organ. We exited to the traditonal Wedding March by Mendelsson (I think?)

Our cars were vintage rolls royces which were beautiful, bridesmaids in Navy Vera Wang dresses with red roses (my fav flowers), I wore Ivory and carried lilies (my maiden name was Lilley)

Our reception was 60 in the day and 90 at night, so quite small. We took over a small country house hotel and had an absolute blast, alot of our guests said they'd never been to a wedding that was so much fun.

Our first dance was to Shania Twain's From this moment (DH is a big country and western fan) There is a lovely country song by Brad paisley called She's Everything if you like country.

As well as photos we also had my uncle (who is an atheist and didn't really want to come in a church) take a video of all the guests arriving, the ceremony and speeches. It's lovely because now my son can watch his parents get married.

Favour wise, I had navy top hats for the men filled with Almonds (DH had belly beans) and the ladies had lillies made from net cover wire with an almond in the middle of each petal.
My sis is a graphic desidner, so she designed my stationery and we made them together. My Mum is a cake decorator so made my cake which was very plain and had handmade icing lilies on.

I now own my own company making wedding staionery and wedding favours. My most popular favour is to have 3 little heart shaped soaps (which I make myself) in the scent of the brides perfume and coloured to match the wedding colours in a little organza bag decorated with either a paper rose or feather and beads and a tag with the bride and grooms names and date on it. Gosh, just read that back and it sounds like a plug, but it's not, I promise.

Apologies if I've waffled.

junior_j · 01-11-2007, 03:26 PM

i spose i have so much to look forward to in time. Children,weddings,career,own house wow . Im settled in my own little comfort zone no bills or anything for me ..all i do at home is my chores the usual cleaning and that. You all seem to of had have real cool wedding is your preciouse baby goin to play a part in the wedding ..if she is walking by that time she could be a flower girl sorry i cant remember if you said you had set a date??:S

jess x

siany22 · 01-11-2007, 04:05 PM

well my wedding was fairly low key got married in the registry office with only 20 people on a tuesday!! we then went to a country house after and had the works then that afternoon we went on holiday came back from holiday and had a huge party with 200 friends and family! it was ace because i got to wera my dress twice, have my hair and make up done twice and everyone did speeches twice! i didnt though because im way too shy! our first dance was to lionel richie three times a lady my fave song ever!

sian
xx

Purple_monkfish · 01-16-2007, 07:45 AM

Not married yet, but we're thinking about it. My only real stipulations were that I wanted an irish band... lol... I would have loved an ourdoor wedding.. but apparently in England that's not really a viable option.. sigh.
The problem I have is arranging things so my mother wont *****. If I get married in the UK she'll complain that my side of the family can't come all the way from nz, but it's hardly fair to go to nz and force my man's family to travel all the way across the globe. Gah...

Speech sounds like a great idea! have both the bride and groom have a little speech during the lunch or whatever.
Congrats on your wedding! i'm sure it'll be beautiful

naomi123 · 01-16-2007, 09:05 AM

I am definatly going to do a speech, just got to decide what to put in it, ha ha!! I was trying to think of some of the best and worst bits of our relationship, but Im not sure they are suitable for a family audience!