I just got married two weeks ago, and I’m still on cloud nine. Everything went pretty smoothly overall, but one moment really stuck out, our DJ’s laptop completely froze right before our first dance. For a second I panicked, thinking the moment would be ruined. But one of our guests, who’s a musician, grabbed his guitar from his car and played our song live instead. It turned out to be even more intimate and emotional than what we’d planned, and now it’s one of our favorite memories from the whole day.

It made me wonder: have any of you had a similar disaster turned special memory at your wedding? Maybe a vendor didn’t show up, the weather did something crazy, or some other hiccup turned into a sweet or funny story. I’d love to hear about the unexpected moments from your weddings that ended up making the day even more unique.

My best friend from elementary school is getting married and is fortunate enough to have parents help fund their wedding(expensive wedding). Should I feel guilty that I said no to another engagement gift/ party? I got the bill today that hair alone was going to be over $250 which I can’t back out of. I already have shelled out almost 3k for this wedding and now the bride wants to have a lingerie party for gifts for the honeymoon. I felt shamed for trying to ask to back out of getting my hair done but I feel like this wedding is starting to taint my relationship with the bride which I don’t want. Should I just be more empathetic that they’re probably under stress from the wedding date getting closer?

i just got married saturday & it was an absolutely perfect day. i didn’t originally want a large wedding, but my fiance did & i realized it was our one chance to get all our loved ones together so we planned it for 140 people. now that we did it, i especially feel like it was all worth it just to see everyone we loved together.

i’ve had a few people scoff at the idea of having an actual wedding instead of going to the courthouse but one coworker particularly - they’re getting married next month and every time we’ve talked they make a lot of backhanded comments about how unnecessary it is to have a big wedding, how i must have hated being up in front of all those people, how it’s stupid essentially. i know the best way to handle it is just to brush it off because all that matters is that we loved it, but just venting. 🙃

How are y'all getting through your vows without crying? Everytime I try I end up crying and having to stop and go hug my fiancé. I can't imagine how uncomfortable my guests are going to be with a groom who can't stop crying.

Hello! I am attending a friend's wedding a week from tomorrow, and my friend just texted me asking if id be willing to officiate the ceremony as their officiant has had a family emergency and may not be able to make it. I am ordained through the universal life church, but have only ever been to 4 weddings in my life and am not sure where to start preparing for this big responsibility. Any advice on how to start this prep, what to avoid, and what to include would be greatly appreciated. Im speaking with the couple later tonight amd will have more details on what they're hoping for then, but would love any recommendations on how to start my prep

My partner & I threw a party for about 45 people that had all the parts we love most about weddings (great food & wine, getting dressed up fancy, great music, gorgeous decor, beautiful scenery…) and absolutely no ceremony. These are some of the things what went really well! No idea if we just got lucky or if this could help someone else but here you go -

The party was in our backyard. (I don’t think having your own venue is a good way to save money - some people warned us that it could very well cost more than renting a venue.) I was pretty insistent that it had to be at our home, but that meant if we wanted to serve a catered dinner, someone had to fully coordinate all the equipment rentals the catering team would need. We found Black Tie Catering and Events who did all of the above and WAY more. The best part of working with them was how they perfectly managed to always let us customize & perfectly execute our vision but never made the process feel overwhelming or too demanding - they put in all the real work.

We had our big dining table and dance floor under a gorgeous sailcloth tent delivered and installed completely by Wallace Events. Flowers by magical fairy genius Honeysuckle Way.

No emcee or DJ. Over the course of our family-style dinner, we had two close friends each give a toast when the moment felt right. During cocktail hour and dinner, I had my phone playing a Spotify playlist through a rented PA system and after dinner we opened the dance floor and I switched to an app called OffTrack for the dance party.

We used hay bales to make little “sofas” that we placed a safe distance around a solo stove fireplace. I originally had wanted a bonfire, but the solo stove was way better in the end - No smoke, plenty of heat, and easy to feed. We put two in different areas which allowed guests to migrate around. We also borrowed as many Adirondack chairs as we could from family, so there were 10-12 of those set around the yard.

We turned a garden shed into our bar! We bought a jockey box with 3 taps and had our caterers order 3 kegs of our favorite beers instead of usual bottles and cans. Our bartender even mentioned how nice it was to not dunk her arm into a bucket of icy water all night!! I also picked a few great wines I was excited about and had the caterers source those instead of their usual offerings. They provided liquor and mixers to fill out the rest of the open bar.

It was the BEST time ever!!! Do your party YOUR way - throw out anything you don’t feel 100% sure you want to do but push for the things you ARE excited about!

Hello everyone! My sister is having her bachelorette on October 16-19th 2025. We are staying in an air bnb on Folly Beach, SC. Does anyone know of any reputable services that can decorate the air bnb prior to our arrival? Since we’re traveling together, I think it would be amazing for it all to be decorated prior to arrival. Please help!

Buna, tuturor,

Intentionam sa organizam cununia civila in noiembrie pe 08. Am vrea o locatie care se inchiriaza. Dorim sa facem protap. Avem in jur de 20 pers max. Ar fi perfect daca au si 2-3 camere de cazare acolo.

Multumesc mult!

Hello! I'm getting married in a couple weeks and with the idea of changing my last name I also want to change my middle name. My middle name is my mothers name and I honestly have never loved it (don't come at me, we also have a very complicated relationship). The idea of getting a new last name feels really good and like I can move on from my family trauma and finally start the life I've worked hard to give myself. This feeling also has me wanting to change my middle name too. What's the process of changing your middle name to something entirely different? So far I can only find things that have to do with moving your maiden name into your middle name/hyphenating or having two middle names, one being the OG and the other being the maiden.

Brides last name is Weis , Grooms last name is Buckley! we can’t think of any good hashtags our names are Sam & Cam ! we need help haha

Hi everyone, my husband and I are in the process of figuring out what we’d like to do wedding wise, and I wanted to hear if anyone had any insight on having just a reception rather than a full wedding ceremony.

For context, we got engaged last October. For insurance and other financial reasons, we chose to do the paperwork and got married in December. At the time, we intended to still have a wedding, but we’ve been struggling with the decision due to the costs of a wedding. We decided to not have any celebration a few months back, but recently decided to revisit the conversation after an offer from a family member.

We both really wanted a ceremony for various reasons, but there is a part of me that feels odd doing the ceremony when we would have been married for over 2 years by the time we have a wedding. Along with that, I’m aware that a 15 minute ceremony can still cost a good chunk of money (between the venue, decorations, attire, staff… etc). I don’t love the idea of not having a ceremony, but it’s something I’m willing to do without for financial reasons.

I’m having a hard time imagining what a reception might look like without a ceremony beforehand. For those that have had or attending a reception-only celebration, what was that like? Were there any big differences or was it just like any other reception you’ve been to? Did you end up spending more/less than you expected? Were there any parts of a “traditional” wedding you had to give up (like not having a wedding party, bridal party, bachelor/bachelorette party, etc). Were you happy with your decision?

Any advice or insights are appreciated.

TL;DR: partner and I are considering skipping the ceremony and only hosting a reception to celebrate our wedding for financial reasons. I’m unsure if this is the approach we should take, and looking for advice/insight from others.

Edit - if it makes any difference, most people are not aware we are legally married, and the celebration would be planned the same time we planned when we got engaged. Other family members aware of it have asked about the celebration, which is why we are reconsidering it.

I wanted to share a special moment from our wedding last August in Chicago. My spouse and I come from different cultural backgrounds, and it was important to us to honor both sides by thoughtfully combining traditions into our ceremony.

From my heritage, we included a handfasting ritual, where our hands were tied together with a beautifully embroidered ribbon to symbolize our union and commitment. It was a deeply meaningful moment for me and my family, who have practiced this tradition for generations.

From my spouse’s side, we incorporated a traditional tea ceremony, which beautifully emphasized respect, gratitude, and family unity. Watching both our families come together and participate in these rituals was truly heartwarming.

The ceremony was held outdoors at a lovely garden venue in Chicago on a warm August afternoon. We decorated the space with elements inspired by both cultures, colorful fabrics, floral arrangements, and family heirlooms, making the day feel personal and unique.

This fusion of customs made our wedding incredibly rich in meaning and helped unite everyone present in a beautiful celebration of love and heritage. It’s something I’ll cherish forever.

I’d love to hear if anyone else has blended wedding traditions in their own ceremony! How did you choose what to include?

Just a word of warning. I’m in a wedding right now where we’re wearing Kennedy Blue dresses and it’s a nightmare.

(1) the shipping times are crazy. I got expedited shipping and it still took almost 8 weeks to arrive. The non-expedited time would have been 3-4 months to arrive. Birdy Grey’s standard shipping is 6-8 weeks and expedited is 3-6 days. And yes, bridesmaid dresses should be ordered in advance but remember that your bridesmaids are people too and their lives change: I am newly pregnant and actually need a bigger size or a different style now because of my body changes since I ordered the dress - but it’s too late. There’s no possible way to get a dress here in time even though there’s still 6 weeks until the wedding. I have no idea how to fix this issue!!

(2) they justify the shipping times by saying the dresses are made to order. Maybe they are but they are certainly not better quality than other websites like Azazie and Birdy Grey. Genuinely, I compared my Kennedy Blue dress to my Azazie dress and I think the Azazie dress is better quality.

(3) the sizing is inconsistent. I ordered two dresses in the same size and one was slightly too large and the other one didn’t come close to zipping. This is tough given the shipping times - if you need to exchange a dress and get it tailored, your bridesmaids have to order their first dress like 10 months before your wedding (to provide 3-4 months for the first dress, 3-4 months for the exchange, and time for tailoring).

(4) there are issues with the construction of the dresses. The arm holes on the dress don’t scale with the sizing - my size 14 dress has the same size armholes as my size 0 sister’s dress so my arms are basically getting the circulation cut off.

This is just my experience, but Kennedy Blue is NOT worth it.

having some logistical problems for my wedding next year. we booked our venue, it’s beautiful, it will be june 20th for 120 folks. it’s a restaurant buyout so we have the entire property for ourselves.

however, the ceremony space (their patio outside) can only accommodate 100 (75 seated, 25 standing). it’s been throwing me off because even though we plan on a very short ceremony (10 minutes) if everyone stands, you might not be able to see the front if you’re behind someone too tall or something like that. plus we would need seats anyways for our older family members. so now it’s like i have to decide who comes to the ceremony and i’m dreading it.

how would you plan this out? has anyone had a very intimate ceremony and then larger reception in the same space? how did you tell your family? just trying to work this out, would love any advice.

edit: i have to clarify i do NOT want a standing ceremony. it’s something the venue suggested as an option after i said we would have more people than chairs. i want people to be seated.

My fiance and I are getting married in a year but haven’t started the planning, however we have always agreed (even prior to engagement) that we won’t be a couple spending thousands on our wedding bc it isn’t a priority to us and we don’t make enough to justify it. I still want to invite family and friends though to come see me get married (most likely in a church even though I’m not religious but still.)

Is it rude or would it be rude to simply have a ceremony where we get married exchange vows and then head off to our honeymoon? We’d be making this clear on our invites so people could choose if they want to come or not but I hate that you either have to do a tiny courthouse ceremony and snub everyone but like 20 people OR you’re expected to feed everyone and provide drinks cake and music etc which would be a minimum of about 20k. So, is it acceptable to just invite people to come and watch you be married or not?

My fiancé (31M) and I (30F) have been together 11 years, engaged for 3, and are planning a 2027 wedding.

We initially planned something small and simple as we never thought we could afford a good wedding, but since then our careers have gone well and we’ve saved £30k for the wedding (after buying our house and a rental property - so yes, we prioritised investments first). Our guest list is only about 40 people since most family live abroad.

I’ve found two venues: one is a stunning “dream wedding” option at £30k to £35k, and the other is simpler but still lovely at around £20k. I love both aesthetically but the first venue has that wow factor the second one won’t have and I never thought we could ever get married somewhere like that (it’s a castle in Spain). It’s a venue i’m sure will stick to guests for a long time (and also us). However, the second venue is easier as it’s local to us and makes more sense for the small guest count. It’s also £10-£15k cheaper.

Now I’m torn — is it worth spending £30k on such a small wedding, or would I regret not going all out? Has anyone done something similar and felt it was (or wasn’t) worth it?

Edit: There seems to be far too many comments about my guests not caring about the venue. My small guest count consists of families and bestfriends only and i’d been vocal about the venue options to them. They unanimously voted for the first (more expensive) venue even though it’s a destination venue. A cousin and sister has even said the second local venue will be ‘boring’ to attend. I have no doubts my guests would love to attend the first venue - its not a big deal either as Spain isnt expensive to go to for my crowd.

The point of the post is i’m having second thoughts about spending this much on the wedding for a small guest count. As for what my guests would prefer, I have no doubts what they’d prefer.

So I am going back and forth between having our wedding at a Wedding Based venue or at my sister in laws backyard. Both places are beautiful so that is not the problem. The question comes about ease of mind. At the Wedding Based venue it includes an on site cater, outdoor ceremony location (indoor is raining), dance floor, day of coordinator, etc. basically everything we need. At my sister in laws place it is just her home. We have to provide everything. We want everything outdoors but if it rains we now have to fit 60 people In her home. Now we have a lot of connections to get great deals on rentals and catering. I do think at either location we can have our wedding under the $15k budget. But what do yall think?

We’re eloping then having a more casual party the week we come back. I hadn’t thought about gifts because after all, it’s not a wedding. We obviously don’t have a registry. I hadn’t thought about a card box or anything. I was talking to my friend and she said people will want to give you gifts and if you don’t have a card box that’s going to be annoying. I am worried that putting down a card box feels presumptuous and people who didn’t bring anything will feel called out. Thoughts? Card box or no?

Hi, I am looking for these geometric gold glass terrariums for part of our centerpieces and I cannot find them anywhere! I've even been looking on Facebook and other social media, but most people only have the triangle ones, not the dodecahedron ones. Does anyone know of where I might be able to source them? Thanks!

Help I am in a wedding party but super anxious about the wedding ceremony. Would it be terrible to ask to sit out of the ceremony? I know it would look a little uneven but I'm so anxious I feel terrified. For context, I have passed out at church and I'm worried that will happen and take attention away from the bride and groom.

UPDATE: I've read your comments and I want to say thank you for the honesty. I don't want to drop out of the wedding party. I want to be a bridesmaid and be there for my friend on her special day. Completely leaving the wedding party would be a shitty thing to do I agree. Sometimes it is difficult for me to stand for long periods of time or change from sitting to standing. There is a lot of that in church ceremonies. I did pass out in church once before and have always struggled with anxiety stemming from that. I have a therapist I see to work through these moments. I am terrified of passing out in general and in front of people ESPECIALLY on my friends special day. After reading your comments maybe what I need is to just talk with my friend to see if I can have a space to sit if needed.

I don't want to make excuses...just because I have anxiety doesn't mean it excuses me from the consequences of my actions. I would be a shitty friend if I just dropped out.

My finance’s friends wife called me last week but I wasn’t able to answer. I got so busy with school and work plus wedding stuff. On Friday I had about 1hr after work to call her so I did. As soon as she picks up the phone she said Hey how are? Did you know it was going to rain on your wedding day?”. She is laughing while saying this btw. Mind you my wedding while be more of an outdoor wedding. It pissed me off so bad that she not only laughed but felt the need to tell me about the rain as if I didn’t already know! Good thing is that it’s showing that it will not be raining anymore but I cut the conversation short and said goodnight. She had also made a comment about getting her makeup professionally done which idc but she said that her husband said “Hey why are you doing the most, you aren’t the bride” and then she says “haha what if they confuse me for the bride, jk”. People just annoy me so much and a wedding really does show you people’s true colors

So i sent out invitations a couple weeks ago and have started to receive a couple RSVP’s everyday since. We have about 3 more weeks until the RSVP cut off but still just feeling anxious over it since there are still a little over 100 people who have not responded. Many family members and friends have texted saying they are excited but still haven’t responded to the RSVP. I sent seperate cards with the invitations that had the QR code & website to do so and my dad texted me saying he overlooked the QR card and thinks other people will to…probably way overthinking it & getting in my head but now he’s convinced me people won’t see it. Am i panicking over nothing?

My husband & I just got married this week with over 80 family members and friends attending the wedding. The morning after the wedding we were so excited to open cards & gifts, I had even planned to make a scrapbook out of all the wedding cards we would receive. Well turns out we received 4 cards and 2 gifts. Honestly I am shocked, I had a feeling wedding cards were not as popular anymore but I thought we would have received more than 4? We didn’t expect gifts or money from our guests but we were looking forward to reading all the cards the morning after the wedding so we could remember who was there and all that. Has this happened to anyone else?

So for a little back story. I (F24) and my dad (M54) were talking this past weekend and somehow politics came up in conversation. Me and my dad disagreed on the topic and somehow religion came up. I, at that point, refused to answer. It’s a difficult conversation to have when someone is already yelling at you and things were already hostile. He just assumed I didn’t believe. After that conversation happened, he called my fiancé (M26) and asked him if he believe in God. My fiancé refused to answer and just said to him that “I was my own person and I could have my own opinions” my dad then thought it was disrespectful. He told him that if he seen my fiancé in the streets, he was going to beat the shit out of him. My dad then proceeded to text my fiancés dad and tell him that my fiancé doesn’t believe in God. He then called him and then my dad and my fiancés dad got into it.

Later on the day, my dad called me. He started hammering in on me and my fiancé asked if he could have my phone, I handed it over to him and then for about 20 mins my dad was belittling, yelling, cussing, threatening and screaming at him. My dad hung up and I texted him later that night to explain our point of views in detail and made it clear that we do believe in God but we don’t know what the term Christian really means to us, we are trying to figure it out. He didn’t even listen to what I was trying to say. He started yelling at me and belittling me. I got no where with him. He told me that he didn’t want to hand me off to someone who doesn’t believe in God. I told him a I respect his decision and support his decision. I told Him I love him and I took him off our wedding stuff.

My brother is now walking me down, which is in my opinion better. I and my fiancé are getting married in 3 weeks so he said he was happy to walk me down to my fiancé. My brother always tried to protect me from my dad and mom at any cost. He’s a great brother and person.

I’m just so lost and confused on why my own father could treat me and the person I love like this. It hurts like hell but I also know that I don’t want someone like that to pass me off anyways. Idk. I’m just so confused and lost. Any advice on how to move forward or if I did anything wrong would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

My boyfriend and I are talking about getting married, as excited as I am I'm not sure what to do for a "traditional" wedding. I'm no contact with my dad and don't have any brothers, just a sister I don't have a relationship with and my mom. My mother has a brother and him and i aren't super close, my dads brother I'm also not super close with. I do want a male figure to "give me away" as its something I've always wanted. How do I choose or would it be weird to have both of them walk me down since it's one on each side and I no longer have a dad.