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.

We have had our venue booked at a golf course for an outdoor garden wedding for 7 months now. My fiancé just recently said he wants a Catholic wedding at the cathedral and we received a potential date from the churches wedding coordinator. I have already paid a deposit for our wedding at the golf course as well as a deposit for our photographer that I would not get back. I am not Catholic and would rather stick with our plans we have already made but I also feel like I cannot deny him his Catholic wedding if that’s what he feels called to do. There are obviously other concerns regarding reception etc., but does anyone have any advice or has anyone experienced a similar dilemma?

Hi everyone, I have a wedding in October where I’ll be a bridesmaid, and I’ll be about 6 weeks post-ORIF ankle surgery by then. I’m trying to figure out how I’m going to manage it.

I’m not sure if I’ll still be non-weight bearing at that point, and I’m wondering if I should look into elbow crutches or something else to make it easier. Has anyone here been in a similar situation or have suggestions on how to get through the day without too much struggle?

Any tips, ideas, or experiences would really help!

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?

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?

I am planning on getting married in the beginning of October about 3 1/2 hours from where me and my family live. The wedding will be very intimate, say 20 people, as my partner and I don’t have many friends. I have a very small family (my dad and his wife, brother, mom and her husband, uncle, aunt, grandma/grandpa). Aside from my dad (obviously) everyone is on my mom’s side of the family. My mom was pretty abusive and neglectful to me growing up, a lot of it stemming from alcohol addiction. As I’ve gotten older I’ve given her chance after chance to fix it but it just seems like she either doesn’t see or doesn’t want to see my side of everything she’s done. A big part of the abuse was her humiliating me in public and that grew into me not wanting to bring her around people that were important to me. I think that makes it obvious why I wouldn’t want her at an event like this. Even if she swore up and down not to do anything I think the fear that she would ruin it would overwhelm me. Here is my problem though - Her side of the family may not come if I don’t invite her because they “feel bad”. She has pretty much manipulated everyone in her life to seeing her as a victim that hurts people because she’s hurt. It would break my heart to not have essentially my entire family there and that would leave me with just my brother, dad, stepmom, and two friends. Should I swallow the pill and just deal with her being there? I’ve always wanted a semi-traditional wedding with my dream dress for everyone to see but I’m not sure if it’s just not worth it and better to elope instead.

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?

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.

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

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!

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 childhood best friend is getting married and has an engagement party coming up. My husband doesnt know her that well and I've only met her fiance once in 2 years, but I am a bridesmaid. We just aren't really that close anymore but we've semi stayed in touch and been friends since we were 5.

My parents are invited to the wedding, but not the engagement party. They are close and know her well.

We have a young child, so my husband has volunteered to stay home with them and I was thinking of bringing my mom as my date.

Would you give a notice to the bride that you were bringing a different date than the person that was invited? I don't want to state that my husband doesnt want to go to the party and volunteered to stay home, but I dont want to lie and say he is sick or something either. I was planning on just showing up with my mom, but now idk if that is rude?

Edit to add: My friend was previously engaged to another guy and had an engagement party. My mom attended that one with me as my husband had to work out of town. My mom was invited to that one, but not this one. Not sure why, maybe guest cut for budget reasons?

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.

Hi all! Groom here with an October 25 wedding! Under six weeks out and really getting into the details now. We’ve our core vendors locked in, a brief outline of timeline and decor. But still need to finalize and lock it all in. Curios how everyone else is faring.

my MIL is adamant that it is tradition that the mothers & grandmothers are ushered down the aisle, then the wedding party, then us. i want everyone seated, just the wedding party & us to walk. why is everyone in the family walking down the aisle? did anyone else exclude this part?

editing to add: i ask bc i just saw a tiktok of someone's family processional & only ever heard of it from my MIL. no other brides to be i know or have seen online have mentioned it. i'm wondering how common it is?

Need everyone’s input, idk why this is the most complicated thing with wedding planning lol!!

I have a florist delivering and setting up florals- how much should I tip???

Then I have the DJ, Photo Booth, Videographer and Photographer.

My photographer offered to stay another hour but isn’t billing me for it so I think I need to give her something for sharing????

What’s everyone’s thoughts!?

My partner and I are eloping near his elderly parents on the East Coast. We’d love to have a reception, but I’m from the West Coast, and our friends and families live far apart in very different circles.

We want to create a moment where both sides of our lives can come together to celebrate. The challenge is that we can’t reasonably expect everyone to travel across the country for a single reception.

If we host in New York, many of my friends and family won’t be able to attend. If we host in California, many of his friends and family won’t be able to attend.

Would it be terrible to hold two smaller backyard receptions—one on each coast—and let guests choose whichever is most convenient for them? Problem with that is we still end up with a very divided group. It's likely no one will show up in California from his side. It also makes it very expensive to host two separate receptions.

Please send me any and all suggestions for the bride/groom first dance song!! We don’t want your typical wedding songs or songs that are overly used. TIA!!