Whats is the Best Wedding You Have Gone to or The Best Bits

stargazer 68

Was at a wedding in the UK - family all flew over Friday evening and had dinner in the local pub. Accompanied by much slagging etc.
She had an old red london bus to take us all to the church which was an amazing building - seats all faced inwards to the aisle like a theatre.

Champagne reception afterwards on the church grounds and then onto the venue which was a fabulous marquee. Sun shining so everyone sat outside while the served pims and canapes. She had a caricaturist and a magician - you could hear little groups of people oohing in amazement at the magician. Food was gorgeous, decor, music and they had been taught to pop champagne corks with swords which entertained us too. Open bar followed by cheese burgers around midnight!

The whole weekend was fabulous although I will confess to still feeling the effects 4 days later!

Milly33

I like the idea of the chairs facing inwards nice touch

Addle

Milly33 wrote: »

I like the idea of the chairs facing inwards nice touch

Isn't that just the typical protestant church layout?

Milly33

Guess what I am then!! We all face forward like good old worshipers.. even the idea if you have the space or kinda doing a circled seating plan, or more curved I suppose you would say would be nice

Owryan

Was at a wedding once where the baked Alaska went up in flames, looked like a mini volcano. I was only a kid at the time so that probably explains why I enjoyed it.

Neyite

Milly33 wrote: »

Must say feeling a little disappointed after sending out some Save the Dates just to family and close friends and not one got back to say ohh that's so cute or thanks we got it must say tis a bit of a bummer not to get anything back..

On the plus side, while plans were going ninety at the beginning of what we could have this and that and where can we get it I thought it is such a waste as you are left with all this stuff to get rid of when there is so much you can recycle.. So started to collect the jam jars for the flowers, did buy some buttons to decorate these.. Have sussed out the beaches and have found a great one that has these flat stones you can use as place names, and another that has loverly roundy pebbles for decoration.. The fun begins

Its illegal to remove material from beaches I thought? Be careful!

Gatica

I've learned that no one really cares about invites except the B&G, I think the only time it's noticed is when they're not nice (but not to the B&G's face).
There will be the initial, oh lovely, and then quickly forgotten thereafter. We'd discussed different invites with friends, and while it does come up, e.g. wasn't it nice to have this idea or that, few people think to remark about it to the B&G at the time. It's a shame, and I'll probably make a point of it next time!

Gatica

Neyite wrote: »

Its illegal to remove material from beaches I thought?

It'll illegal to bring up stuff if you go diving.

Milly33

sorry I posted in the wrong thread so moved it over to the correct one of what has happened so far.. I don't think so,yeah if you a diving I would think but then again Id say a few stones would be ok...

xalot

the best weddings I've been at are the ones that have something to fill the time between the church and the meal. If you dont know a lot of people at the wedding it can be a really awkward time.

Some that spring to mind was drinks and canapes in the gardens of Castle Durrow, an ice cream cart in Druids Glen and the most simple one was a table of sandwiches and tea set up outside a very rural church in the west of Ireland. It's a great way to relax and get to meet the other guests. I hate the hotel lobby / chocolate fountain thing personally.

Shedite27

Gatica wrote: »

I've learned that no one really cares about invites except the B&G, I think the only time it's noticed is when they're not nice (but not to the B&G's face).

I remember getting an invite with confetti inside in the envelope. Mostly remember having to get the hoover out :mad:

lazygal

I only notice invites that haven't been proofread. One noteworthy example misspelled marriage.

Balmed Out

I think the best ones tend to be where the dance floor is busy which tends to happen most when the bride and groom spend a fair bit of time on it. When the two of them are about chatting to people or outside smoking it will often be slow to get going.
Ice cream outside the church or at least sandwiches, a pint with groom before the church, not going overboard on photos, a few crazy dancers, a late bar without a sing song, good weather with a good view, some bit of a distraction entertainment wise all add to the day.

The Cool

Best wedding was a friend's in Sligo. Civil ceremony in the hotel at 3pm, which was great because it wasn't that long a day - you know when the church service is at noon, and dinner isn't until 7pm so you have to sneak off for chips in between! Also, the groom was part of the wedding band, so the music was a massive part of the party and lots of their musician buddies took to the stage. The atmosphere was fantastic, and it didn't feel like it followed the usual formula that most weddings do.

marie12

My favourite was a lovely venue on the water. The weather was fab. A lovely feel to the whole day, not a crazy number of people. Bride and groom the kind, decent sort. Upon arrival at the hotel there was the yummiest food ever at the bar. So so good. Up dancing all night. Best wedding I was at. I was also with the man I love so maybe that helped!

gubbie

My favourite ever wedding was that of my Czech friends in the Czech Republic.

She isn't at all religious so had it out in a field, in what was essentially like somewhere that is normally set up for camps and picnics. Everyone had a part in the wedding - I helped decorate the place the day before (which was stopped every 30 minutes for a drink... those Czechs), a neighbour made her dress, friends took it in turn to be the bar man, the grooms sister served me dinner... There were large fires going as it got dark. The music was fantastic. The one band played for 12 hours. And they had all these random games thrown in and a complete open bar all night long.

And then we all camped there that evening.

(Before you say "Ah ya but it's Europe, the weathers always great on the continent". It wasn't. It was awful. It poured rain the whole day before so everything was still soaking the next day)

Toots

My husband's uncle got married last year and the ceremony was different to anything I'd been to before. We all went to the hotel at 4pm and it was a cocktail hour when we got there. Then we all went into the room where the reception was going to be, and all the tables etc were set up for dinner, but the dance floor was clear. They had an aisle lined out with candles on the dance floor, and when we got into the room, everyone sat down where they would have been for the dinner, then the ceremony was held and the bride walked up the aisle of candles. Then after the ceremony there was a sort of receiving line and then everyone sat down and dinner was served shortly afterwards.

I loved it because the ceremony was so different and then there wasn't a load of faffing about afterwards. I've been to a good few weddings where there's been massive gaps between the ceremony and the dinner and people were absolutely ravenous by the time the meal was served.

mrsbyrne

Toots* wrote: »

My husband's uncle got married last year and the ceremony was different to anything I'd been to before. We all went to the hotel at 4pm and it was a cocktail hour when we got there. Then we all went into the room where the reception was going to be, and all the tables etc were set up for dinner, but the dance floor was clear. They had an aisle lined out with candles on the dance floor, and when we got into the room, everyone sat down where they would have been for the dinner, then the ceremony was held and the bride walked up the aisle of candles. Then after the ceremony there was a sort of receiving line and then everyone sat down and dinner was served shortly afterwards.

I loved it because the ceremony was so different and then there wasn't a load of faffing about afterwards. I've been to a good few weddings where there's been massive gaps between the ceremony and the dinner and people were absolutely ravenous by the time the meal was served.

So there was no heading off to the local beauty spot to take photos for 4 hours while your 120 guests amuse themselves then!? How strange!

Toots

mrsbyrne wrote: »

So there was no heading off to the local beauty spot to take photos for 4 hours while your 120 guests amuse themselves then!? How strange!

They had photos during the ceremony (obviously) and then a few of the wedding party immediately after the ceremony - you know the ones where everyone has a chance to go up and get a pic. Then while the band was setting up they nipped off to have a few more photos taken (the inside of the venue was nicer than the outside so they'd have gotten some gorgeous photos) but it was really well organised and they weren't gone any longer than when the bride goes up to nip to the loo and bustle up the dress before the first dance.

Oddly enough I've only ever been at one wedding where the B&G had photos taken elsewhere, but that was at a pier where the groom proposed and it was on the way to the venue so they arrived at most half an hour after the other guests. My brother in law and his wife were at a wedding recently where the B&G went to [local beauty spot] for the photos, but it was about half an hour away from the reception and they had the whole wedding party with them. The rest of the guests arrived at the hotel and were milling around for nearly 2 hours before the b&g showed up, then there were even more photos to be taken with family etc who weren't in the wedding party. Madness!

mrsbyrne

Well where I live its pretty much accepted that you can wave goodbye to the bride and groom immediately after the wedding and you'll next see them possibly 2 1/2 hours later. You can see the guests crowding into Subway and any pub that serves food because there's never now any less than 3 1/2 hours between signing the register and food being
served. The photographer is king.

lazygal

mrsbyrne wrote: »

So there was no heading off to the local beauty spot to take photos for 4 hours while your 120 guests amuse themselves then!? How strange!

We didn't do that. Had food and drinks straight after the ceremony and spent half an hour on photos. I hate those weddings where the couple leave everyone hanging around for hours and don't bother feeding them.

mrsbyrne

lazygal wrote: »

We didn't do that. Had food and drinks straight after the ceremony and spent half an hour on photos. I hate those weddings where the couple leave everyone hanging around for hours and don't bother feeding them.

Sounds lovely lazygal. Here they seem to be obsessed with the photos. Mind you its very scenic. I know there has to be a record of the occasion but some of the photographers lose the run of themselves. If the bride and groom scaled back on the main meal and had that at say, 7pm ( 1pm wedding) and provided a light lunch at say 3pm, would it be much more expensive for them? No more food of any kind after dinner has been cleared away. So I'm saying lunch instead of late night food. Would it also stop people going to the pub after the ceremony and gettingblathered?

Toots

mrsbyrne wrote: »

Well where I live its pretty much accepted that you can wave goodbye to the bride and groom immediately after the wedding and you'll next see them possibly 2 1/2 hours later. You can see the guests crowding into Subway and any pub that serves food because there's never now any less than 3 1/2 hours between signing the register and food being
served. The photographer is king.

I reckon it's probably due to the fact that any weddings I've been to have either had lovely grounds in the venue to get the photos taken, or else they've been in winter so the photos were being taken indoors due to inclement weather conditions! :pac:

Milly33

Love reading all the stories..Having high hopes now for out own.. Must say it seems to be a trend of a lot of the good ones are when the bride and groom do not leave the guests for too long.. Suppose it does take it away from the thrill of the day when you are left and not knowing what is happening next

Deer

My favourite wedding was held in Tuscany. Bride and groom hired out a huge farmhouse / villa type thing and all guests spent the weekend there. When we arrived we all had pizzas and wine at the courtyard.

The day of wedding we drove in buses to church which had the most beautiful frescoes and murals, got married with a string quartet playing in the background. Between the visuals and the music it was just a lovely experience. Then back at the villa they had canapés on this beautiful lawn with statues, fruit trees and Cyprus trees overlooking Tuscan hills all the way down to Sienna. Again the quartet were in the background and the canapés were hunks of cheese, cold meats, deep fried zucchini flowers (yum) and just amazing fresh bread. We had dinner in a converted barn which again was lovely.

The next day the b&g were friends with local hunters who laid out this humongous buffet with wild boar, pastas, salads, gelato, fresh bread and amazing wine.

Best wedding I have ever been to - better than my own!

keeponhurling

lazygal wrote: »

a free bar. And no skimping on food.

This

Milly33

Do people take advantage of the free bar then!! We were thinking of having an honesty box but then we could do a bring your own aswell

Shedite27

Milly33 wrote: »

Do people take advantage of the free bar then!! We were thinking of having an honesty box but then we could do a bring your own aswell

I've never seen an open bar pre-dinner being taken advantage of. Post-dinner I've seen them abused (get a drink, leave it down after two sips while you go dance, then instead of searching for the pint just go back and get another)

Milly33

Never even thought of that having one half free and the other not. thank you

lazygal

Milly33 wrote: »

Do people take advantage of the free bar then!! We were thinking of having an honesty box but then we could do a bring your own aswell

Either do a free bar or don't but please don't do an honesty box. I find it really patronising and I'd rather pay for my drinks than have a couple try to do a free bar while expecting people to subsidize it.
No one abused our free bar before or after dinner apart from one or two relatives we knew would overdo it no matter what. Everyone else appreciated the gesture.