Things that have been done to embarrassing death

lazygal wrote: »

Churches and hotels miles away from each other. Church weddings full stop. They're all the same no matter how "personal" the couple thinks it is.

I kind of agree with this. All church weddings melt into one for me. I don't really care though as I think it's important to remember the reason for the event - they're getting married. I may not care for the ceremony or the church but I'm only there to give them our support, I'm not important beyond that in the scheme of thing, so that is just fine...

Things that have become very common and popular recently I think are candy carts, photo booths, slippers/toiletries in the ladies' bathrooms, rustic/shabby chic look, country house weddings, small intimate weddings...

I'd still take the country house venue with shabby chic decor over the plainer hotel with 250 guests though. I don't care about the candy carts but do think they look pretty. Really loved the photobooths at 2 of the weddings I've been to. Amazing fun!
The flip-flops are a great idea too, though I usually bring my own flats for the end of the night.
I've never had pig on a spit at a wedding, so would totally love that! Yum!

The only thing that I think irritates me a little, is that all these things have become really popular and appeal to lots of people (they are popular for a reason), but many people still think that their use of these same ideas is unique and different... it becomes a little embarrassing when they try to point out how "quirky and different" their wedding was compared to others. I'm not going to point out it's not, obviously, so I guess one just has to leave it at that.

Malari wrote: »

Wait, what? Pig spitting competition? :pac:

I've never been at a wedding with a pig on a spit either, it sounds great! It's usually done instead of sandwiches, rather than the main meal though I'd imagine?

Maybe people think more things are "done to death" than really are. I'd say a lot of posters come into the forum to start threads on different ideas (pig spit, photo booth, sweet cart, etc) but may not actually end up doing them on the day.

photo booths are quite common, maybe 1 in 3 weddings I would say. They are quite good in that they do add to the day and not just the entertainment on the night, as you have lasting memories with the pics.

pig on a spit is not common, IIRC maybe 4-5 times last year. It's always sandwich stuff for afters food when I see it, I personally wouldnt have been happy getting it as a mains as its a bit bare and theres only so much fatty pork I can take but as a filling late night sandwich effort its nice.

think about it like this, its usually 5-6e per head for the afters food which depending on the hotel is stale sandwiches filled with the chefs fetish for egg mayonaisse and rubber sausages (any working musician can tell you where you get both, some places its truly dreadul), work out 60% of attendance so afters should be for 100 people which give or take the pennies is 500e. Pig on a spit around 1000e for 100 people. Would you pay 500e for the difference? If I had the budget I would because Id rather spend that 1000e for great food then pay the 500e for the ****e that hits the tables at 11pm. If the afters food was included in the package, Id take that though.

Things that are “done to death” at weddings, cynicism. It really disgusts me when I see people sneer and act jaded at the choices a couple have decided to include on their wedding day.

Tarzana wrote: »

Have you ever seen anyone actually sneer whilst at a wedding though? This is an online forum on the subject of weddings.

"This is an online forum on the subject of weddings" Really, I thought its was the zombie forum :pac: And yes I have seen people sneer at music choices, speeches. And as evident on here, act jaded at choices such as photo booths etc. Hope that clears things up for ya

One thing which makes many Irish weddings a long haul is one thing I've mentioned, namely, picking a church and hotel a long distance away from each other. There's so many churches and hotels in Ireland and so many of them are interchangeable that the need for a drive of more than 45 minutes between the two is questionable. I wish more couples would have everything in one venue and spare guests the long drives.

I remember watching that "Weddings by Franc" programme a couple of years ago on RTE and he said a lot of his clients would say they want their wedding to be completely different and original but then when Franc offered original ideas and suggestions, they dismissed them and said "oh no, we have to have the chocolate fountain" or whatever. So tradition and familiarity is what people naturally lean to even though they say they want to be different.

I notice some trends are gone from weddings I attended in the 90s (Rock the Boat, throwing of the garter, giving the groom the bumps:D, the farewell arch guard of honour - sounds cheesy now:)) have been replaced with more current trends (pig spit, chocolate fountains, sweets at drinks reception ). I'm sure new traditions will come in vogue in the years to come before falling out of favour again.