# What kind of a wedding did you have?



## SepticChange (Aug 21, 2011)

Was it big or small? My H and I had plans on going straight to the courthouse but with him being the baby of his family his parents wanted to organize a small ceremony for us which they all paid for and organized. 

It was small and simple just the way we liked it. The 10 minute long ceremony was in his parent's yard underneath a canopy. He wore his Class A's and I wore a prom-style dress I found at Marshall's for $50. We had about 20 guests and no "aisle" per se; my brother walking me down was more us maneuvering through the bushes and guests lol. The reception was in a small church hall and we bbq-ed. 

It was so laid back and perfect. More than I had expected.


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## Cherry (Sep 23, 2009)

We went to the courthouse... not enough time to organize anything in the 41 day meet to marriage. LOL
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## tacoma (May 1, 2011)

I married a stripper in a 1920's brothel.
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## CH (May 18, 2010)

Weddings = biggest waste of money once you look back. It's nice and all but the money is better spend towards a house or putting it away for something that will be worth something.

We had a 100 person guest list, parents got involved and it ballooned to 500. Costs went from $15k to $60k, wife and I came up with $40k and my parents chipped in $20k. Boy was I pissed and to this day my parents still brag to others that we both wanted a huge wedding and they paid for everything 100%, grrrrrrr....

IMO, goto a courthouse and do a KICKASS honeymoon with all that money! Spend $2-3k taking friends and family out to a nice dinner then have the honeymoon of your life or buy a house.

Weddings to me are people trying to one up another, it's a look at me. My wedding was better than yours crap. And I know I'll probably have to shell out a ton of money for my girls weddings later on but hopefully they'll realize they can spend the money better. I would rather give them that money and have them buy a house than wasting it on a frivolous wedding.


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## SimplyAmorous (Nov 25, 2009)

I accually never dreamed I would have a big wedding cause virtually noone from his family or mine really ever did that. Close relatives anyway. I planned every blessid detail on my own, calling around getting the best prices, weighing my options. We paid for every dime -except the catering -his Dad covered that -it helped that his Mom was best friends with the Caterer. We had over 350 people come to the reception. The small country Church got pretty packed too, they had to resort to the balcony. I remember decorating the Hall the night before getting really really worried hardly anyone would come ! Wedding jitters. 


We did some things differently, I wore a tea length gown instead of buying the normal costly long trained wedding dress...good friends made a "Wedding Float" for us - very unique & the wedding party got to ride in that on the way to the hall (Thankfully it didn't rain that day!)..... and instead of my Dad walking me down the Isle (he didn't want to dress up) -God that must sound bad !! But that is my dad ! I think he would have looked out of place in jeans! 

So we did something different...as I walked down the isle by myself, my honey started to walk towards me -mid way, took my hand in his, kissed it and we walked back to the alter together. Probably never see that at another wedding. My Photographer came up with that idea! I loved it ! 

Me & my husband were never the dancing type, but we sure did at our own wedding! I was having a ball. I got a DJ that was kinda wild to make it FUN for everyone. I seen her in action at someone else's wedding & just thought to myself- I want her, I got her # on the spot. 

My husband is a really SHY guy, this DJ - she dared him to take my garter off with "his teeth" getting the crowd involved, it was so much fun!! hootin & hollering from the audience. I like some Heavy Metal music, and well it was my day, so she played some of that too . I think someone snapped a picture of my religious Aunt Plugging her ears. Oh what a night it was, it went so darn fast! Wish I could live it all over again. 

We did skimp on the HoneyMoon badly but I don't regret going all out on our Wedding. It was one of the happiest days of our life.


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## that_girl (Jul 6, 2011)

We decided to get married in March 09 and announced it on April 1 09. We got married on my 33rd birthday- June 20, 09.

It was very simple. The beach was free so we had our family and friends (about 15 people) gather at 11:11 (that was the time on our invitations  ) and my brother-in-law was our officiant.  There was no wedding party. My sisters read some literature and Hubs' friend held the rings. My dad had passed by that time and there was no isle. Our friends and family just gathered around us while we said our vows. Very intimate.

We wrote our vows (beautiful) and the ceremony took about 20 minutes. 

My dress was on sale 1/2 off! So with the veil, it was $350. Hubs wore new black slacks and a gray button down. My friend bought the flowers because I was ok with just getting a bouquet from the market on the way LOL ...the flowers were gorgeous. She also rented us a limo. Good friend.

Our reception was at our favorite Mexican restaurant in their banquet room...which cost $600. Our "cake" was our favorite cheese cakes staked on little silver boxes 

My grandma and a friend paid for us to stay three nights in a hotel on Santa Monica beach. The first night we were alone, the other two nights, we had our kids. It was awesome.

It was by far, the best wedding ever. It is my favorite day of my life. We didn't want a big wedding...we would have been happy going to the courthouse and just doing it, but family would have been upset so we compromised.

With our cash gifts from the wedding, it paid for itself  I think the total cost was about $1200. My friend is a photographer and that was his gift to us. Perfect.

We went out that night with friends at our local hang out near the hotel. It was a perfect day. :smthumbup:


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## SepticChange (Aug 21, 2011)

We didn't have a wedding party. My sister was the maid of honor and one of his older brothers was his best man and that's it. We didn't have a photographer and just replied on people taking pictures with their personal cameras which was fine. Our cake was white vanilla and the topper was 2 M&Ms  No dancing at our reception though I wished we did have music. He brought his ipod to play over the intercom but conveniently forgot to bring it out of the car. I drove us to the reception a few miles away, btw. His parents paid for us to spend that night at a hotel in the next town over. We haven't had a honeymoon.


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## heartsbeating (May 2, 2011)

I wanted to live my life with him but getting married was foreign to my natural instinct (or so I thought). I went to two bridal expos and was ready to give-in to the process. That was disastrous. I felt pressured by the vendors and I didn't want any part of it. I actually cried and felt nauseous afterwards lol. "What's wrong with me?" hahah ...I found my dress in one day. I lined up a few appointments at Bridal stores, took a friend with me, and again the whole experience just turned me off. In between appointments, my friend and I had some time. I showed her through a small clothing store of a small, local designer. And it was there we unexpectedly spotted some beautiful ivory evening dresses, suitable for a bride. It was THE dress and the experience was caring, easy and lovely. My friend and I finished the afternoon at a nearby bar, laughing over the awful experiences of the bridal stores and enjoyed a beer together. 

We'd told people our plans beforehand, so it wasn't truly eloping, but we had our wedding and honeymoon rolled into one on a beautiful tropical island. It was blissfully relaxing. The morning of our wedding day, we swam in the ocean, then ate breakfast, and went back to our room to get ready - H helped me zip my wedding dress, I did my own hair and makeup as normal, had a simple, beautiful bouquet that I didn't even see before that morning and had no input with (which suited me!) and then we met each other outside on the beach to marry.

We paid for almost everything (seeing as we didn't invite anyone! and for our ages we were established anyway). We splashed out on this amazing wedding trip, which was still inexpensive compared to most weddings. My mom wanted to pay for my dress though, so everything but my dress, we paid for.

How one chooses to marry is so highly personal. For us, this was truly our perfect day. It was extremely intimate and joyful. We watched the sun set in our wedding attire, drinks in hand, then had dinner in a private dining room with the humidity lingering around us until the rain finally broke and we sat listening to it pattering outside. 

Thankfully our family was supportive of our decision to marry this way. My dad was affected but handled it well, considering. He had the image of walking me down the aisle one day. That was never my style. I struggled with this, knowing it would hurt him, but I wouldn't change a thing. For my husband and I, it truly was a magical celebration of our love.


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## FirstYearDown (Sep 15, 2011)

Nice subject. 

I had a very small, yet classy weddingmoon. I am the only daughter in my family; my mother wanted to plan and pay for a spectacle to make herself look rich. I refused to accept my parent's "gift", because it was pure manipulation. I also did not appreciate the way my mother erroneously thought it was *her *wedding. It was important to both of us to assert our independence as married adults and if I let my parents control our wedding, the dynamic will have been set for the rest of our marriage.

It was at a resort last fall. We had a lakeside ceremony, complete with gorgeous foliage. It rained a little bit, but the sun came out for us and there was a rainbow. :smthumbup:

Since it was a private ceremony, pictures were very important to us. We spent some money on a professional photographer and he also made a video for us, which we distributed. The bride wore Mori Lee and the groom wore Hugo Boss.  I also had a beautiful bouquet that mimicked the fall colors. The resort served five course gourmet meals every night for dinner, so my four guests had a great meal. 

My two buddies wore black suits. I don't talk to one of them anymore, because I found out that she was telling my secrets to her boyfriend, who drove my guests to the wedding. My guests were late, which ruined a lot of plans.  There were no pictures of me getting ready, no girls' bonding time before the ceremony like I wanted. 

I originally wanted a smallish wedding, with a reception. However, we could not afford that. I had so much grief over my wedding because it was not what I wanted. We were engaged for two years and we just wanted to be married, so we did the next best thing. I am happy to report that my mother in law had a wonderful party for our first anniversary, which made up for what we didn't get. 

My wedding was beautiful for what it was. I didn't have my mother's negativity around me, which she would have shown because she didn't get to take over our day.


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## SunnyT (Jun 22, 2011)

We got married last October 22nd. It was perfect, just how we wanted it. We bought a house about two years ago, with the perfect backyard for a wedding! 

We had our grown kids there (5 out of 8 anyway) and about 5 other friend couples, and my favorite sister.... We wore blue jeans and new white shirts, the grandbabies were flower girls (in blue jeans and pink tees that said "flower girl"...lol they loved it). We found a local preacher who performed the ceremony on our patio...which our daughters decorated. He said a few extra prayers, (he'd told us it wouldn't be religious) but we figured he took a look at the crowd and thought we could use some extra! 

It was perfect... just how we wanted! Sunset, candles, daisies (from the grocery store), and the coolest cake. I thought of a list of words that related to "us" and had the (grocery store) lady write it all... white on white. It turned out perfectly!


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## heartsbeating (May 2, 2011)

SunnyT said:


> the grandbabies were flower girls (in blue jeans and pink tees that said "flower girl"...lol they loved it).


Cute!


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## SunnyT (Jun 22, 2011)

Well, Heartsbeating, your wedding was my 2nd choice!  Ok, it was my 1st choice, but we've been very lucky with the blending of the families with 20-something kids.... so we decided to do the home thing.


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## SunnyT (Jun 22, 2011)

LOL...ages...not 20 kids!


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## heartsbeating (May 2, 2011)

SunnyT said:


> LOL...ages...not 20 kids!


Ha! Well, it sounded wonderful.

I love that you got daisies from the local store too.


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## magnoliagal (Mar 30, 2011)

I think weddings are a big waste of money. I eloped.


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## timbre (Oct 3, 2011)

Our wedding was small. Well we planned it small. The church only sat about 100 people and we didn't expect it to even be close to full. It was overflowing.

I did all the decorating myself. My wife's boquet and every flower in the church were hand picked by me from our parents yards and make into the decorations. We still had her boquet until a fire last year destroyed everything.

We laugh about the wedding becasue the pastor was 15 minutes late. then he started talking about our racecars and mating eagles during the ceremony.

It was a happy day... I think her mom paid for most of it and my mom gave us a week long stay in cancun as a present.


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## Halien (Feb 20, 2011)

My wife is incredibly talented, and wanted a dream wedding, but she was also pretty practical. I promised my aunt that I would sandblast and repaint all of the old candelabras and wedding equipment from her shop in exchange for using it, plus she provided catering, saving us a thousand or more dollars. My wife was very well liked in her church, so every single thing was provided, including professional photography and video. She worked so hard. Her aunt owned a wedding shop and gave her a really expensive dress. Friends even paid for a beach home on a small island off the east coast for the honeymoon. Incredibly, we asked for almost nothing, other than the loaner from my aunt. Everything was just offered. Our pastor was comanchee, but a Christian. Since many of our guests from my family were native american, and a small tribe that still clings to the heritage, we incorporated blessings from an elder, spiritual leader. It ended up being a very nice, formal marriage, but with meaningful changes. However, after the reception, the native american cousins almost got into it with the biker friends from my parents biker group, I'm told. The normal people from my wife's side were horrified.


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## YinPrincess (Jul 31, 2011)

My husband and I married atop our favorite dormant volcano last year... 2 years after meeting/having a friendship... 41 days after dating. Might have been soon... but I wouldn't change a thing. 

Originally planned it to be just he and I, our three mutts and the officiant, but at the last minute we invited our parents. I'm glad we did... It was the first time I met his family, and they were awesome right off the bat!

My two little girlie dogs, S80 and Panda were the "Flower Girls" complete with little flowered collars, (I made them)  and my Male dog, Beauford wore a tie as the "Ring Bearer". We only had cheapie Walmart rings at the time, courtesy my mother.

That_Girl makes me want to scrounge up a photo... We had many taken, (over 60) and WALMART destroyed them while making a back-up. No the back-up was never made. 

So we have only a handful, I just have to find one... 

Is this okay to post?? 

It was a perfect day... I just wish I had more to remember it by.


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## tacoma (May 1, 2011)

magnoliagal said:


> I think weddings are a big waste of money. I eloped.


You are a seriously intelligent person.

That`s the only way to get married.

You probably don`t even have a clue how much stress and conflict you avoided.

Well done!!


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## that_girl (Jul 6, 2011)

tacoma said:


> You are a seriously intelligent person.
> 
> That`s the only way to get married.
> 
> ...


I agree! Although, our wedding cost really nothing.


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## Halien (Feb 20, 2011)

tacoma said:


> You are a seriously intelligent person.
> 
> That`s the only way to get married.
> 
> ...


Isn't that one-size-fits all mentality the same as someone who would declare that marriage itself is a waste of time?

Some people are very practical. We need people like this, and I could even see myself buying into this mindset with the right woman. But my wife wanted a dream. She wanted something that she she would remember for the rest of her life. I don't think that made her unintelligent. She was the president of Phi Beta Kappa in her college, and has an incredible career. To her, the headaches were worth it.

Its the same type of scenario that came up with engagement rings. Some practical people consider them a waste. But to some people, it is part of a dream. I've added diamonds to my wife's ring over the years, and her dream is to be able to give one of the stones to each of our children for their own engagement. To me, that was very touching. Of course, my son is very practical. He'll probably use the gift to justify buying hmself a new car with the avoided cost.


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## tacoma (May 1, 2011)

Halien said:


> Isn't that one-size-fits all mentality the same as someone who would declare that marriage itself is a waste of time?


Halien,

I was being a bit flippant.

Don`t take everything so seriously.


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## cozyaum (Oct 30, 2011)

We didn't make it legal. 

We had a mid-morning spiritual service at a beautiful garden (approx 50 guests) followed by a lunch at my dad's restaurant. By 4pm we were headed out the door! 

I got my outfit for under $100
My flowers were GORGEOUS -I got them at Sobey's grocery flower dept for $80 –they were so excited to do a 'real flower job' they put their heart & soul into it. 

My dad paid for lunch, and the rest of the wedding costs were less than $500

When I think back at our wedding, I wouldn't change a thing. No one knew it was “cheap” except us! I loved it,, wouldn't change a thing.


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## Whattodowiththis (Sep 18, 2011)

We did the one location banquet hall for our wedding and reception. We married in April and caught the last available "off season" discount date available. We had 60 guests and made sure to invite only those we really wanted there. Total cost for our wedding was 12000 including my dress photographer and the highlight of our night a photobooth. All we wanted was for everyone to have a great time and we definately accomplished that. We had numerous guests tell us it was the best wedding they ever attended ( and actually meant it lol). Keeping it relaxed, having an open bar, making sure the dj was playing good music and having a candy buffett all added to the " fun" atmosphere. My husband worked very hard on making sure the decorations were perfect and was there very early on our wedding day setting up centrepieces and hanging curtains. 

For what we had we could have easily spent 20000... but we really took the iniative to do lots on our own and be creative in the planning. It really was perfect.
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## Halien (Feb 20, 2011)

tacoma said:


> Halien,
> 
> I was being a bit flippant.
> 
> Don`t take everything so seriously.


Sorry. I'm going back to fighting windmills now!!


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## FirstYearDown (Sep 15, 2011)

Halien said:


> Isn't that one-size-fits all mentality the same as someone who would declare that marriage itself is a waste of time?
> 
> Some people are very practical. We need people like this, and I could even see myself buying into this mindset with the right woman. But my wife wanted a dream. She wanted something that she she would remember for the rest of her life. I don't think that made her unintelligent. She was the president of Phi Beta Kappa in her college, and has an incredible career. To her, the headaches were worth it.
> 
> Its the same type of scenario that came up with engagement rings. Some practical people consider them a waste. But to some people, it is part of a dream. I've added diamonds to my wife's ring over the years, and her dream is to be able to give one of the stones to each of our children for their own engagement. To me, that was very touching. Of course, my son is very practical. He'll probably use the gift to justify buying hmself a new car with the avoided cost.


I would have had my dream wedding, if we had more money then.

My wedding ring set is a very important symbol in my eyes. It attracts a lot of compliments and when I look at it, I see how much my husband loved me when he proposed.


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## Abegail23 (Oct 28, 2011)

I wish i could experience it soon, but i would really like to have a nice and big wedding that i cannot forget.

______________

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## omega (Aug 2, 2011)

We got married at the town hall. It was actually in a tiny room with just a conference table and some chairs. The officiant (the mayor) was wearing jeans and was late. We had our two required witnesses and I think 2 or 3 other people happened to be there, but that's it. We didn't spend any money except the bureaucratic expenses, like the marriage licenses. My dress cost $35 and is very re-wearable. 

The place where we got married is a tiny TINY island with a total population of 300. It was absolutely GORGEOUS. We were actually living there at the time. It was just perfect. I wouldn't change a thing.

We would like to have a reception some day. Maybe a vow renewal. We originally planned to have a more "traditional" wedding but for financial reasons decided against it. But I have no regrets. DH is more into the "real wedding" than I am (mainly because I'm the one who does the finances!).


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## that_girl (Jul 6, 2011)

I didn't have a "dream" wedding. lol.


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## psavach (Oct 30, 2011)

This looks fun.

Neither my wife nor I wanted a big wedding. The only reason we wanted to have a ceremony at all was for my grandfather (our only remaining grandparent) who won't be around much longer.

We did a small off-season ceremony at a place in northern Michigan right on Lake Michigan. Total guest list, including us, was 14 people (parents, grandpa, siblings and spouses, and one additional each plus their spouse if there was one). We had a friend do flowers and got a deal on the package. Something like $1500 including two nights for us in the resort, the ceremony, dinner, cake, and photographer. We splurged on an extra two nights. She spent $1000 total on dress and alterations (her parents really pushed that she have the dress she want regardless of cost) and I bought a couple nice suits as I'm going to be on a job search soon when I finish grad school.

We had her brother perform the ceremony. This turned out great since he really knew us very well. Lots of Lord of the Rings and Star Wars references included. The only really bad point was that the photographer kept having my grandpa move back and forth and he almost fell over several times. Every one of us was getting quite irritated that she was so interested in framing her shots just right that she didn't even notice that she was asking an 86 year old man to do things he really couldn't.

Overall, the ceremony was really beautiful but her parents pushing what they wanted caused a lot of stress and resentment from both of us especially their insistence on a reception back home and we ended up wishing we had just gone to a court house (but that's another story).


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## CalifGuy (Nov 2, 2011)

Wedding #1 (May 2000) - 275 guests?, long ass church ceremony held in two languages (to honor her culture) by uptight priest who didn't even allow us to kiss on the lips but just on the cheek! (we were instructed on this beforehand), beautiful hall, open bar, singer singing songs in her parents native tongue, as well as playing Gypsy King type music, plus DJ, great food, feuding father-in-laws, $18k? (which was a bargain), feuding bride/groom by the end of the wedding, groom sleeping alone in hotel room (or, more like passed out after 20 tequila shots) and needing to be picked up next day by best man for a ride home, more feuding between bride/groom followed by amazing honeymoon with 3 nights in Istanbul, Medittaranean cruise with stops in Turkey, Greek Isles, Capri, port nearest Florence and 3 nights in Rome. 6 years later...divorce.

Wedding #2 (June 2009) - 200 guests?, cost $20k+ and that was a bargain for this place and only because her uncle is the head chef there, beautiful hall with ceremony held right outside on a beautiful terrace with nice views of West L.A. conducted by a licensed female minister who was rocking plenty of exposed cleavage, AMAZING FOOD, open bar, awesome chocolate wedding cake, live band plus DJ, two wedding dresses for the bride (one more formal for the ceremony and start of the reception and one much sexier that she could boogie down in and dance the night away in), this time the bride had a little too much to drink and the groom didn't much care for this, just a week in Cancun for the honeymoon as we had just taken a major vacation to South Africa a couple months before the wedding.

In each case, we recovered about half the money as in the culture of each wife, the family gives cash gifts. I liked the second wedding better.


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## that_girl (Jul 6, 2011)

:lol: I like how in wedding #2, you noticed the ministers exposed cleavage and commented on it. :lol:


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## CalifGuy (Nov 2, 2011)

that_girl said:


> :lol: I like how in wedding #2, you noticed the ministers exposed cleavage and commented on it. :lol:


Lol...actually, she was a friend of ours and we knew she was a bit wild but we weren't really expecting the cleavage. The only one who seemed bothered by it was my brother in law who is a cop and he actually asked her if she planned on covering up!

From one extreme with the uptight priest who wouldn't allow wife #1 and I to kiss on the mouth to the DD cupped minister who let it all hang out at wedding #2! :smthumbup:


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## southern wife (Jul 22, 2011)

Wedding #1 (June '94): 200+ guests and a church. I don't know the total spent; it was a long time ago. I do know my formal wedding gown was $600. The photographer was about the most expensive part of it. 

Wedding #2 (May '04): We got married and honeymooned at a lake in the mountains. We got married at the gazebo by the lake; it was just us, our parents, the minister, and our 2 witnesses we had invited to sign our marriage license (along with all the by-standers watching us). We rented a lake house and took my ski boat with us. So we water skiied and rode the tube (NO PUN) all week.


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## chattycathy (Aug 19, 2011)

It was simple, the dress was a white lace evening dress from Macy's (on sale $50).
It was in a friend's backyard with 50 guests and I catered it myself (prepping the food and letting family/friends tend to it during the reception).

My Dad paid the minister $200, the classical guitarist $200, the floral bill for the arrangements and the chair rental.

My husband bought a gorgeous bouquet for me to carry and a stunning pearl necklace for me to wear.

It was pretty and inexpensive and very, very true to our life together.


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## Runs like Dog (Feb 25, 2011)

Shotgun

(not really)


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## CH (May 18, 2010)

Runs like Dog said:


> Shotgun
> 
> (not really)



LOL, I've seen the shotgun wedding. Well more like the groom to be gettting grabbed by the father-in-law to be and 2 soon to be brother-in-laws, thrown in a car, driven away and then coming back home with his new wife a couple of days later. Don't ever get the daughter pregnant with some of these old school guys.

He's still married to her and now they have 6 kids. But that was something interesting to see. He wasn't dragged away but they did grab him by the arm and told him to get in the car. He went willingly but you could see the look of fear on his face.


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## swedish (Mar 6, 2008)

#1 My Big Fat Greek Wedding...literally...no need to take a video...it's been done

#2 Small...few close friends and family in a small chapel near our house....had everyone back to our house for h'ors deuvres and cake...it was a beautiful day!


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## wickederthanyou (Oct 11, 2011)

We had a small courthouse ceremony. Parents, children, his and mine, and his brother and sister-in-law. He was in a gorgeous suit, I wore simple halter wedding dress. Did I mention it was 15 BELOW zero? I also wore gloves and a vintage mink! I love Gardenias more than anything, so I had those in my hair and my bouquet, but had to keep them in bags while getting in and out of the cold, to keep them from freezing. The ceremony was short and sweet, and we all went out to dinner at a nice restaurant afterwards, about 16 people in all. It was a Monday, because that's one of his days off, and we spent the night at the nicest hotel in the nearby big city. We slept in and went home to our family, and then went on our honeymoon to Cancun (courtesy of my in-laws, muchos gracias!!) and had pictures of us taken there. It was sweet and heart felt, and I think we spent about $1000 on everything.


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## Michelle27 (Nov 8, 2010)

My first wedding was a typical wedding with decorations, DJ, dinner reception and full length dress (although I did buy it from a wedding dress consignment shop, so saved a bundle there). When that marriage ended, I knew that someday I did want to be married again, but it would never be a full blown wedding again. So about 7 years after my first marriage ended, my new guy and I booked a week of camping at our favorite lake, booked a marriage commissioner to do our wedding on a pier of the lake with just my sister and her husband and our kids there. Our "reception" was a barbecue with our friends and family at our campsite and our "honeymoon" was the rest of the week at the the campsite. Fabulous.


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## CandieGirl (Apr 27, 2011)

Cute little chapel wedding on 9-10-11 in Niagara Falls. Dress ordered online from Sears. Everything arranged via internet. 11 guests. Dinner in a nice resto. A great weekend, the best wedding ever!


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## that_girl (Jul 6, 2011)

This thread makes me want to have another wedding


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## Prodigal (Feb 5, 2011)

CalifGuy said:


> I liked the second wedding better.


Love the descriptions of both weddings, and I hope you like the second wife better too!:lol:

I had two weddings myself. Both were radically different, but neither stressed me out. I had lots of experience in event planning, so I never went through any pre-wedding angst.

JMO, but I think people spend too much money, energy, and they stress out to the point of becoming crazy people ... all over a single ceremony. The ceremony gets far more emphasis than the marriage. If it didn't, we wouldn't have vast numbers of people on this forum, would we?


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## tiredandout (Jun 1, 2011)

We married at the local equivalent of a courthouse, no guests, not even family/friends as witnesses. But we didn't just walk in and walk out either. Starting from a great breakfast, to giggling on our way to the courthouse, proceeding afterwards with a lunch out trying things we never tasted before and fooling around town, to handmade chocolates and tea, via sauna with strawberries and champange, to a dinner and finally late at night attaching our "love lock" to a bridge filled with them in my hometown where we lived at the time — we made the most of it.

Our wedding was hastily planned and the road leading to it was bumpy to say the least. We didn't want the stress and hassle of a big wedding, we didn't want anything to do with it. We wanted the day to be relax, pure enjoyment, but still special and rememberable.

Needless to say I think we succeeded. 
We both enjoy photography, and throughout the day kept taking (mostly silly  ) pictures of each other and asked for others to take them of us together. The result is a collection of untraditional "wedding pictures" that are the most wonderful memory to us — and also was a great source of joy to all of our friends and family who felt that through those pictures they were after all able to join our celebration.


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## Mom_In-Love (Mar 18, 2012)

Cherry said:


> We went to the courthouse... not enough time to organize anything in the 41 day meet to marriage. LOL
> _Posted via Mobile Device_


Same. 37 days here.  And I could not be happier in life with my amazing husband! <3


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## OldGirl (Feb 20, 2012)

Vegas baby!


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## wonder (Jun 30, 2008)

neither one of us wanted a wedding, but i'm the only girl and my dad wanted to walk me down the aisle and my parents didn't have a wedding so i had to do it. what a waste of time and money that was. we had 100 rsvp that they were coming but only 60 showed up, we still had to pay for the missing 40. almost everything that could go wrong did. 

i'll never do it again


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## balochbrud (Apr 21, 2012)

I had a Beach wedding


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## Nigel (Mar 14, 2012)

Country manor house, no church as neither of us believe in that stuff. Great day close friends and family during the day, biggest extravagance was hiring an artistic photographer to produce the photos and album £5000 well spent IMO! Night time was held in the main hall of the house with about 150 people. We still recieve compliments today that it was the best wedding people have ever Been to. Which is nice!
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## arbitrator (Feb 13, 2012)

Two weddings too many! Both of them rather big lavish church and social affairs with all of the trimmings; even the 2nd(current)one! Both with out-of-the USA honeymoons, too!

If/when it were to ever occur again, I would basically want it done on some tropical beach with only God, a minister, and a pair of witnesses present. Wait ~ it might actually be proper and fitting to include a bride as well! 

But then again, only time will tell!


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## Stonewall (Jul 5, 2011)

eloped!


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## jaquen (Mar 1, 2012)

It was about as small as you can get. We didn't invite a single soul to our wedding. We married in a castle in Mercatale, a very small town in Tuscany. 

The ceremony took place in an intimate, five hundred year old chapel in the courtyard. Our only "guests" were the minster, violin player, photographer, and wedding planner. We had a five course meal alone in the castle courtyard, complete with a wine tasting, and private service. We spent the rest of our wedding day in our clothes, driving around Tuscany, enjoying one another and basking in joy.

It was the perfect day. And extremely practical. By eliminating all guests, we were able to do a dream wedding in a castle in Italy (with wedding planner, music, photographer, reception, and flowers), complete with two weeks honeymoon in a private cottage in the hills, car rental, spending money, and airfare, all for _*less than half the cost o*_f what a single day in the states would have been for us to have the kind of wedding we wanted.


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## Amplexor (Feb 13, 2008)

Large, traditional Catholic wedding with all the trimmings.


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## vi_bride04 (Mar 28, 2012)

Eloped on a beach in the Virgin Islands. Just me and my husband. No family. Just us. And a 10 day honeymoon!!!


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## Gemwas (Apr 26, 2012)

Courthouse in downtown Vegas..just us - Then hired a car to drive through death valley, Yosemite, San Francisco, Santa Barbera, Carmel and LA..It took three weeks and we came back to the UK to a big reception with all our loved ones. It was fantastic and we would both laugh in the face of a big white wedding given the choice again!


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## uzername (May 1, 2012)

my DH secretly eloped, just the 2 of us, and it was perfect.

then we had a ceremony and reception so our families could be involved, we didn't want any hurt feelings about missing the wedding. it was small but still costly and stressful. 

eloping was SO much better.


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## Adeline (Jan 24, 2014)

Overall I didn't feel that having our wedding was "a big waste of time and money." My dress was $300 bucks, had a simple reception with thrifty centerpieces, married in a beautiful church. It had every element of a nice wedding without going overboard! Was never stressed about it. But of course in hindsight I feel terrible because of the divorce... it was still money spent, and spent largely by my parents. Even a decade later I feel terrible about their now "wasted" money. But the wedding in and of itself was fairly conservative.

I really have no desire to have another "wedding" should I marry again. Definitely not worth the money now, and it's just not important to me. I'd love to just have an elopement type marriage with just the 2 of us. Luckily the person I am dating now is also divorced and feels the same way.


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## kristin2349 (Sep 12, 2013)

Adeline said:


> Overall I didn't feel that having our wedding was "a big waste of time and money." My dress was $300 bucks, had a simple reception with thrifty centerpieces, married in a beautiful church. It had every element of a nice wedding without going overboard! Was never stressed about it. But of course in hindsight I feel terrible because of the divorce... it was still money spent, and spent largely by my parents. Even a decade later I feel terrible about their now "wasted" money. But the wedding in and of itself was fairly conservative.
> 
> I really have no desire to have another "wedding" should I marry again. Definitely not worth the money now, and it's just not important to me. I'd love to just have an elopement type marriage with just the 2 of us. Luckily the person I am dating now is also divorced and feels the same way.



Zombie thread @Adeline it was started in 2011...


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