went to a wedding this weekend
thought I'd share a few thoughts that I had while attending ![]()
1. This wedding was CLEARLY heavily influenced by the bride's father. Very little of what was done really felt like 'them' - for example, they had a full Catholic mass - but neither of them is in any way a practicing Catholic or feels any connection to the Catholic faith. The whole ceremony ended up feeling very disconnected from the couple for that reason, and very impersonal. So, my thought on this one - make sure that you stay true to yourselves as much as possible. This is YOUR wedding, not your parents'!
2. The order of the evening was very strange. The reception began, they did the first dance as a couple, and then went straight into dinner... and then essentially went straight into the cake cutting... the dancing, etc, didn't really start until at least 2 or 3 hours into the reception! And then of course after the cake cutting people started leaving... so by the end maybe two thirds of the guests had left long before the party was over. So, if you want people to stick around, make sure they have something to stick around for!
3. The DJ was awful. I'm a fan of just trusting that you've chosen well... but sometimes you need to take the upper hand! He kept choosing the wrong songs... the dance floor would fill for a good song, and then the song would change and the dance floor would completely empty - I'd say that the DJ is one of the most important choices - he can really make or break a party!
4. They chose to have their guests sing songs with the word 'love' in them rather than clanging glasses to get them to kiss - this did not work well. They also had no head table, so every time they had to kiss, they had to stand up out of their chairs so people could see them. I'd been ambivalent about having a head table, but this really decided me on having one.
5. The bride and the bridesmaids all wore pick-up style dresses, and by the end of the night most of them had to either sit down or carry their skirts around because every time they or someone else stepped on the skirt, the pickups would get ripped out and they''d end up with literally several feet of skirt dragging on the ground. The bride also had a lot of trouble with her bustle breaking, and ended up having to safety pin it eventually. So, I guess if you're going to wear a dress with a big bustle or pick-ups, and you want to dance a lot, be prepared with a lot of safety pins!
6. The bride had a black and white theme, which was lovely, but the one thing that I didn't like (and I know I'm being critical) was that all the bouquets were just basically bunches of white roses. It ended up being very plain, and her bouquet looked very strange against her dress, because the color didn't quite match, but it didn't stand out enough for the bouquet to really be noticeable - in fact, I didn't even realize at first that she was carrying a bouquet as she walked down the aisle, that's how little it stood out! Perhaps black magic roses or something along those lines might have been better for the bride's bouquet? The bridesmaids wore all black, so it was better with them, but adding some sort of texture rather than just roses would have made the bouquets feel more special... that's just my personal preference though.
overall, it was a lovely wedding, but very different from anything I would have done - I think mostly because the bride allowed herself to really be controlled by her family's wants, and didn't seem to have chosen a lot for herself. So, remember that it's about reflecting YOUR personality - and also thinking hard about making sure the reception runs smoothly!
1. This wedding was CLEARLY heavily influenced by the bride's father. Very little of what was done really felt like 'them' - for example, they had a full Catholic mass - but neither of them is in any way a practicing Catholic or feels any connection to the Catholic faith. The whole ceremony ended up feeling very disconnected from the couple for that reason, and very impersonal. So, my thought on this one - make sure that you stay true to yourselves as much as possible. This is YOUR wedding, not your parents'!
2. The order of the evening was very strange. The reception began, they did the first dance as a couple, and then went straight into dinner... and then essentially went straight into the cake cutting... the dancing, etc, didn't really start until at least 2 or 3 hours into the reception! And then of course after the cake cutting people started leaving... so by the end maybe two thirds of the guests had left long before the party was over. So, if you want people to stick around, make sure they have something to stick around for!
3. The DJ was awful. I'm a fan of just trusting that you've chosen well... but sometimes you need to take the upper hand! He kept choosing the wrong songs... the dance floor would fill for a good song, and then the song would change and the dance floor would completely empty - I'd say that the DJ is one of the most important choices - he can really make or break a party!
4. They chose to have their guests sing songs with the word 'love' in them rather than clanging glasses to get them to kiss - this did not work well. They also had no head table, so every time they had to kiss, they had to stand up out of their chairs so people could see them. I'd been ambivalent about having a head table, but this really decided me on having one.
5. The bride and the bridesmaids all wore pick-up style dresses, and by the end of the night most of them had to either sit down or carry their skirts around because every time they or someone else stepped on the skirt, the pickups would get ripped out and they''d end up with literally several feet of skirt dragging on the ground. The bride also had a lot of trouble with her bustle breaking, and ended up having to safety pin it eventually. So, I guess if you're going to wear a dress with a big bustle or pick-ups, and you want to dance a lot, be prepared with a lot of safety pins!
6. The bride had a black and white theme, which was lovely, but the one thing that I didn't like (and I know I'm being critical) was that all the bouquets were just basically bunches of white roses. It ended up being very plain, and her bouquet looked very strange against her dress, because the color didn't quite match, but it didn't stand out enough for the bouquet to really be noticeable - in fact, I didn't even realize at first that she was carrying a bouquet as she walked down the aisle, that's how little it stood out! Perhaps black magic roses or something along those lines might have been better for the bride's bouquet? The bridesmaids wore all black, so it was better with them, but adding some sort of texture rather than just roses would have made the bouquets feel more special... that's just my personal preference though.
overall, it was a lovely wedding, but very different from anything I would have done - I think mostly because the bride allowed herself to really be controlled by her family's wants, and didn't seem to have chosen a lot for herself. So, remember that it's about reflecting YOUR personality - and also thinking hard about making sure the reception runs smoothly!
