Ideas for wedding

[dazwalsh]

I am getting married in July, and as it nears the day i was looking for the finishing touches.

So im looking for ideas from people who have been married or been to a few weddings as to what worked worked well, mostly in terms of entertainment but unusal little things that were a nice touch.

We have a band and a dj sorted already, and a bongo & guitar player for peope arriving at the reception whilst we ps off and take photos.

I also have use of a cousin who is a brilliant magician who will go round the tables inbetween courses and do a few tricks.

Equally what stuff should be avoided?

The reception is in a marquee if that helps, so lots of space around it too.

Edited by dazwalsh on Monday 26th March 14:54

[Dromedary66]

dazwalsh said:

Equally what stuff should be avoided?

Magicians and bongo players.

[pincher]

You need to have some doves released from the boot of a Rolls Royce.

Brings tears to my eyes just thinking about it.

[TEKNOPUG]

Free bar.

[cloggy]

Dromedary66 said:

dazwalsh said:

Equally what stuff should be avoided?

Magicians and bongo players.

[kiethton]

We're doing ours in a barn which has a large gravelled courtyard and green outside - we've got a set of metal french boules for people to play with (well away from windows!)

[Zetec-S]

pincher said:

You need to have some doves released from the boot of a Rolls Royce.

Brings tears to my eyes just thinking about it.

[Tyre Smoke]

Why not have that bit from Titanic playing on loop for guests arriving?

Not the bit where Jack karks it, obviously, the bit where they're up the bow giving it all artistic. And a load of orange B+Q buckets for later.

[milfordkong]

If possible i'd go for a free bar, it was one of the best investments we made in our wedding.

A few guests might abuse your generosity a little but in our case at least it made for a much more relaxed, memorable and fun party for everybody there.

[Tyre Smoke]

milfordkong said:

If possible i'd go for a free bar, it was one of the best investments we made in our wedding.

A few guests might abuse your generosity a little but in our case at least it made for a much more relaxed, memorable and fun party for everybody there.

And a f--king nightmare for the taxis taking guests away and the venue trying to get rid of the stragglers.

[Shakermaker]

It rather comes down to the two of you are as a couple, and how well people know the two of you as to what will work if you put your own touches to it. What are your hobbies, or interests, or passions? My good mate is a huge fan of Batman. And so at his wedding, they had little "nods" to Batman throughout - the cake topper on the cake had a bride and a groom, but the groom had a Batman mask on. The wedding favours for the children were in a Batman-themed bag, and the table numbers were in Batman-logo shapes. Nothing expensive had been done, it just took a bit of cutting out some cardboard. But the effect was that you knew he had been involved.

If you try too hard, it can show, and of course, over time, most wedding "things" quickly become cliched, and will be seen everywhere. At my wedding, we'd already been to too many where the large, light up letters had been used, they'd only been popular for a year or so but were instantly everywhere and after we had quite a heavy year of weddings, decided they were not for us. Neither did we go with a photobooth - again, its been done at every other wedding. Instead, we bought a big empty picture frame, got a friend to decorate it with our names and wedding date, and left it for people to use however they deemed fit.

We also managed to make good use of the fact that my wife's uncle runs an ice cream company and so our buffet option consisted of his ice cream being dished out, along with lots of our favourite sweets - including personalised M&Ms with our names on courtesy of my sister-in-law who works for Mars.

• edit to add

Yes we had a load of money put behind the bar generously by my mother in law. I don't think it covered spirits but beers, wines and soft drinks meant that people were enjoying themselves and "pulling some shapes" on the floor earlier.

[cbmotorsport]

Are you on Pinterest?

Sign up, it's perfect for that sort of thing. You'll get loads of ideas.

A firepit is always good, we had a tonne bag of logs delivered, and just kept stoking the firepit. There were bails all round it for people to sit on, and it was very popular.

[Gary29]

Sounds like my idea of hell.

Just ps off to Gretna Green for the afternoon and save yourself some money.

[milfordkong]

Tyre Smoke said:

And a f--king nightmare for the taxis taking guests away and the venue trying to get rid of the stragglers.

... Too true, the venue actually seemed pretty keen to discourage the free bar, which didn't make a lot of sense to me considering the potential additional earnings from an open tab... ... It made a bit more sense the next day!

[cbmotorsport]

Shakermaker said:

If you try too hard, it can show, and of course, over time, most wedding "things" quickly become cliched, and will be seen everywhere. At my wedding, we'd already been to too many where the large, light up letters had been used, they'd only been popular for a year or so but were instantly everywhere and after we had quite a heavy year of weddings, decided they were not for us. Neither did we go with a photobooth - again, its been done at every other wedding. Instead, we bought a big empty picture frame, got a friend to decorate it with our names and wedding date, and left it for people to use however they deemed fit.

We bought a big blank 'scrap book' type thing, and had a polaroid camera, a prit stick, and a marker pen. People took photos of themselves and stuck them in the book and wrote a message - Results were brilliant, and gave us something to keep.

[Shakermaker]

cbmotorsport said:

Shakermaker said:

If you try too hard, it can show, and of course, over time, most wedding "things" quickly become cliched, and will be seen everywhere. At my wedding, we'd already been to too many where the large, light up letters had been used, they'd only been popular for a year or so but were instantly everywhere and after we had quite a heavy year of weddings, decided they were not for us. Neither did we go with a photobooth - again, its been done at every other wedding. Instead, we bought a big empty picture frame, got a friend to decorate it with our names and wedding date, and left it for people to use however they deemed fit.

We bought a big blank 'scrap book' type thing, and had a polaroid camera, a prit stick, and a marker pen. People took photos of themselves and stuck them in the book and wrote a message - Results were brilliant, and gave us something to keep.

yes, also a good idea that I have seen used elsewhere

[C0ffin D0dger]

Dromedary66 said:

dazwalsh said:

Equally what stuff should be avoided?

Magicians and bongo players.

[C0ffin D0dger]

TEKNOPUG said:

Free bar.

Let's face it this is what the majority of wedding guests are always hopeful of.

For ours we decided to cut to the chase and just have a big party in the evening for everyone we could think off, we booked a band, got a load of food in from a local caterers, and supplied all the booze (wine / beer run to Calais helped). Everyone who came said they had a great time.

The actual wedding itself was a low key ceremony at the registry office with just parents and siblings followed by a meal at a nice restaurant.

It's your day at the end of it but personally I don't see the point in going mad over the details as nobody will remember it in a few months time anyway.

[dazwalsh]

Dromedary66 said:

Magicians and bongo players.

Haha, it sounds st written down but both are very talented, especially the magician, does stage magic all over the globe.

[TEKNOPUG]

C0ffin D0dger said:

TEKNOPUG said:

Free bar.

Let's face it this is what the majority of wedding guests are always hopeful of.

For ours we decided to cut to the chase and just have a big party in the evening for everyone we could think off, we booked a band, got a load of food in from a local caterers, and supplied all the booze (wine / beer run to Calais helped). Everyone who came said they had a great time.

The actual wedding itself was a low key ceremony at the registry office with just parents and siblings followed by a meal at a nice restaurant.

It's your day at the end of it but personally I don't see the point in going mad over the details as nobody will remember it in a few months time anyway.

If you are doing it at a venue, where they charge bar prices, then it's a less attractive option. We had ours in a barn and I bought all the wine from my local Vintners (sale or return) and bought a couple of barrels from the local brewery - I said on the invites that if you wanted to drink spirits you were more than welcome to bring your own. Then paid the caterers to man the bar. It was only for 60-70 to be fair.

"Come and join us celebrate our special day - bring your wallet". fk that.

Decent catering
Free bar/drinks
Live band

That's the recipe for all the best weddings I've been to and all the rubbish ones have always had at least one of those 3 factors missing. Some all 3!

Everything else is just tinsel and you'll no doubt spend hundreds on stuff that no one will appreciate and you won't even remember. If money is tight, just invite less people.