Wedding Ideas!!

[Miranda_Rae]

So i havent been around for awhile, I'd say a very long time! But anyway I am getting married in Febuary, Febuary 20th to be exact and I was wondering if you folks had any fun ideas for the reception as we are not having alcohol (his family is a big of booze hounds and my family is very religious and alcohol is taboo and so it would cause alot of drama) and we arent having a dance because we both dont dance. So i dont really know what people do at receptions if they dont have either of those.:o So if you have any fun ideas in replace of htose that would be awesome! And favors. I have NO idea what i should do for that!!! Any ideas would be appreciated!! I am very excited and nervous for it. lol. Is that normal?!?:confused:

[Karen]

We didn't have any alcohol at our reception, just a light lunch and people had a nice time sitting around and gabbing. There was no dancing, because I am a klutz AND my brudder forgot the record player, but having Uncle Mac there (his other errand for the day) was far more important. We didn't have any organized activities, people just socialized.

If you are looking for nice activities for the reception, I was at one recently where the couple had prepared a slide show (all digital of course) of pictures of their life together, and pets. Also one nice thing from another wedding was the couple had a large white matte that they planned to display their wedding picture in, and all the guests signed it, with little saying and best wishes.

You can have toasts without alcohol - people just raise their glasses of ginger ale, water - whatever! - and toast.

Excited and nervous are both normal. As for favors, is there any theme or color scheme to the wedding?

[Miranda_Rae]

See i have never figured out what theme meant! :confused: I mean our dresses are claret (ill add pictures of the dresses and some of my dress. I thought of the picture idea but I have no idea how to do that because i am very tech unsavy. Do they do speeches at weddings or anything like that?!?!
http://www.davincibridal.com/pop_up.php?style=http://www.davincibridal.com/thumb.php?img=images/large thumb/9257FM.jpg&MAX_WIDTH=301&MAX_HEIGHT=418

[Miranda_Rae]

heres the dresses.

http://www.bestbridalprices.com/davinci-wedding-dress-p-1397.html

http://www.davincibridal.com/pop_up.php?style=http://www.davincibridal.com/thumb.php?img=images/large thumb/9257FM.jpg&MAX_WIDTH=301&MAX_HEIGHT=418

[Husky_mom]

ooh... wedding.. yay!!.. I wish I_ could do it all over again..every day I come up with one thing i wish I had done back then.. lol..

we did dance.. but not any formal way.. just moved to the music.. lol.. practically swinging side to side hehe..

as for drinks.. we did have.. but I don´t drink so I toasted with sprite.. yeah.. I didn´t care and did it that way...

I would´ve loved to have a chocolate fountain with donuts..yummy...

we don´t give favors to people attending.. but it depends as Karen said as if you have a color or theme in mind..
you ca do it in s sort of lounge reception.. more like a chit chat mingle event rather than dancing and drinking.. or you can have music so whoever wants to dance can do it.. but you are not obligued to do so..

I skipped the lace in leg part for two reasons.. I forgot and we didn´t wanted to do it anyway.. so.. being your wedding you can skip the dancing part if you want.. it´s YOUR wedding afterall

[Miranda_Rae]

I would´ve loved to have a chocolate fountain with donuts..yummy...

we don´t give favors to people attending.. but it depends as Karen said as if you have a color or theme in mind..
you ca do it in s sort of lounge reception.. more like a chit chat mingle event rather than dancing and drinking.. or you can have music so whoever wants to dance can do it.. but you are not obligued to do so..

I skipped the lace in leg part for two reasons.. I forgot and we didn´t wanted to do it anyway.. so.. being your wedding you can skip the dancing part if you want.. it´s YOUR wedding afterall


Hahaha the chocolate fountain with donuts made me laugh. It wouldn't thrill me cuz i dont like chocolate or donuts but it would thrill my fiancee. I have NEVER EVER met someone who loves food as much as him. haha

Everyone I have ever talked to has said that you have to have favors so im really confused.:confused:

Whats the lace in leg part?

[Moesha]

My sister and brother in law sort of had a "castle" theme. We tented a big, bland civic center room with gossamer and they had a castle cake and there were shields on the walls of each of the families' crests. The party favors with those gold chocolate coins in velvet draw string bags I think. Another friend was married on a beach at a light house in South Carolina. Her favors were cookie cutters in the shape of a shell, a lighthouse and a starfish. They were tied on to card stock that was printed with their names and wedding date. It also said, "Bride and groom's name were cut out for each other." Perhaps you could modify the cookie cutters to something more appropriate for your situation. There are tons of them and you can buy them in bulk on Ebay.

[Karen]

So it's okay, I should have mentioned color scheme. As for "favors," you can go with candy cinnamon hearts ties in a little white net square, then gathered and tied with a dark red ribbon that matches the dresses ... if you know about how many guests you are having, you can do a bunch at a time over the course of January, it's tedious, but not too bad. If you don't like the cinnamon hearts, you can do red and white M&ms, same idea. Other people do Jordan Almonds, it's traditional, or you can use anything you want, really.

If you want people to have a lasting momento, you can get little metal beads to tie to the end of the ribbon - wedding bells, or hearts, or anything meaningfl to both of you, and people can keep the ribbon and weight as a bookmark.

Are any of your bridesmaids or ushers tech-savvy people? You could ask them to put together a slide show - get the moms involved, and it could be a fun project. Then you can just rent a little projector for the afternoon, any camera-shop type place should have one available for such things that you can book ahead.

People often make little speeches as "toasts" - it's traditional for the Best Man to make a toast, then others are invited to make any they want.

How many guests are you having? Do you have a place picked for the wedding and reception?

[Moesha]

If you do a slide show, you could put the pictures on CDs that you could give as party favors.

[Miranda_Rae]

Heres what we have so far:

My mom is my maid of honor and my friend Jessie is my bridesmaid. My fiancees brother is the best man and my brother is the other best man.

My fiancee is pretty tech savy, i just dont know what i want for pictures yet and i get VERY VERY overwhelmed with all that there is to do with a wedding. there is so many things!:eek: We are getting married in a church by Brainerd and we are estimating about 150 people, considering most of my relatives are in ND. I really liked your idea of the bookmark thing Karen. That is very unique (well im sure its been used by other people but who cares right :p). I am really liking all these ideas guys! thanks! I was thinking maybe we should start a thread showing off peoples wedding pictures! haha. Sorry im realy in the mood of weddings lately! :o:D

[Miranda_Rae]

If you do a slide show, you could put the pictures on CDs that you could give as party favors.

OHHHHHH!!!!! I never thought of that!!! That is VERY cool! I'll have to mention it to Michael

[Husky_mom]

the leg lace.. it´s the elastic band the groom takes from the bride.. under the dress and tosses it.. supposedly the guy who gets it is supposedly next to marry.. just as the brides flowers and girls int he party..

in my country we don´t do favors.. unless it´s a kid party.. then it´s candy..

at weddings.. people usually take the center pieces/ flowers with vase home..

you can decor tables with beads.. like little stones used to decor

Karens idea of the hearts/m&m´s in lil pouches sounds great

[Miranda_Rae]

Oh ya that leg thing! Ya we arent doing that either. I thought it was a little disturbing and weird. Cuz apparently the men bet on it and stuff like that, and it would make me feel all uncomfortable. hehe :o My mom did that, but she had her FATHER put it on her, and my dad take it off. I thought that was totally weird. I dont want my dad anywhere NEAR that area of me. lol. Its very interesting how different each wedding is. I find it very romantic. Ahhh I love weddings and such! :D:love:

[CountryWolf07]

So it means.. that since I caught the bouquet at my boyfriend's cousin's wedding last May and that my boyfriend caught the garter, so that'd mean we're next to marry eventually? ;)

sorry, had to mention in this thread since it's about weddings & receptions!

[Miranda_Rae]

So it means.. that since I caught the bouquet at my boyfriend's cousin's wedding last May and that my boyfriend caught the garter, so that'd mean we're next to marry eventually? ;)

sorry, had to mention in this thread since it's about weddings & receptions!

Yep thats what it means! Although i think its just tradition to think that. I've seen some girls totally fight over the bouquet, which was weird.

[Karen]

Yep thats what it means! Although I think its just tradition to think that. I've seen some girls totally fight over the bouquet, which was weird.

When my sister got married, I was 17. When she was about to toss the bouquet, one of my brother-in-law's friends nudge me and asked, "How old are ya, kid?"

"17 ..." I answered.

"Great, you're too young anyway. If the bouquet is headed toward ya, tip it to me, I need it!"

It went nowhere neither of us, thankfully!

I forgot the whole bouquet-toss thing at my wedding, and so didn't do the garter thing, either, thankfully!

[BitsyNaceyDog]

I agree the garter belt is kind of weird. I've seen the brother of the bride catch it, which seemed strange. Also my sister's ex-boyfriend caught her garter.

At my wedding we gave out chocolate with special wrappers that had our names and wedding date on it.

Just a question- is the only reason you're not having dancing because you and hubby-to-be don't dance? My husband and I don't dance either, but we had a DJ and other people enjoyed dancing. People who don't want to dance enjoy mingling with others and watching the dancers dance. The bride and groom are pretty busy with going around saying "good to see you, thanks for coming" to everyone to do much dancing anyway.

[CountryWolf07]

Yep thats what it means! Although i think its just tradition to think that. I've seen some girls totally fight over the bouquet, which was weird.

That's what I thought. Not a big deal, but it was fun. I do have to say when that bouquet was thrown, it was directly at M-E. I seriously thought, "What to do?!" so I just automatically grabbed it before it hit the ground.

[Miranda_Rae]

Just a question- is the only reason you're not having dancing because you and hubby-to-be don't dance? My husband and I don't dance either, but we had a DJ and other people enjoyed dancing. People who don't want to dance enjoy mingling with others and watching the dancers dance. The bride and groom are pretty busy with going around saying "good to see you, thanks for coming" to everyone to do much dancing anyway.

Nope we are not having a dance because NO ONE in the families dance. So it would be pointless. His family doesn't and neither does mine and none of the people coming will dance either.

[Husky_mom]

you still can have background music...even if no one dances.. just to have a mood going on...

[Miranda_Rae]

Ok heres an update on the wedding ideas etc. For the reception we are going to unwrap our gifts that way the people who gave and came to the wedding can be involved. Also I have completely given up on favors/decorations! My mother is doing that now because shes kinda taken over and I just got too frustrated with that! We got a Caterer picked out and a photographer. Our whole wedding is going to cost under or around $3,000. I think thats pretty good. Anyway, for our honeymoon we are going on a cruise ship to Cozomel, Cayman Islands and Jamaica. Apparently that is my MILs gift to us (even tho thats where we had picked out to go) but Michael and I didnt get to really pick out where when etc. It had made me mad at first because picking out all that with Michael was the thing that i was looking forward to most about the wedding (minus getting married to Michael), but whatever. The only thing I worry about is that they would come along!:eek: I really hope that they dont! My mother felt bad because she was all I cant compete with that! I told her not to worry and that shes doing enough help which is more special than gifts! Anyway thats what I have right now!

[Catherinedana]

For favors we had customized M&Ms with our names on them

Barry & Cathy

We made our own music since most of the guests were musical and at one point a bunch of the guys were drumming (on hand drums) and all the women were dancing. It was incredible!

We didn't have alcohol either but we did toast with a yummy non-alcoholic champagne.

Best wishes !!
It will be fabulous whatever you do!

Cathy

[Karen]

It sounds like things are under control, which is a positive, anyway. And hey, at least she's giving you a cruise to somewhere you wanted to go in the first place! Could be worse! :)

My general advice to brides applies:

"Don't kill anyone's mother. You will want to either shoot your own, or his mother at some point in the process, maybe both, but a murder trial would wreak havoc on both the wedding plans, and then the honeymoon and life ever after - it's just not worth the risk!"

[sparks19]

well we didn't really have an "official wedding". was just the two of us at the justice of the peace and th en we went to a nice little diner where my husband grew up for lunch and then a hockey game that night.

but at my cousins wedding they played this game. The bride and groom sat back to back and they each held one of their shoes and one of their partners shoes and then the best man and maid of honor or the MC or whoever asked all these questions and they had to hold up the shoe of the person that applied to.... like.... "who always wants to drive" or "who is the better cook" and just silly things like that and then the bride and groom pick the shoe according to the person they think would be the right answer in their opinion. was really funny actually. sometimes they agreed sometimes they were total opposite and some of the questions were REALLY funny.

[moosmom]

My daughter, who's getting married in March, 2011, has a "Two Hearts, One Love" theme. I guess that's the newest trend these days...themed weddings. I think it's a great idea!!! She's also going t have a "Candy "bar. No kids are invited except my soon-to-be step grandson who will be the best man.

My best friend's daughter' wedding had a "lobster" theme and it was a hoot!!! They had lobster lolly pops as place cards. The cake topper was 2 lobsters kissing/

See? There's plenty of ideas!!! Good luck!!!!

[Miranda_Rae]

My general advice to brides applies:

"Don't kill anyone's mother. You will want to either shoot your own, or his mother at some point in the process, maybe both, but a murder trial would wreak havoc on both the wedding plans, and then the honeymoon and life ever after - it's just not worth the risk!"

I agree. My coworkers and I always joke about that, coming and visiting me in prison. hahaha!

She bought my wedding jewelry. Heres a link to the necklace.

http://www.swarovski.com/Web_US/en/1500592/product/Emma_Necklace.html?CatalogCategoryName=0108#emptyl ink

there is also earrings that go with it too. heres a link to a picture of my dress.

http://www.bestbridalprices.com/davinci-wedding-dress-p-1397.html

do you think that they will look ok together? everyone has such good ideas for weddings and ideas! it seems that every wedding is unique in itself.