aircooled said:
(I have heard there was a study that showed the longevity of a marriage is inversely proportional to how much is spent on the wedding)
Study must have not included Indian subcontinent people .... (avg N American Indian subcontinent weddings have 800-900 guests and costs about $350,000)
**last 19 years involved in 114 weddings. 3 of those 114 are divorced**
We had a Hawaiian themed party at my house. Invited all our friends. My wife danced a hula (an actual one - she can) and I dressed up and did a fire dance by the pool. I tied two giant sparklers together and twirled them around and finished by throwing it into the pool. We then changed clothes, came out and a friend who is a judge read a little thing we had written and married us. It was a secret. No one at the party knew we were going to do it. It blew everyone away and was a ton of fun.
I don't really remember anything about the ceremony.
What I do remember about that day was getting E36 M3 from the prospective bride for showing up at the very last minute because me and the best man were putting the trim back on my recently painted 77 Malibu
I've officiated at 4.....yea I think thats right...friends weddings.
The first was done on the back deck of another friends house at a lake. We wore Hawaiian shirts, flip flops, and shorts. It was fun. I wrote the vows to include the "flowing rivers of Natty light" and lack there of. *we had a weekly tradition of sitting around with said beverage to chat, play cards, general things.
The others were more standard and formal. Some I did all the writeup, one I was given the whole ceremony....
Have fun, if your friends grandma is there, make sure to make a comment that you are scared of her and will not say some stuff that you would otherwise cause you want to stay on her good side. It will get a laugh.
Had a great plan, super cheap and fun. And...2020 ate it all. Married on August 1st last year. 10 people in MIL's living room. I agreed to that plan for SWMBO because she deserved something, anything. After COVID gutted everything I wanted, I didn't berkeleying care. Almost a year later, and I still don't. Maybe someday. Maybe not.
In reply to RevRico :
My wife and did the PA Quaker-style wedding in the Poconos back in 2008. We really liked the fact that we could marry ourselves and didn't need an officiant or some random person to make it legal. We put together the "ceremony" we liked with family members and friends reading selections that we loved and found meaningful, regardless of the source. My family is very musical so my three sisters sang. Our dog was the maid-of-honor/flower girl. We had wine available before the "ceremony" as people gathered and many had a glass in their hand during the proceedings. My point is, do what YOU want and feels right to you.
We still have people tell us ours was the best wedding they have ever been to. It was just fun. It also might have helped that it was outside on peak color Fall day in October.
We got married in August, courthouse style (thanks covid!). Luckily there's a pretty park right outside the courthouse where the actual ceremony took place. We then went back to our new house and had a nice bbq in the backyard. Funny thing is that we had closed on the house the day before the wedding, so it was completely empty.
We're having the celebration part of the wedding this upcoming August. We rented a neat little place called Anderson Lodge in Arial, WA for the weekend, and got a killer Mexican place to cater the main dinner. That, plus a couple kegs, and a guest list under 100 people should make for a very fun time.
Eloped and sent postcards/announcements on our honeymoon in Dubai. I am of no help.
Ours was during the 2009 CMU event celebrating the fiftieth anniversary of the original classic mini. Outdoors, at a KOA campground in Townsend TN. As my lovely SWMBO and I are not very devout individuals, it was a lot of work to find an officiant in the buckle of the bible belt who wouldn't monopolize the event with preaching. We finally found one fellow who was willing, and he was game to deal with all the craziness that we came up with.
It was a car event, and a friend made custom t-shirts in lieu of a wedding dress and tux shirt. My dad backed her down the aisle in the open back of our Mini Traveller wagon. The vows were read from a Haynes manual, and included the line"until death do us part, or when all project cars are finished, whichever comes last.."
I've photographed 5 this month all over the east coast and Caribbean. I've photographed more than 400 at this point and have 1 left this November in Briland.
Ours was 17 years ago, I don't remember the words, but I'll never forget my wife giggling as I cried like a baby.
Married at a park in Milwaukee, Hubbard Park for those in the know.
Neat venue on the Milwaukee River, very pretty for in town.
About 100 people, only one RSVP to the "couldnt make it" end.
Mainly friends, not much family. We both have big extended families so we went with the "only the fun ones, no cousins" rule.
Married by a good friend of ours who has done other friends' weddings, he was very good.
We wrote our vows.
My best man killed it on the speech.
Food was outstanding, open bar all night AND an open bar at the rehearsal dinner which was at the bar we had our first date at (remember - Wisconsin)
And it was April 14th, the day of the 2nd largest April snowfall in Wisconsin history, and 414 day.
The best part in our opinion is since we got married at a beautiful park with a beer garden and a restaurant, we can go back any time we want and reminisce.