Hoops, I have to agree with everything you said. I will add, that a few of the weddings that I went to had too many toasts (and some too long as you stated).

 

I went to a wedding recently, where we sat in our chairs, watched the introduction of each member of the wedding party, then the speeches. I think we sat for over an hour. Dinner wasnt served until after 10. That is late for us old folks.

 

I also do not understand the elaborate bachelor/bachelorette destination parties. Weddings are expensive enough without spending hundreds of dollars going of town.

 

Personally, I miss the old church basement weddings with the lunchmeat buffets. They were so much more fun.

 

Now were talkin' my desired price range. Plus, I can provide the music...just cut another expense. Daddy's Little Girls will be so happy. :lol2:

 

Forgot....I can get paNDA to do the pictures.

Buffets are the way to go. Keep it simple. I find that the worst receptions I have been to are usually so because it takes WAY TOO LONG to get through the dinner (and the food is never great anyway). People want to have fun and sitting while waiting for every table to get served simply isn't "fun."

 

My wife and I love to dance at wedding receptions. Get through the dinner and the ceremonies and get the band/DJ earning their keep.

 

I am going to a wedding this weekend where the bride/groom have a website which I know is very common now. One of the things you can do is request songs. I wore that out.

 

Too many people worry about impressing their guests vs worrying about their guests having fun.

My wife and I were 24 when we got married which means we didn't have much money so the reception was not fancy. We had a lady who catered it for us (great food). We had a DJ. We had long tables set up in a hall.

 

Best reception to this day that I have been to. Soul Train line and all.

You had photographer, flowers, tuxes, cake, food, drinks, DJ, and a venue for under $6000?

 

How many guests?

 

125 plus wedding party.

Buffets are the way to go. Keep it simple. I find that the worst receptions I have been to are usually so because it takes WAY TOO LONG to get through the dinner (and the food is never great anyway). People want to have fun and sitting while waiting for every table to get served simply isn't "fun."

 

My wife and I love to dance at wedding receptions. Get through the dinner and the ceremonies and get the band/DJ earning their keep.

 

I am going to a wedding this weekend where the bride/groom have a website which I know is very common now. One of the things you can do is request songs. I wore that out.

 

Too many people worry about impressing their guests vs worrying about their guests having fun.

 

Agree 100%

I like the songs ideas being sent with invitations. We did ours fairly cheap, still more than I wanted to spend but cheap in the grand scheme of things. The wifes cousin is a photographer and did the wedding for us as his gift. A friend of mine did the music and I got all the equipment from a bar I had dj'd at.

We did introduce the wedding party and the wife and each picked out songs to play as each person was introduced.

In all of this I've determined, if I was unmarried and 20ish, I'd be searching for a woman like Hoops.

There's an old line about people that go to auctions.

 

We buy things we don't need with money we don't have to impress people we don't like.

 

Not sure if this is apples to apples or not.

Frances M. Esenbock - Justice of the Peace - Lexington, KY

 

Best money I ever spent on a wedding. :thumb:

The guy who married us is a close friend and has been for years. He always asked us when we were going to get married. I finally told him when he got ordained we would get married. Fast forward a couple months and he sends the wife a picture of his paperwork where he was ordained.

I think he was the only person more nervous than me at my wedding.

All I need is an open bar, a dance floor & good music. In that order.

 

 

- Photo Booth. By far the best decision we made. The company we used brought a ton of props, the booth was big enough to fit 12 people, and we got an album with copies of everyone's photos that went in it. It was neat to look through the album and see everyone having fun and goofing off throughout the night.

 

I have not yet been to a wedding with a photo booth. But here a really cool thing my niece and her groom did. DJ announced that the bride and groom had until the end the song "Freeze Frame", to go around to as many tables as they could and take group shots. But your table had to be all posed and ready or bridal couple was not going to come to your table. This required all table guests to quickly assemble for a picture, then the bride and groom ran over to pop in the picture and photographer snapped the photo.

 

It was so fun and frenzied and required so much guest interaction. DJ did play extra bars of the song so that the couple was able to quickly get a picture at every single table. And I did observe a couple crazy uncles going around and photobombing like it was their job. :lol2:

Here was another fun thing. At some point during the dancing, they DJ assembled the entire wedding party and a chair for each on the dance floor. It was a scavenger musical chairs. DJ would announce, "find a lipstick". Wedding party ran out to the guests to retrieve someone's lipstick then run back and take a chair. The last member of the wedding party to return was out of the game and a chair was removed.

 

This went on with find a shoe, sock, belt, car keys, stick of gum, bobby pin, etc. (Could not use your own said item.) It was so much fun to watch and involved the guests as well.

We had about 300 guests, unlimited beer and wine, buffet type dinner, and a candy table which people could customize there candy bags and it was a huge hit. Went to a wedding in Louisville Saturday at some seminary place. It was nice and had open bar with top shelf liquor. My favorite part that I wish we had thought of was the photo booth.

In Pittsburgh many guests/family members bring homemade cookies to the wedding reception.

 

100s and 100s of them.