*sigh* Wedding planning

[Bikingmomof3]

We had a very small ceremony at home with each set of parents, best friends, and a sibling or two. Then we threw a big party at a place with a great view (on Magnolia Bluff, water and mountain view here in Seattle). We brought our own stuff for drinks, made music tapes of our favorite stuff (reggae, Aretha, Talking Heads, etc.), had a close friend who was a professional baker make our cake for us, had caterers bring hors d'oeuvres only, had a few friends taking pictures. No flowers, no pro photos, no fuss, everyone had a blast, no stress at all.

I guess the reason it all worked is because, while we didn't want to spend a lot or have the high stress of planning a formal wedding, neither did we want to deprive everyone of the big party--so we managed to find a way to do all those things in combination. It worked really well and everyone has good memories of it.

Mine was very similar. Very small ceremony. My SIL made the flower arrangements. We had a small cake and then had a big party that evening. It was a very low key, low budget, and we all had a blast!

[xeney]

Grog, on the other side of things: don't let anyone make you feel bad for doing the catering thing. I got some grief about how if we were trying to keep it simple, why were we having the party at a restaurant and serving a meal, why didn't we just have people over to our house? Well, because I have a job and only one bathroom! Our venue provided a wedding planner, which sounds crazy and over the top, but she was actually a sweet 80-year-old volunteer who helped me pick the menu, stage managed everything behind the scenes, told us where to put the speakers, and basically took all the stress and pressure off of us. Having it catered meant I just pointed at a menu and said, "I want that." Having it at a restaurant meant I didn't have to clean up. Having it at a restaurant meant I didn't have to decorate or rent chairs and tablecloths and all that stuff.

It wasn't a $500 event -- I think the final tally was closer to $5,000 -- but it was the best balance we found between low-key, and not making ourselves crazy. Sometimes it can be even MORE work to keep everything deliberately low-key. (Like invitations. All my friends are crafty and spent weeks and weeks making their own "simple" invitations. I didn't even want to deal with fighting a laser printer, so for me it was worth it to order them from a printer.)