So how was your wedding?

City Hall, wedding photos at Glamour Shots, one day and night at the beach for honeymoon. I'd do it the same way if we had to go back and do it again.

Not married but I would want something very small. I don't understand the mentality of spending so much on one day when there's a lifetime ahead of you. That also goes for rings...I'd want a simple band and don't really care if there's a honeymoon.

:)

Well, IF I get married...and I'm super-choosy, so that's kind of a big "if"...I have my dream of the perfect wedding day already figured out. (Gee, that sounds so typical, doesn't it? I swear I'm not a girly-girl...like, less than 10%. xp) It would be a beach wedding during the summer, with a huge bonfire, and breezy tented seating area. The wedding itself and the reception could be in the same place, to keep it easy for everybody. Pets allowed and welcome. I would invite every living family member I didn't completely hate, and every person I've truly considered a friend, to join us in a big celebration of our union and future together. I envision it as just a huge, joyous fete, everyone having fun and doing whatever sorts of outdoorsy and/or aquatic things they might like to do--or simply engaging in the standard wedding activities of talking, mingling, eating, and dancing. We'd be surrounded by everyone who has been dear and meant a lot to us. I'd want to feel that it was an auspicious start to our married life.

I really am not a very "high-maintenance" kind of gal who demands luxury for its own sake. And I commend all the couples who opt for economical, small, intimate, less costly weddings. There is absolutely nothing wrong with that if it's what both of the engaged want. My admittedly irrational feeling is that I would want the big-deal wedding, lest it appear that I or my guy lack confidence in our match, or the marriage's ability to last. It wouldn't be about showing off, but just having pride in our union and that desire to bring all our loved ones together and give them a truly great day. Honeymoon? Oh, that could be anywhere, from a tropical island to a remote cabin.

My next choice would be to hold it in a meadow...flowers, gazebo, my list of songs playing...or perhaps do it outdoors in the autumn, which is my favorite season, in a location that fully displayed fall's splendor. Trees, a brook, maybe a field or woods, or an old bridge or farm or something in the backdrop.

We got married in Hawaii on the beach. Luckily for me my wife's folks are loaded and they flew 200+ guests out and put everybody up in a 5 star hotel for the weekend. Best weekend of my life and so glad I wasn't the one footing the bill. It would take me a lifetime to pay for it with my current job

Got married in June. We paid for almost everything ourselves.
We were married in a presbyterian church that is over 100 years old and did photos outside the church. Had a reception at a hotel & suites in the ballroom.
Our colours were black and white. I had a dress that was a strapless ball gown style with a sweetheart neckline that I had taken in around the hips a bit and added lace sleeves just off the shoulder. I had a medium length veil and wore ballet slippers. All my bridesmaids wore chiffon strapless, dresses just above the knee and black pumps. The men wore black pants, black shoes, white shirts, and black vests and black ties. My groom wore a full black suit with a black vest and jacket. He wore a white shirt and a white tie. My flower girls wore white dresses with full tule bottoms and black sneakers with white accents.
Our flowers were callalillys and I wore small white pearl earrings, necklace and bracelet. Our rings were simple platinum bands with our initials and wedding dates engraved.
We had a violinist play our ceremony music as well as singers for the signing of the wedding registry.
We had a DJ for the evening. Buffett meal of chicken, roast top sirloin, mashed potatoes, several varieties of vegetables. We also had a salad bar and a huge dessert table.
Chocolate cupcakes with buttercream frosting instead of a cake.
We had about 70ish guests and a few others joined us for the ceremony but not the reception.

Everything went pretty well with the day :) I just wish more of our family and friends could've been there.

Also I was 19 and my husband was 22 on our wedding day. I flipped the bill for the most part. My mom gave us a bit of money and paid for my dress. My in-laws also gave us some of the money but for the most part we handled it all :)

I've been married over 20 years. Had a church wedding with a luncheon reception for about 100 people, including about 15 children. I didn't bother with "frills" that I found meaningless, such as a limousine or a white carpet. We had a DJ rather than a band, and kept the flowers and favors simple but elegant. I did my hair and nails myself. I had a maid of honor and flower girls (young relatives), and we picked out dresses that I liked but that they could wear again. No bridesmaids -- I don't understand the current fetish for 6, 8, 10 attendants, all forced into variations of the same hideous dress that doesn't look good on any of them.

Most importantly, my husband and I both enjoyed our wedding day and remember it well. We had a meaningful 30-minute-long ceremony and a reception that was like a fancy but fun party. I think our guests enjoyed it, too.

Coming up on my 13th wedding anniversary this January!

If you look at our photos, the location, food and so forth, you'd think we spent an arm and a leg for our wedding. But truth be told, we, or rather us and our parents, only spent about $1500...and that included EVERYTHING!! Including my hubby and I, our total headcount was 25 (though 2 were ill, and 2 were out of the province).

The breakdown went like this:

- My mom and mother in law paid for our non-denominational minister, who charged $50 for his services. They gave him $80, poor fellow was ill and unable to attend our dinner, but was determined not to cancel on us last minute. Needless to say we appreciated it! :)

- The dress I got from my aunt, she purchased it for $30 from a neighbor and fellow local actress who had used it recently in a show. (I paid $110 to get it altered from a friend's mom.).

- My silk wedding shoes were brand new, clearance priced at a whopping $5 a pair at a shoe factory in my best friend/maid of honor's hometown. I got 2 pairs, and my bestie paid for both as a gift.

- For our location, I really liked a narrow room with a long aisle down it with a huge fireplace at the end, at one of our local hotels. The cost for that was $100 rental fee for the day, and $50 for the refundable deposit. While looking at another, bigger room, the lady at the hotel knew I loved them both and was having a hard time deciding. The second room would've been $300 and a $150 refundable deposit. But, luck was with me again; my dad's spouse at the time had regular Mary Kay meetings there every Monday, and due to her business relationship with the hotel, the lady offered me both rooms for the price of the first one. (SCORE! LOL).

- Food was an all you can buffet, $25/head. We had medium-rare roast beef, chicken, tons of sides, salads and the most amazing dessert selection I've ever seen. And our cake was a half slab white cake done at a local grocery store for $25. All of the food was paid half and half by my mom and step dad and parents in law, and my dad and his spouse offered to pay for an open bar for the reception.

- We did photos ourselves, with my aunt and uncle bringing their (then) very high end digital camera. They turned out great! We also did our own music, having made several of our own mix CD's of various musical genres, and my brother ran a 6-disc player.

- Lastly, my parents, as part of their gift, got us a suite at an inn downtown for $70. My dad was friends with the owners there; even during the off-season, the suite should have been $250 for the night for regular guests. (We'd actually have had the wedding there, but they didn't have the same banquet facilities.)

Overall, I wouldn't have done it any other way! When well thought out, a wedding can be absolutely amazing without breaking the bank account apart :)

We had a Disney wedding in Florida (we're Canadian). Very small, just our parents as guests. The castle was in the background of our ceremony and I wore a Cinderella blue ballgown. Then we had a sort of informal dinner (but crazy expensive) as a reception.

Then we had a Disneymoon week - another reason for getting married there.

My parents paid for everything and it was a lot, for how small the whole thing was. We had in-park portraits too - and that was a lot.