Recently I was browsing the internet and I found a website about how to do weddings cheaply. And one of their blog posts was about what you would do differently with your wedding, if you now had the chance to do it over. Here's what they asked: If you had a wedding do-over, what would you do differently? Here are some points from the blog "2000 Dollar Wedding" about how to make it meaningful on a budget, and here are some rules we would avoid:
8. You have to put fondant on your wedding cake.
Admit it. It's disgusting. It has the texture (and taste) of plastic. And what the cake tastes like is more important than what it looks like. At tonight's wedding they had several real cakes. Real ones. They were absolutely delicious. I was forced to eat two pieces.
7. Someone else's voice has to dominate your ceremony.
It's your wedding. It's about you and your future partner and the coming together of your lives. Why should someone else talk all about it? At tonight's wedding, the bride and groom walked out together. The bride's sister did a brief introduction and then left the bride and groom alone up there. They talked about each other and then to each other. It lasted only about seven minutes, but it was the most sincere and touching ceremony I have ever witnessed. Tears streamed down my cheeks (and that never happens to me at weddings!). Do read the rest of their list! Now I have to admit that at our wedding I did put my foot down and had a non-traditional cake. We bought some luscious chocolate cheesecakes. It was expensive, but it was worth it. And I loved every bite! But I would do some things differently. I'd hire a better photographer (not a good place to save money). I'd make the ceremony shorter (I think I tried to make it into an evangelistic tool. Not a good idea). I'd have more fun. One thing we did right: we couldn't afford a big reception. We had no money. So we had a sitdown dinner for 35 people. But before that we had an open reception for anyone who wanted to to come to. Keith and I were in charge of the church youth group at the time, so all the youth came out. And we did our speeches there. It was a lot of fun. The food was simply appetizers, and most people stood around the gym, but the kids all got to make funny speeches, and it was really quite enjoyable. Much more so than the fancy sit down dinner. One thing I wish we had had, though, was some sort of a dance. For my husband's 40th we threw a square dance, and it was so much fun. The kids loved it, the adults loved it, and it was memorable. I'd love to a combination "square dance" with "let's teach everybody how to do a waltz" or something. Not a dance where people just get drunk and jump around, but a dance where people have fun. I wish we had doen something like that, and for my daughters I'll make sure that we do (as long as they agree, of course). So what about you? For this Wifey Wednesday, what would you do differently if you could do your wedding over? Just go to your blog, write your own Wifey Wednesday post, and then come back here and enter the URL in the Mr. Linky! Or just leave a comment!
 Labels: marriage, wifey wednesdays |
Stumble It!
We had a very cheap wedding. But there are some things we would change.
I would have worn a different dress. There was nothing really wrong with the one I had, and it was all I could afford, but I might have waited till I got to the USA where I was to be married before choosing a dress.
We would have told my MIL that this was NOT her wedding, despite the fact that it was her son getting married, and too bad if she didn't like the songs we had chosen. I would have told her that no, despite what she thought, her son who was the usher did NOT need a boutonniere on his suit and if that is what he needed to make himself feel important, then too bad.
I would have told my husband that as I didn't know his family, I really DIDN'T want his sister to be my bridesmaid, and the other one to be the flower girl. I wanted someone *I* knew. I would have told his mom that since I was having to have the two sisters already, that I was having the older sister too despite her being a black sheep in the family.
My husband would have told them that he did not care a bit if his mom liked the guy he wanted for a groomsman, that he was going to have him anyway, and if she didn't want her daughter walking down the aisle with him, fine, we'd find another bridesmaid like I wanted to in the first place.
We would have told the pastor who did it that it was OUR wedding, and if he just had to appease my MIL by not playing music she didn't "approve" of at his church, that we'd find another church and another pastor to officiate. We would have told him that the groomsman my husband wanted was going to be the groomsman despite the fact that the pastor could not stand him. We'd have had a breif salvation message because WE wanted to, despite the fact the pastor thought that they "didn't belong" at weddings.
Oh, and we'd have picked a different pastor in a different church anyway. Or, we'd have gotten the guy who ended up being the groomsman to officiate the wedding as he was a pastor. (And is now OUR pastor).
I'd have changed from my wedding dress into a more practical outfit to leave in despite what the pastor thought about the fact that it was apparently my "duty" to let my husband take the wedding dress off me at our honeymoon location.
And yes, we'd have hired a photographer. None of our wedding photos are really that nice.
Oh, and it would have been nice if my FIL had worn a suit and my MIL had gotten a new dress or something.
We're going to do a renewal one day as there are many frustrations we have over our wedding. It was like our wedding was for everyone except for us.