A nice chat about your wedding

My husband and I got married in Sri Lanka. It was second time around for both of us, and so we decided that it would just be the two of us making vows to each other to confirm our love and hopes for a long and happy future together. The ceremony was very different to a ceremony here, and instead of it just being the two of us, we had an audience of about 100 people - all the guests at the hotel had turned out to watch. One guest even climbed a tree to take photos of us, although we did have an 'official' photographer, and afterward we went for a walk on the beach in our wedding togs, where again a complete stranger took a photo for us, it turned out to be the best one of the lot.

We then took a 'tuk tuk' to a lovely restaurant which my husband had booked a couple of days earlier. The ambience was fabulous, they had decorated the table with flower petals, and the whole setting was very romantic, but we could have done without the group of table singers who sang the now traditional 'Congratulations', albeit a very accented version ! However, it was a nice gesture.

All in all a fabulous day. My only regret is that my elderly Mum didn't get to go with us, we felt that she would struggle with the heat and the long journey. So just to show us, three weeks after our return she booked herself on a long haul trip to .......... AUSTRALIA, lol.

I've been married 3 times - 1st wedding - White Wedding (Catholic Church as his family were Catholics), Reception & Evening "do" at village pub. Hadn't wanted to get married & I was right, it didn't last

2nd Wedding - small affair at Registry Office (both of us Divorced) followed by lovely Church Blessing, small gathering at home then a meal out for family & close friends at local Hotel, we stayed 2 nights, DM had our 4 year old DD - he walked out on us 15 months later, we were together 11 years in total

3rd Wedding - best of all. Registry Office with family & 4 close friends, back home to our lovely house, Buffet laid on in afternoon & plenty of seating in our large garden for about 60 of us - August, weather was perfect. Best Wedding & best Marriage - we were together nearly 23 years, Married for nearly 21 very happy years until he died after a short illness.

Think I'll remain single now - not that I rule out having a man in my life but no more Weddings - don't want to lose my very unusual surname

We married in 1970 and were both still students, so money was tight. We had a very small wedding which my parents paid for, but all our friends were very poor students, so we had a lot of egg cups as presents. We married in church, as my future MIL would have been horrified if we had done anything else. We had my OH's brother as best man - again at the insistence of MIL, but he and my OH had ever got on, so it was not his choice, which was a bit of a pity.

At that time there was not a lot of choosing the music in the way there is now and I (as a music buff) was appalled to here Moonlight and Roses on an electric organ ringing out as we signed the register - not what I would have chosen!

My dress was made by my Mum from a piece of cotton material that cost 30 shillings - I was very thin so not much needed! It was very plain with no train or any tatfilalls. My head gear was borrowed from a friend.

The reception was a quiet one in a seafront hotel and in my OH's speech he said "I didn't realise you got presents at weddings; I will have to do this again!" We are still married!

We married in 1958, he was 22 and I was 21.
It was very simple as weddings were then. A very typical 2:30pm ceremony followed by a ham salad and sherry trifle meal and a honeymoon in Newquay. We were so young and naive that I wonder now how we survived, but survive we did and clocked up 58 years in August.

We were living together, and one evening just decided that we'd get married.
The following morning, during my tea break I phoned the Registry Office, booked the date and time, and booked a week's leave from work.
The following evening, we both left work early and went to book a wedding car with the local Funeral Directors (I hate white wedding cars), and visited and booked the Hotel for the reception.
The next day I went into Chester and bought my dress, long, white, but very plain, I also bought my shoes.
A woman I worked with offered to do the flowers, my head dress and a topknot for the cake, which was made by a friend who was a professional cake decorator.
Everything was arranged within one week, my best friend was my Matron of Honour, DH's best friend was his Best Man.
We're both from very small families, so there were only 30 people to cater for, and it was a lovely relaxed day, the sun shone, it was all just lovely.
My uncle 'R' who attended, was a 'bigwig' in Government and had attended quite a few very posh 'society' weddings, but he always maintained that ours was the best wedding he'd ever been to, as it was all so 'easy going'!
That was nearly 32 years ago and we're still going strong so........

Missed out on the white wedding thing totally. I was pregnant the first time and my family were horrified, this was 67. We almost made 25 years and have two lovely daughters. The second wedding was just us and two friends in the registry office prior to moving to France. Have had a very happy 11 years so far.
I asked the question about loved and lost of my daughter who was widowed very young. She said even if she knew what would happen she would still have married and they had two fantastic children.

How lovely to hear about the love filled, modest happiness, when I fear now that weddings are spoilt by the costs and ostentatious preparations.

We got married in 1973. I was nearly 22, he was nearly 21. His parents were furious that we were getting married and his DM accused me of forcing him to get married, which wasn't true at all, as he was more keen than I was.
I made a white velvet hooded dress. The fabric and pattern cost £15 from John Lewis. I made my sister's dress too as she was bridesmaid, and we both carried muffs instead of flowers as it was December.
It was in the three day week and we could only have an hour of heating in the church as they were saving their heating allowance for the Carol Service the next day.
The reception was next door in the church hall and there were about 60 people in total. The buffet was rubbish, but don't tell my mother!
We are still together. I am amazed that we made such a massive decision at that age, and I can see why my in-laws were worried.

Organised our wedding in late 1969, 48 guests for the church wedding and reception and total cost of reception bill £52.There was no worry or stress for anybody, it was easily organised and there were no wedding favours (a US thing that all worry about now) on the tables.After cake cutting and a couple of short speeches, the guests all chatted while we escaped off on honeymoon (Scotland).Bought my wedding dress in JL on Oxford Street, but as I was a tiny size ( not now!) I got a bargain.

We wanted a very quiet wedding; me, him and two witnesses. Quite typically that went out of the window. We were living and working in London at the time; my family were in Yorkshire and his family were in Wales so we chose to get married at Marylebone Registry Office. DH's sister lived in Battersea at the time so his parents, two younger brothers and heavily pregnant sister stayed with her. My parents chose to come down on the day. It all started to go wrong when DH went to the station to pick up my parents and they weren't there. Unbeknown to him, they had decided to catch The Master Cutler - dad's favourite train - which was much earlier, and then, because they had some time in hand and mother had never been to London before, he dragged her off to watch the changing of the guard (I swear to you every word of this is true!). DH had to abandon the station and came in a hired car to pick me up from his best man's house, only to find that he had come down with the flu and was in no fit state to carry out his duties, so DH's brother in law had to stand in. We got to the registry office - still no sign of my parents. Then came the "hope you remembered the ring, Henry! Ha ha ha!" Yes you guessed it. The only lady able to remove her ring was my mother in law to be, so I had to get married with her ring while mine languished in a kitchen cupboard! Just as we had finished signing the register, who should turn up but my mum and dad. She was furious, he was chastened, and yes, the changing of the guard was wonderful!! To add insult to injury, I started my period during the reception which was held at our friend's house, and a good time was had by all. Hand on a stack of bibles - you couldn't make it up. Despite that inauspicious beginning, we have been married fifty years.

We met when DH was just about to go to university and I had just done my O Levels. We were married some years later when I had finished uni, but DH still had a couple of years to go.
We married in a London registry office and had the reception at my mother's home. My MIL had an account at Harrod's food hall, so that's where we got the wedding cake from! When they delivered it, in the green and gold van, a man came into the house to construct the tiers! I was very impressed.
My father attended, although he and my mother had not met since they divorced 14 years earlier. Fortunately, my prayers were answered and their was no animosity.

We have been married 42 happy years.

We were married in 1967 at a horrible, ugly redbrick church in an ugly street. I had been baptised and attended the beautiful Arts and crafts cathedral of the north but the vicar would not marry us as we lived outside of the parish.
The weather was horrible, poured down and the black and white photos were taken by an amateur whose work left a lot to be desired.
We will be celebrating fifty years next year. We were 21 and 22 and waited until we qualified in our respective careers also I did not want to give my mother the satisfaction of having to ask her to sign the consent form.
The wedding reception cost £72 and my father paid half and we paid the other half. My dress was white velvet and was made by my bridesmaid's mother but it had to be taken in a few days before the wedding when I lost quite a lot of weight in the run up to the big day, I went from 7.5 stone to 7 stone

I met my second husband on the internet, I was already in an unfulfilling marriage with 3 children. He was in Canada I was in England. I visited him in Canada and didn't come back to England for a year. By then I had divorced but we had absolutely NO money on returning to England. We lived with my brother until I found work. Our love was strong and we had a registry office wedding with a few guests. We wanted to commit to each other, (not put on an expensive wedding for the benefit of other people) we had both previously had extravagant weddings. At 43 we were "expecting" and now have a 12 year old son and have been very happily married for 14 years.

We married in July 1965 in one of the "Last of the Summer Wine" village churches. I was 21 and he was 22. My dress was made by a work colleague's Mum, and the two bridesmaids had their dresses made too. My sister and brother-in-law made our three-tier cake as a wedding present and my other sister did the flowers. I had gold roses and the men had a white rose buttonhole (being in Yorkshire).

We had a reception in a moorland pub - chicken salad and sherry trifle and by 3pm my brother was taking us to York station to catch a train to Edinburgh where we had a week's honeymoon. We came home with £5 between us to last the two weeks till payday!.

I can't say I enjoyed my wedding day. I was too tired from doing up our run-down 2-up 2-down old cottage and family disputes broke out between one of my sisters and Mum. I wish we had eloped!

First in side chapel at Westminster Cathedral with about 20 guests, followed by meal at hotel.Honeymoon in Corfu subsidised by Dateline who had introduced us. Knitted my wedding dress and cap. Second in local registry office with 12 guests, young daughters and cousin by marriage as bridesmaids. MIL made dresses for me and bridesmaids and cake and FIL handled flowers, photographer and wedding cars, together with return flight to stay in his flat just outside Amsterdam. Favourite restaurant did sumptious meal for us at cost as their contribution. Guess which was the happier occasion! But neither cost more than about £300 in total.

Met DH when i was 13 and he was 15 , it was christmas eve and the first time mum had let me go to a dance at Dreamland in Margate . It turned out he live next door to my married sister ( she had just moved into her first house ), he asked if he could see me again and as we were all going to sissy's for christmas day he called for me in the afternoon and I was allowed to sit on the back wall where mum could see me and talk to him !! Mum didnt really like him because at 16 he got a motor bike and wore a leather jacket .. so when I was 18 we eloped and with a special licence got married with just our best friends as witnesses , we then went to the pub for a drink , we eventually went home and confessed what we had done....we moved into a little flat that evening that a friends parents had over their shop.
That was nearly 46 years ago , both sets of parents eventually got over the shock and forgave us ... I wouldnt change a thing , he's my soulmate and I love him just as much today as I did at the start .

Thursday afternoon wedding for us as that's when my future in laws shut the shop. My DH to be was hopeful this would mean very few people at the church but of course everyone who could got the afternoon off and the place was packed. All very simple, white dress made of nylon and far to much veiling (I was very young). The reception was in a local hall and just tea and cakes, by 4.30 we were at the station on our way to a short honeymoon. Nearly 50 years now.

I am so glad I started this thread. These stories are so varied and interesting.

We married at a Registry Office in Tunbridge Wells followed by a big reception held at my parents home, so most of the guests were their choice!! It was a glorious snowy, sunny day and I was so happy. Our honeymoon was somewhat restricted due to Ted Heath's '3 day week' but we managed to acquire enough petrol to get my little Triumph Spitfire to Dunster in Somerset for a few days. It all seems so long ago. J died in 2012 and we would be celebrating our 43rd anniversary on 1st December. His birthday and a wedding anniversary in the same week is difficult to get through, but I have so many happy memories.

Married in December 1965 having met in April. Met only at weekends and not all of those, and I spent the whole of August in Greece. My very dear father stumped up for a simple reception in a local pub, after a white wedding in the church where we'd all (4 brothers and sisters) been christened and confirmed, and both sisters married, with the choir and bells etc. My dress cost 17 guineas from Keddies in Southend. One bridesmaid, the friend who had introduced us. We had a brief honeymoon in Wales, and left to live in California for 2+ years. Such a risky undertaking but we are still together after 51 years.

We were on holiday in Florida and decided to get married there. We'd been living together for 3years already by then. Went and bought the license then arranged the ceremony the next day. I had a new blouse and skirt. We couldn't find a wedding ring anywhere so did it with my own previous one temporarily. (Bought matching ones when we got home) no one was there except the Lady who officiated and another girl from her Office who kindly took video for us with our video recorder. (Battery ran out just at the end as I burst into tears!) the local Sheriff came and congratulated us (bristling with firearms!) To this day my DH claims we are not legally married as it took place in America! 25 years on and we are still as happy as we ever were.

My late husband and I got married in 1965 at Marylebone Town Hall, then we went back with our guests to our rather damp basement flat to eat snacks made by my mother and me the night before, and drink lots of champagne thanks to the wine-importing company my husband was temping for. My dress was from Wallis, and my hat was from a market stall.

The marriage was long and very happy, lasting until my husband died in 2014.

Lovely thread flossieturner !

Married first time in 1971 ....bought dress (19 guineas) from a shop newly opened at the end of my MIL's road in Romford Wedding in pretty church in Hornchurch (had to give friend's address as not in my Parish !) ...reception at the local scout hut (FIL was Scoutmaster !) ...paid for everything myself .10 pounds a week to MIL....MIL and SIL cooked roast beef and veg and made cake and dessert ...evening disco by fried, Wedding car driven by SILs brother who had a nice white BMW...lasted 18 years ..sadly husband was a compulsive gambler and I just managed to save the house being repossessed after he left and I paid off all his gambling debts .......then met an Accountant, and we arranged wedding after being together for 14 years ...then he got cold feet and disappeared to meet someone from America ....she left, and he contacted me again ...told him where to go !

Then met through Dateline mag my present husband who was living in Menorca ...met on the telephone ...decided to get married (impulsive !). Put my house on the market, signed the contract before I had even met him ....went out to Menorca, arranged all paperwork necessary and married in the town hall in Mercadal in December 2001 at 6.30 pm as is traditional there . suddenly realisedm on way to town hall I had no flowers ...stopped at little gift shop and bough a dozen fake ones (still got them ! bit dusty now !)...lovely life ! Still hanging on there now 15 years ago ...now living in France. Would both love to return to the island, but as he is now 83 and not in good health and with Brexit looming, for the moment we stay here ! We did our own catering and a friend made a wedding cake ! We looked on it more as a party than anything else ....he was lonely after his first wife died after 42 years of marriage, and I was fed up of working in the NHS and was learning Spanish with a view to retiring there on my own when I retired !!

someone said" I had a fairy tale wedding" So did I ! Grimm!!
Sorry, not what you want to hear- however, here we are 57 happy years later.

I had a serious car accident ten weeks before our wedding. I had facial injuries as I'd gone through the windscreen. I was also unable to walk. I was determined to make it down the aisle. I planned getting a pretty parasol to use as a cane. I also got my hairdresser to cut my hair in a fringe to hide the scars. In the end I didn't need the cane, I could walk slowly unaided. If you could see my wedding photos you'd never guess there was anything wrong with me, but the wedding was my incentive for getting better as soon as possible. We're still happily married!