Weddings not like they used to be?

Day6 that wedding sounded really good fun!

Well, you can have doves released, and so on.
There are also custom made coffins too.
I saw one in the shape of a Mr Kiplings cake box.

My first wedding in 1970 was fairly traditional but didn't cost much because of lack of money. My wedding 9 years ago to my lovely 2nd DH was low-key but in a pretty room in our local register office, and the numbers were restricted to 40 by the reception venue which was quite small, an old olde-worlde local pub where we had champagne in the garden followed by an afternoon-tea style meal. Got our wedding cake from Waitrose (a big square chocolate sponge thingy) which was served with strawberries and cups of tea, everything over by 5 pm. Our first dinner at home together as a married couple was boiled eggs and soldiers ....

My DSs wedding was quite wonderful. The bride was finally ready in the very nick of time, one of the bridesmaids refused to wear her pretty shoes and walked down the aisle in her trainers, the buttonholes had been ordered but not collected. After the ceremony the groom's brother played his guitar and we all sat on the floor and sang. A very happy occasion and probably cost less than £500 all told!

The one thing hardly anyone's mentioned is the ceremony itself. I'm a humanist celebrant and I get quite upset when people are prepared to spend money on almost any aspect of the wedding apart from the ceremony itself! however, the advantage of using a humanist celebrant is that you can do it ANYWHERE, and save all that money that's charged by flashy registered venues. I've done weddings on beaches, in gardens, and even at a music festival. Be inventive, be personal, tailor it for YOU is the advice I'd give my daughter

our local minister has done weddings on boats and in a seaplane , on mountain tops and by hospital beds gardens and beaches are an everyday thing in this part of the world .Not so long ago he was so popular he used to have 5 weddings on a Saturday some in his church,others in local hotels and castles .Of course i think the law is different in England ,here a minister can perform ceremonies anywhere

I married DH 36 years ago. We had a double wedding with my now sister and brother in law. None of us had much money so spent very little on the wedding, by today's standards. We had a Catholic ceremony and hired the church hall. My grandmother made the cakes, a friend of my brother took the photos, friends of the family did the catering and a friend of DH was the DJ. I never felt stressed, our day was relaxed and everyone had a great time.

Yes, paddyann, sadly the law is different in England CofE & Catholics can only do it on their own premises, Reform and Liberal Jews can do it anywhere, as can Quakers but they chose just do it in their Meeting Houses. Moslem, Hindu and Humanist ceremonies don't have legal status - people who I marry generally do the quickest and cheapest register office ceremony that they can, and then I do the "real" wedding, in front of their family and friends in a place which is meaningful to them. There is an ongoing campaign to try and get Humanist weddings legal status, like they have in Scotland, Jersey and the Republic of Ireland.