Themed weddings

I couldn’t wear those shoes! but the wedding sounds lovely grannyactivist glad you had a good time.

Here's a clue to what I mean by 'outrageous shoes'.

Pleased to hear it all went well, grannya.

Well we've just got home and it was a truly lovely wedding. The bride is very comfortable in her own skin and knows what she likes and what suits her, I'd had a little bet with myself that she would wear either ruby red or emerald green, but I was only partially right. The bride wore a black off the shoulder dress, with a very long, black lace train, a very tall feathered headpiece/hat (think Mata Hari) of emerald green and the most outrageous shoes I have ever seen. It was such fun.

What's wrong with you guys, go to the thrift shops & dress for fun thats all they're asking, as for champagne heaps of it is cheap as chips

I once made all the wedding stationery for a Disney themed wedding. They sent me photos of the day, everyone was in Disney costume, the bride & groom being Minnie & Mickey Mouse. It looked like a lot of fun!

I can beat all these horror stories. My husband's granddaughter got married on 31st October, so it was Halloween themed. The groom was a punk and wore black leather with chains everywhere, and knee length boots with chains. He had piercings and tattoos everywhere, with huge wooden discs in holes in his earlobes like primitive natives. God knows what was under his clothes. He had his Mohican hairdo dyed red for the occasion. The bride wore a white dress, but had black spiders all down the back of it. She lifted the hem in the photos to reveal black punk boots.
The wedding was in a smart hotel. The wedding room was decorated with cobwebs and spiders everywhere, as were the tables, which had tablecloths with fake blood smeared over them. Even the boxes of sweets on the tables were shaped like coffins.
All the guests were dressed in Halloween costumes, witches, mad monks, monsters, bandages with blood on etc. There were just 2 guests who dressed normally. Me and my husband, as I flatly refused to wear fancy dress.
I don't know what it cost her father to keep a smile on his face all day, poor man.
They spent thousands on this wedding. The marriage lasted 4 months.

For my son's first marriage we were told evening dress and tux. We explained we couldn't afford to hire a tux because the wedding was 800 kms away and the costs of travel and accommodation were causing us grief. We were told 'no tux, no invite' so we had to do it. We also said we would pay for the drinks at the reception as we were the groom's parents. When we went after the reception to pay we found her family had put cases and cases of alcohol on our bill for them at home! It cost us $950 for alcohol for 20 guests. The wife turned out to be the unfaithful wife from hell (we thought she would), and the marriage lasted 14 months. Our son was emotionally damaged for years but at least they had no children!

My daughters wedding is six weeks today-yes a Friday.
No theme just "Come as your comfortable!" But no pyjamas please!

Oh phoenix I DO wish you'd done it !!

Weddings have gone mad !?!

What’s wrong with a ‘straightforward’ wedding? The important part is the committing to each other, not making it some sort of theatrical extravaganza.

Today I visited every charity shop in town and then went into the city and did the same (I have a free bus pass or it wouldn't have been worth the fare). I was after a man's waistcoat and a cravat, but sadly there was not a cravat in sight and one waistcoat was far too big and the other far too small. I can't afford £30 for a new cravat so bought a bow tie and matching hankie in in the same colour as my dress - cost £12.

I am wearing a fascinator £2, summer gloves £2.50, jacket £5 - all from charity shops. The dress, fishnet tights (can't be doing with stockings) and net skirt I bought new, but reasonably cheaply.

I bought a Jenny Packham evening dress in a charity shop for £8, I checked online and it would have cost £500, just shows you can still get a bargain. It would have been perfectly fine for any posh do, just saying you don’t have to spend a fortune. I make most of my “occasion wear”, so would never turn down an invite on grounds of “haven’t got the outfit” ( May turn down for other reasons though)

I have never turned up my nose at second hand clothing! Some my best loved garments are second or third hand!

However we did decline the invitation mentioned earlier, as I would like to be invited for my company, not how I might look in the photos.

BTW, at my first wedding, one much loved friend initially declined, because he felt he didn't have the right clothes. I insisted that he came, and in the photos, there he is in his jeans and denim jacket, we were proud to include him in the group photos, he was our friend, and much loved.

Sadly dead now, bless him.

My clothes are mostly vintage any way!

I thought a wedding was about two people declaring, in front of others, their love for each other and intention to be faithful to each other for their life together - not an excuse to run up an enormous bill for them and their friends and family.............clearly I am out of date!

I am sorry that some of you decide you can't go to a wedding because you can't afford a long dress etc. I belong to a group where occasionally we are asked to wear evening dress and I have bought several at local charity shops for under £10. The same applies to men. In my local charity shops you can buy a man's evening suit for £10. Don't turn your nose up at second hand clothing.

I don't know it the same applies in the UK, but here it is considered to be quite wrong for men to wear dinner jackets in church. They should on all formal occasions either wear a suit or a frock coat or full evening dress in church and may change into a dinner jacket before appearing at the reception.

Women may similarly wear long or short evening dresses or what used to be called an afternoon frock, but never cocktail dresses in church.

We were invited to a cousin's daughter's "Redneck Wedding" in central Florida last November and loved it! Lots of cheesecloth, checked shirts, cowboy boots and bourbon. Best of all was the square dancing, men and women all joining in. Oh and the happy couple were blessed with a beautiful sunset.

How about a 'wedding' themed wedding? I am sick and tired of people getting married as an excuse for n elaborate party. The rule of thumb seems to be the more expensive and outrageous the wedding, the sooner the divorce. Why not just get married and stop the control-freakery?!

I would enjoy the 'bad taste' theme, and just go in my usual clothes!
I hate dressing up for anything. Having to fit a special theme would be just too much.
Tonight, with members of my choir, I am going to a 'Singalong-a-Mamma Mia' film showing. We will have great fun, belting out the songs. Some of my choir friends are dressing up in character, and really looking forward to it. I can't be a** with anything like that, and will be in my usual nondescript!

I would hate it. That said I have declined invitations to fancy dress parties in the past. Perhaps that makes me a spoilsport but I just wouldn’t feel comfortable. Sorry.
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IMO the bride and groom should wear whatever they want, it's their day but to inform guests that they have to conform to a dress code is rude, unrealistic and insensitive. However if guests want to join in with the theme and it is made clear it's not expected but a personal choice then ok. To add a purely personal note, I do find themed weddings ever so slightly tacky, but that's just me. Runs for cover!

Good friends of ours told us of a themed wedding they attended in the 70s where the theme was "Old Hollywood"
They decided to go as two of the Marx brothers, he as Groucho and she as Harpo, complete with blonde curls.
She was an extremely chatty gregarious lovely person but to stay in character she went through the whole day just miming with gestures, whistles etc and succeeded in not saying a word.
Very, very sadly she is no longer with us but remembered very fondly by all her friends.