What kind of wedding ceremony did you have? Traditional, Outdoor, etc...?

Question

Did you elope?
As for me, my Dad passed away before my wedding. He had been the Minister who married my brother and he married my sister and her husband as well. Obviously, they had church weddings.

I chose not to have a church wedding and I invited only ten people. I simply did not want anything similar to my siblings as it would have surely, made me sad and wishing it were my Dad officiating my wedding! It was suppose to be a joyful day and so, I eliminated everything traditional!

Simple wedding, at my uncle's home who officiated my wedding....He was my Dad's favorite brother!

Hey, I married 35 years ago. So, no need to offer condolences on my Dad. I am at peace with his passing and I KNOW he is at peace too!

I only spoke of this incident because I had already purchased the traditional white flowing gown and all accessories. I gave them to a friend and I wore a very simple white and pink floor length dress.

Answer 1

My mother pretty much planned my first wedding. She chose the church, she gave me a budget on the dress. At her 1946 wedding she paid $25 for a beautiful gown and train from the Broadway. My dress in 1970, cost $200. It was formal with a train. She invited all her friends near and far. And it was her that decided on having nuts and punch at the reception. It was a rainy Friday night. I felt sorry for the people that came just for a ceremony.

My second (and present) wedding was planned at a beautiful outdoor place just outside of Sequoia National Park. I made the invitations, ordered dried flowers, found an amatuer photographer that my cousins paid for, bought a wash and wear cream 2-piece lace gown. I made my own veil. I had two bridemaids. My son gave me away. Mom just got to be the mother of the bride (period). Dad had passed away two years before.

But the best wedding of all took place one month to the day before the outdoor wedding. The minister came over for dinner that night and we were talking about how nervous my husband to be was and how I wasn't working and had no insurance, etc. So he asked us if we wanted him to marry us right then and the in the kitchen/dining room area. I went next door to get a witness. He had just come home from asphalt paving and was black from the top of his socks up! My husband was wearing a turquoise tank top and shorts. I was wearing a white lace tank and a tie-dyed skirt. I threw the bestman our camera to take a couple of pictures then we popped open a bottle of wine and passed it around the room to celebrate!

Answer 2

I was married 55 years ago.
It wasa traditional ceremony at the In Law's placeamong reltives and friends from both the sides crowding,the brahmins chattering mantras Then when the 'muhurt'arrived we stood on the opposie sides of a screen stretched between us held on both sides by the chanting brahmins. They sang the auspicious mantrs which invited all the planets,all the rivers and gods to witness and bless the occasion.Then the screen was removed and we garlanded each other. Then we sat down from some fireworshipping at the end of which we together went round the firse seventimes which was the last ceremonies of the wedding and we wee declarled kman and wife. What folloed afte than was more sociaal festivaaalcommon to all ceremonies --going round the town myself on horseback and missus in a planquin symbolically to my house then dinners and e change of gifts .It was such a tirin ceremony that the missus was dozing off ev ery now and then during the ceremony and the moment we came to our house she felft so fast asleep that I soliciously allowed her to.And the moment my back touched the bed I passed out.

It was physically tiring but psychologically very enervating ceremony.

From the answers I note that many of the circumstances were repetetive. We normally believe in staying together throughout life evev if we may not get on well. The thought of divorce is far from out thought.The marriage vow of 'Till death do us part'is devoutly observed throughout life.

Answer 3

I'm 48, not a senior, but this looks like a fun question!
I had a traditional Italian wedding....a big to-do in the church with a limousine for the bride and her maids and a bunch of ushers in tuxedoes; an Italian band, singing in Italian, with a Venetian table full of Italian desserts at the reception hall; big dinner there.
Spent our wedding night in our apartment; left the next day for a honeymoon in the Poconos.
Am divorced now about 10 years.

Answer 4

I like how you handled your wedding. My first was relatively non-traditional but still held in a church. We wrote the ceremony ourselves.

My second marriage was going to be a full-on elopement, but my mom told my aunt -- who is a chatterbox -- about the elopement and she said she wanted to be there (my mom was invited, but I wasn't going to invite anyone else other than my siblings.) So I had to invite my local relatives. But it was exactly what we planned it to be: music on a CD, our pastor and a small group of family. So no "bells and whistles" but a much more intimate ceremony. We held it at my grandmother's nursing home. That's why I wanted to have it very small. Only one local uncle and his family came. The others were out of town. So, really only four or five extra people came. We gave them disposable cameras :-) -- I figured as long as they were there, they might as well be useful. It was a good night.

Answer 5

My first wedding was a traditional wedding & the reception was in the church basement. Friends & family later gathered at my parent's home for more food & some adult beverages. When my fiance & I get married, we are thinking of holding our wedding ceremony in our backyard, on the deck, with family, friends, & neighbors in attendance. That way, every time we look out our window, we'll see ourselves standing before the minister with everyone gathered around us.

Answer 6

my wife and I eloped. We started planning a nice wedding at a Scottish church with a sit-down dinner for a reception. THEN the parents stepped in. Her parents and mine are divorced and our mothers have re-married. Our fathers and step-fathers hate each other and have no qualms with getting into it at any time. My mom had a list of her friends 30 people long and her mother did about the same. Then came the "if she's there then I won't be" and if you cut back here, you can invite more of my friends. When all was said and done, we had a 400 person guest list and My wife and I were friends with only 10 people. Then my father insisted on inviting my invalid, drunken uncle who stole about 10,000 from me a year earlier.

I popped my top and told my "now" wife to get in the car, i called my best friends and hers and we met in a parking lot in San Dimas, CA and got married in front of the Red Robbin and held our little reception at the bar, our maid of honer was still on duty and had to use her lunch break to attend.

We've been married for 15 years and never regretted the decision.

our mothers were PISSED, so we told them they could throw a party for us, well, now it was their money and everything changed.

Answer 7

Both traditional and why not? I love traditional wedding, if one can afford it. And even if you can't, you can still have a small traditional wedding, with a few people. But is there is ever another, which is highly unlikely, it will be barefoot on the sand on some lovely beach.

Answer 8

I was married in front of Justice of the Peace in Elkton Maryland. We went there because you could get married without having blood tests first. It was a cold windy day and the only thing we did afterward was have dinner with his parents. It's really no wonder it ended in divorce. I'd really like to see more emphasis on the marriage and less on how fancy the wedding is.

Answer 9

I had a traditional Protestant Christian wedding. It was simple and sweet. But, if I had to do it over again, I would elope and get married on a tropical island in the Caribbean. It's much cheaper and a lot less stress. Good luck. 2D

Answer 10

The first time, it was a traditional white-dress/tuxedo wedding in a church. Years later and years older, the second time was in front of a judge with one relative and one unknown secretary as witnesses.