Big Weddings, are they still around?????

[Lincsong]

Well, Jack's thread about funerals got me thinking. Do people still have big weddings with the 6 bridesmaids and ushers, the flower girls, ringboy and 200-300 guests?????? When was the last time anyone here went to a big wedding?

It seems like the Golden Era was full of big weddings.

 

[Viola]

Well, Jack's thread about funerals got me thinking. Do people still have big weddings with the 6 bridesmaids and ushers, the flower girls, ringboy and 200-300 guests?????? When was the last time anyone here went to a big wedding?

Last year when my cousin got married. It was nice. The ring-bearer was tiny, he could barely make the trek all the way down the aisle.

-Viola

 

[LizzieMaine]

Well, I'm going to one next month -- one of the gals I work with at the theatre is marrying a nice young fellow from Wisconsin and her parents are throwing a big outdoor wedding for her at their place, with about 250 people, a big tent on the lawn, and the whole deal. She says it's the only wedding she's ever going to have so she wants to do it up good -- she's a sweet kid, one of the most sincere people I know, and I really hope it all goes well for her.

The last big wedding I went to was back in the mid-90s. This guy I know from the local theatre group, the scion of a large Italian family in the construction business, had a gigantic wedding on the grounds of the swankiest local resort, complete with waiters in little white jackets, an army of bridesmaids and groomsmen and a cake that probably cost more than my car.

I also went to a genuine hippie wedding around that same time -- a couple I know who lived in a teepee in the woods bought a piece of land to start a farm, got married in the pasture before about a hundred people, and roasted a goat as the main course of the wedding dinner. Afterwards everyone was welcome to stay the night by pitching tents on the land -- it was the first time I'd camped out since Girl Scouts, and given that it was a pasture, I was very careful in choosing a spot to stake out my tent....

My own wedding cost $5, in the office of an elderly justice of the peace. If he were still alive, I'd ask for a refund.

 

[Lincsong]

My own wedding cost $5, in the office of an elderly justice of the peace. If he were still alive, I'd ask for a refund.

Sounds, like the episode when Lucy and Ricky went to Jamestown.lol

 

[HadleyH]

Let me tell you about this one...on the Riviera

The wedding last week of James Packer, Australia's richest man,...it was a $6 million black tie affair ... three days of celebrations...A-list guests all staying in the two hotels that were booked exclusively for the week (the Hotel Du Cap Eden Rock and The Gran Hotel Du Cap Ferrat)...the bride wearing a $100.000 Christian Dior gown...with the Packer's luxury yatch taking part in the wedding celebrations...and with.... better leave it there...this thing is getting boring


I wasn't invited.

 

[Nashoba]

My own wedding. 5 years ago this past march.
We had 20 in the bridal party
6 bridesmaids, 6 groomsmen, 6 Marines, a flower girl and a ring bearer. We had 150 guests (in addition to the bridal party and we had huge fight over that, the original guest list was well over 250. I lost the fight and the guest list was shortened). We got married at the base chapel and the reception was at a local hotel but it was a black tie optional affair. To this day my husband says we should have taken the $10,000 cash my father offered us to elope. I on the otherhand have no regrets.

 

[GoldLeaf]

Big weddings are common. I hear about them all the time, and as a matter of fact, I almost think they are more common than not.

I had 30 guests at mine, and loved it

 

[Amy Jeanne]

I'm the only one out of all my Friends who had a small wedding. The others went way out. That's not my style. Total guests: 5 people, 3 dogs. Total cost: $95. I think a few of my friends are actually a bit envious that my husband and I did it OUR way and didn't give in to what other family members wanted.

 

[Edward]

I hear of a few over this way. Of the folks i knew growing up, there was noe that had about 200 folks at hers (and 100 more for the evening do), though by my reckoning they're not quite as common as they used to be, what with more people choosing to live together first and then opting for a quieter wedding later on, or not getting officially married at all. I guess what has really made it very much an exception rather than the rule is the fast-rising cost. I nearly got married once myself - it didn't work out (fortunately before there was a deposit down on anything!), but from what I remember working to a tight budget and 70 guests for dinner plus 30 more in the evening, with live band (of course!) it was all going to push close to 6 or seven grand sterling (that's about 12 -14,000 US). doesn't seem likely I'm going to do it now, but if ever it did happen while i'd love the full production number, I'd have to be ruled by the budget..... there's only so far the "only time I'll ever do this, so do it right" approach can go before I think I'd have to decide the cost was getting out of hand...

Actually, I've only been to two weddings... one was at Uni, a real small scale affair with the reception a self-catered buffet in the Church hall after - beautiful, really intimate, a lot of fun - the other little brother's (I was best man), which was the full reception, but kept to a sensible budget - a full on day, no sense anything was skimped on, I guess shows what you can do with being careful with the budget. Reasonably sizeable wedding party - the parents, bride & groom, best man, two ushers, two bridesmaids, two flower girls. Great day. I'm off to a couple of weddings in the Autumn - one of those is gonig to be a huge wedding party, though neither of them are planning evening dos post dinner - just not their bag (one couple, the groom's expressed view was "I'm damned if I'm going to dance in front of anyone!"), and (I think sensibly) they decided not to bother with it just for the sake of "the done thing" if they didn't really want to. I love weddings, I just wish I could go to more...!

LizzieMaine, that hippy wedding sounds interesting - mind, they can't have been that hardcore or surely they'd not have allowed meat?? Or am I just dealing in a stereotype...

 

[LizzieMaine]

LizzieMaine, that hippy wedding sounds interesting - mind, they can't have been that hardcore or surely they'd not have allowed meat?? Or am I just dealing in a stereotype...

Up here in Maine, the hippies are carnivorous. You gotta watch it when you go walking in the woods -- sometimes they attack without provocation!!

 

[Paisley]

A coworker's daughter had a large wedding. Even so, it was so small compared to most Greek weddings that some of the family considered it practically an elopement. (Anyone remember My Big Fat Greek Wedding? My coworker's mother thought it was a documentary.)

 

[Fletch]

The small intimate wedding is mostly a white-bread, white-collar thing these days. People with strong ethnic identities or workingclass roots - or the new-money crowd - tend to throw bigger weddings, with more food, dancing and entertainment, as a gift to their extended family and friends.

 

[Zig2k143]

I'm from a big Italian family in NYC and they do them all the time....

Granted they go for about 80,000k up these days.. I don't know why people just don't but a nice down payment on a house.

 

[Fletch]

Because they have a lot of relatives and friends who would feel put out, I guess. A big ole house party just wouldn't be the same - no room for dancing, no band to take every request under the sun, not as appropriate to get $#!!faced.

 

[Paisley]

Granted they go for about 80,000k up these days.. I don't know why people just don't but a nice down payment on a house.

Some of these folks will still be paying on the wedding after the divorce.

At least you can sell the house.

 

[Miss_Bella_Hell]

I've never been to a small, intimate wedding. However, I have three weddings to go to this summer, so we shall see what type those are.

I went to a wedding in France that was pretty cool - about 200 guests. First the bride and groom went before the justice of the peace and got legally married. Then the whole wedding party walked about a half mile on cobblestoned streets (I was wearing Manolo Blahnik stilettos darn it) to the local cathedral, where an entirely unrehearsed wedding went on. Then we all took cars to a rented chateau where there was champagne and hors d'oeuvres on the grounds. Then, about half the guests (those who weren't invited to the 7 course meal) left, and the rest of us moved inside to eat for about three hours, then dance and drink until dawn.

Oof! It was quite something. I was still eating meat at the time and had a steak so raw that I couldn't digest it. Gross. (And I liked a rare steak!)

 

[Paisley]

The couple getting married at the justice of the peace and then having a wedding reminds me another phenomenon: married couples having weddings. In the case of the couple in France, though, there must have been some legal reason since the ceremonies were so close together.

 

[Miss_Bella_Hell]

The couple getting married at the justice of the peace and then having a wedding reminds me another phenomenon: married couples having weddings. In the case of the couple in France, though, there must have been some legal reason since the ceremonies were so close together.

I don't really know. But guess what - they divorced within a year!

 

[RedPop4]

I play for large weddings all the time. Last one I did, there were at least 300 people in the Church.

 

[Edward]

Up here in Maine, the hippies are carnivorous. You gotta watch it when you go walking in the woods -- sometimes they attack without provocation!!

lol lol lol