Among Friends

[Kachina624]

My husband and I were married in the chapel of an air force base where I was attending a 3 month school.  The only guests were some members of my class.  I wore a white linen sheath-style dress.  Afterwards our friends took us out to dinner at a nice restaurant.

It was obviously very low key, I really dislike elaborate ceremonies.

[Kachina624]

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@Desertdi wrote:

Got married in court on my lunch hour.   Wore a business suit.

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@Desertdi.  I had a co-worker who did that.  Came back from lunch a little late and announced she'd just gotten married.

[Icegoddess]

First Wedding:

Mother made my dress.

Held in the Church

Church members made the cake and punch

My uncle did the photography and gifted the pics as a wedding present,

No wine or alcohol

No dancing at either wedding.

Second Wedding:

We were engaged for 5 years, but the wedding planning was done in 3 months.  Basically, I told him the ring would expire in 5 years and he would then have to buy me another one. 

It wasn't planned that way, but our wedding was held on the anniversary of the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster, but it was  appropriate since we both worked on the Space Shuttle program

Bought my dress at a consignment shop.  it was a Gunne Sax as I remember it.

Held at a historic house owned by the local college and rented for purposes like that.  Red wine was not allowed.  The house no longer exists.  We did have white wine much to my mother's chagrin.

I hired a lady to make the cake.  It was a cake that was on the cover of a Bon Appetit magazine and I was very disappointed that she only copied the picture and didn't make the inside chocolate like the cake in the magazine was.  We didn't have a groom's cake.   

Only snacks were served, and I didn't get any.  Somebody dorpped off some leftovers at the house along with the top layer of the cake.  

I walked down the aisle to Music of the Night (Phantom of the Opera) played by our Church pianist.  She approved of the selection since she was also a Phantom lover.  I figured nobody else even realized what the music was, nor did I really care.

My Brother-in-Law married us.

I wrote the vows and Obey was not in them.  

I hired a photographer and he spent way too much time on the Groom & Best Man, so only a couple of photos of me and my Maid of Honor.  I did have some done of me in the studio ahead of the big day.

I did my own makeup and hair.

The morning after, my husband got on a plane to FL and I went on a shopping trip with my friend/Maid of Honor.

[Carmie]

I was born to older parents and I was the first child to marry in my family at the age of 19.

Coming from a extremely large Italian, Catholic family meant we had to have an extremely large wedding.

But, that is not what I wanted.  I just wanted a small gathering with immediate family members.  

I bought a nice white cotton gown and the matching dress in blue for my younger sister who was to be my maid of honor.

My parents had a fit and I was overrided.  My older sister took me dress shopping and I had to choose a wedding gown.  I didn't want one, so my sister finally chose one for me.

My parents rented a hall, hired a live band and sent stacks of wedding invitations out.

My wedding was held at 6 pm..so it was formal.  I got married in July.

My one and only job was to meet with the church music director and choose the music for mass.  I never did.

I got married during high mass in front of a packed church and walked down the aisle on the arm of my proud father with no music.  ( My parents weren't too happy about that.

My reception hall was filled with over 500 people. All of my and my husband's family, friends of my parents and his, state senators and who knows who else were there. 
It reminded me of the godfather movie.

 We had a ton of food that was brought out and refreshed the whole time...Italian, American and Slavic, an amazing open bar and a cookie table that was huge.

...and it was hot..almost 100 degrees. No AC back then.  

The reception was loud and everyone had a great time.  We did all the traditional Italian reception stuff.

The building was next to a baseball field, and as people walked after the Saturday night game my father invited them in to eat and drink.

When the reception was over and we left on our honeymoon, the party continued into the next day at my parent's house....I missed that part.

My MIL,who was a fantastic baker made all these Slavic pasteries and a large pan of walnut pita for us to take on honeymoon. It was nice, but what was she thinking?

The funny part is when I mention it to people who attended, no one remembers that I walked down the aisle in a quiet church to no music.

I just remember being hot in that dress and couldn't wait to take it off.  I would have prefered my while cotton eyelet dress that I chose myself.

It will be 52 years this coming July.

[Tori3569]

I got married in 2003 at a rustic hotel / restaurant in Orange County NY.  The theme was chocolate and we got married during the holiday season so I also used certain music from the Nutcracker for our ceremony.  The whole theme evolved from the invitations I fell in love with.  They were called Truffle which led to the theme. 

We paid for our weddings ourselves and I was my own wedding planner which started me off on party planning as a hobby I thoroughly enjoy even though I don't do it as a side job or charge anyone.

 I've planned showers for my nieces, various friends / family milestone birthdays and am known as the only person in my region at work who can plan the decor, food and activities for our regional meetings.  

Fun fact, I had my makeup done by a makeup artist from Laura Geller's store in the city.  I went there to learn how to do it myself, but realized a week before it would be a disaster, so I called and was able to hire the same person I had for the trial.  

My dress was made by an older Italian dressmaker who did exactly what I wanted but couldn't find.  It was a long, full slightly off white velvet skirt with a shantung silk top.  My bridal party had the same skirt in brown velvet with a champagne color similar top.

We had about 110 guests and I absolutely loved my wedding.  

[qvcfreak]

We got married in 1991, big Catholic Church wedding . Our families were huge back then and everyone was invited. We decided on no dinner and opted for finger food and a live band instead, Bo Garza and Youngblood. Back then Country music was huge and we went dancing every weekend.  We had like 500 people and it was amazing. My dress was made for about $350 and wedding cost $10,000 and DH and I paid for it ourselves. My aunt offered to pay for the cakes. 

[kaydee50]

Married in September 1979.  Recall our total cost for the entire wedding for 100 people was about $4,200 including my $300 dress and a 3 piece band (no DJ!).  My parents gave us $2,500 and we paid for the rest, which we made up from gifts from our guests.  Had a beautiful day, weatherwise and otherwise. 

The place we had our reception which had been in business for decades was torn down and replaced by an Arby's some years ago.  

[Bookplate]

Interesting how many of us older women were not interested in the big wedding, or in my case, any wedding at all; just a marriage.

Also interesting is the tension between what the bride wants and what the family, usually the mother, wants.

Really big, expensive weddings started to take off in the 1980's and I never understood it and still don't.

[DSD2]

We got engaged two weeks after we met and married three months later. A JP married us, outside at a lighthouse.

We had 17 people at our luncheon reception which cost a few hundred dollars.  My two piece mauve chiffon skirt and top was $59.

This year will be our 41st....

[Desertdi]

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@haddon9 wrote:

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@Desertdi wrote:

Got married in court on my lunch hour.   Wore a business suit.

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@Desertdi Are you saying that you went back to work after getting married on your lunch break?!!!

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@haddon9 

No.    It was a Friday, and my boss was out of town...   So, we went over to Marina del Rey for lunch...   di