Additional meals/parties

ncv2

So I'm American and maybe I can help explain...
An engagement party should be thrown FOR you not by you. We did not have one, no problem.
A wedding shower is also thrown for you, my bridesmaids will throw one for me. This is to shower the bride/ couple with gifts to set up their home it's traditionally just women attend.

The rehearsal dinner is held after the rehearsal and is just for those in the wedding party, readers, as well as their dates, also most people include out of town guests. This can be very casual to formal it depends on what the couple wants. It's to thank the bridal party, readers for being in/ helping out with the wedding.
Our wedding is in the US and my OH is English so all of his guests will be invited to the rehearsal dinner. Ours will be very casual a kind of meet and great with a Philadelphia foods theme, as that is where I am from.

The morning after brunch is very common in the area I am from as well. It seems it might be a bit regional even in the US though, at least that is what I am picking up form theknot.com. Usually that is just very close family and the bridal party. We are having all of OH's guests because I think if they can fly in from England for my wedding I can feed them eggs and bagels the next morning. So my morning after brunch will be a bit larger then most.

I am also not having a videographer, I am spending more on a photog instead. It's just a guideline.
Being on this site and you and your wedding I have noticed there are quite a few differences in the countries as well. I actually stopped posting on You and your wedding because of many of these and I skim here.

Also things are WAY more expensive here, WAY. Even if the exchange rate was 1:1 we would still save a ton of money having our wedding in the US. There is no way we could get any where near what we are getting in Philadelphia here. And Philadelphia is on the expensive side in the US. Mind you we do live in London.

I look at the cost of Alfred gowns that you ladies are buying and I want to cry a little bit or throw up. The price difference is out of this world.

I hope that helps. :-)

Horace

ncv - a wedding shower is the equivalent of our hen night - not all brides have them either (I didnt have one when I got married..although I was dressed up at work in a silly outfit and I avoided the warehouse like the plague because I knew that I would get chucked in the water butt:eek:).

Lexxi

I think those websites include everything, just in case, one of the sites let's you delete, amend and add so you can taloir the checklist to suit you and your wedding. I have shoes, centrepieces and invites, work has gotten in the way of me confirming the church so far

Can I just say entertainment agencies aren't the best way to book DJ's, when you phone them they are just sales people, with most there will be little haggling and you'll think you're getting a phone number when it's actually a price, this is from experience. As with everything whatever price you're given take a chunk off and say that was what you had budgeted, or ask if it's negoitable.