Wedding extras

selement

I'm getting married this year too I don't think we're having many 'extras' because its too expensive. Things I'd love but can't afford: Magician to amuse between activities (such as between ceremony and meal, between meal and evening do starting), garden games (our wedding isnt a summer wedding so no point in us getting this, but a nice idea for the summer!), bouncy castle (again suits summer... kids and adults alike can have fun with this!)

These suggestions aren't very money saving though.

Ideas like string quartets are nice and everything, but from the guest perspective I think they'd most appreciate entertainment for the 'in between' parts.

I know everyone loves photobooths, me and OH controversially are not fans, but most people love them so this is probably a good idea. It's also the sort of thing that can usually be done on a budget fairly easily, or if you're lucky your photographer will throw it in for a good price.

If you can include something that is entertaining and makes it more personal than thats a great idea, for example a couple who are really into board games might bring a load of board games for guests to play with (might not be so much a party atmosphere though! But different and personal if thats what you were in to).

If you are more looking for little special touches.... Pinterest is your friend for inspiration although obviously everything has been done chocolate fountains, sparklers, sweet stall etc all tend to go down pretty well. Ice cream bar was a good idea, I saw an interesting looking camper van bar at a wedding fayre (although most venues won't agree to that!). If you can do late night snacks of bacon sandwiches or fish and chips or something that tends to be a hit too. Other special touches pinterest loves are toiletry baskets for the loos and flip flop baskets for the dance floor, small impact but they seem to be really popular (I'm not sure if I can be bothered to do this....) Fireworks? They are very expensive for such a short time though.

BlondeHeadOn

The one thing I have missed at every wedding I have ever been to, and always craved, was somewhere to get a cup of tea! The waiting around for all the photos to be taken and general faffing around to be done has always seemed endless to me, in one case there was a 5-hour gap between the wedding ceremony and the reception food being served. Alcoholic or soft drinks have been available but not any tea or coffee.

Then I went to a wedding last summer, and after the ceremony the guests were served tea, coffee and little cakes as well as bar drinks, so the long wait until the photos were over and before the wedding reception was a lot more pleasant. Everyone commented on how nice it was to have a cup of tea!

It sometimes the simple things....

Calluna

We have specifically booked a tea urn for our 'do'. Our ceremony is in two parts and for those not at the early part if they turn up early they can have a cuppa, and it's there for after when we are having our picnic. Also my OH isn't a drinker, so he demanded tea was available :-)

Andrew_Ryan_89

Wish I could afford extras. In fact, it is looking more and more likely I will have to take out a loan to complete the wedding. We were planning to have a popcorn machine, caricature artist, candy floss and fireworks.

swingaloo

A friend of ours had a video camera set up in front of a settee in a quiet area. It was left running right through the reception and anyone could go and sit there and leave a personal message forthe bride and groom.

It was quite funny watching because mid afternoon it was quite serious 'auntie and uncle' sitting there 'wishing you both all the happiness in the world' then around 10 pm it was quite the opposite!

Amongst the later ones were his best man pretending to cry as he has 'been left behind and has no one to go out with now', 2 little girls saying they were 'going to have a wedding just like this but much better' and one of his drunken mates saying 'Ive always fancied your missus mate'.

They got hours of fun out of it for very little expense.

missbiggles1

Why does anybody need "extras" at a wedding - isn't it enough just to get married with your family and close friends around you?

sweetilemon

I had a string quartet to walk down the Isle then for the gap before dinner. It gave the place a nice ambience. Although top tip...I forgot to direct them where to sit after the service when guests moved, so when one of them asked me ( hadn't met them so didn't click who it was) I thought she was a demanding guest and I was quite snappy to tell her I don't care where she sits...oops. then when I realised I asked my dad to apologise and ask them to move downstairs lol. Bit of a bridezila moment. I did love my quartet although have heard others that weren't as good so be picky. Some are extortionate though!

Grumpelstiltskin

Andrew_Ryan_89 wrote: »

Wish I could afford extras. In fact, it is looking more and more likely I will have to take out a loan to complete the wedding. We were planning to have a popcorn machine, caricature artist, candy floss and fireworks.

Why does everyone think they need all this c*** at a wedding.


Not one of the guests will remember all of this afterwards. Or if they do they must have a sad life.


It's all abut people falling for all the rubbish pumped out by wedding magazines and fairs, and BTW neither of these existed when I got married. It's all hype.

sweetilemon

Andrew_Ryan_89 wrote: »

Wish I could afford extras. In fact, it is looking more and more likely I will have to take out a loan to complete the wedding. We were planning to have a popcorn machine, caricature artist, candy floss and fireworks.

Have you booked these things? Could you cancel? Starting off marriage in debt is a bit of a come down. Popcorn is cheap, could you not get someone to do a homemade version? Everybody is usually drunk by fireworks anyway, they are nice but not worth debt. Could you suggest someone pays for the caricature artist as a wedding gift?

sweetilemon

codemonkey wrote: »

Chairs. The last couple of weddings I've been at have had a lot of waiting around in areas with little seating. Standing around in heels for hours is not fun, especially if like one of them, we were sent to wait in a stuffy hallway with nowhere for coats (winter wedding so everyone had big coats) and nowhere to get drinks for hours. That wedding I only remember in a negative way as it put everyone in a grumpy mood because we were tired, hot and thirsty - I didn't drink alcohol at this time and I would have killed for a glass of water. Plus the ceremony was looong, and went on for an hour after they were declared man and wife and the speeches were even longer, so I'm guessing their theme was boredom. So I guess what I'm trying to say, is keep the actual thing short and give people chairs and water in the betweeney bits.

I went to one in the summer that had a kind of vintagey fair theme, with cocktails served in tea cups and hot dogs, candy floss and popcorn. That was kind of fun.

That just sounds like an awful venue with a bad wedding coordinator Nightmare!