Hand Made Wedding

[sleepyowl]

I'll be looking to get married this year depending on my dad's condition it could be sooner than later, does anyone have any experience of doing most of the trimmings of a wedding themselves, are there any hints & tips you can give. We are looking at going seasonal, my mum has agreed to do the wedding cake & our 'flower arrangements will probably going to be in jars.

[ojay54]

Hello Sleepyowl! I did see this prog on BBC about wedding macaroons....looked makeable and really neat.Checkout the BBC food site. And Congrats!!

[Zech]

Congratulations!

It really depends what kind of event you want. Our wedding was a handfasting, held outdoors (guests sat on straw bales), followed by a barn dance. Apart from quite a lot of ribbons, we had very little by way of trimmings, though we did go to town on the outfits (and the long woollen cloaks are still very useful). What sort of venue will you have? What style of event would you like? Are there any things that are particularly important to you to include?

There's a huge industry dedicated to telling you all the things you need to have to make your wedding day 'perfect', but it's entirely up to you whether you do or not, as I'm sure you're aware. If you start by thinking about what you'd really like, then it's easier to figure out how to achieve it. I have to admit, it took us quite a long time to decide what we wanted, as my main requirements were "different from my first wedding" (traditional church and village hall) and, "different from my sister's wedding" (civil wedding in a hotel, done as nicely as it could possibly be done - if we'd gone for the same style it could only have been second best). This didn't give us much in the way of positive ideas. Even so, that's my tip: Start by thinking about what you really want from the day, apart from to end up married, obviously!

[tosca]

Being a more mature couple we went for a registry office wedding nd a meal in a local restaurant (30 of us). We made all the invitations, silk bouquets, buttonholes (from the garden) and cake ourselves. Not because we had to but to make it more personal. And it was very special.

At night we just went round to the pub. If we had done an evening do it would have been for people we don't really know so we didn't bother. We were given a night in the bridal suite in a local hotel by a friend.

[sleepyowl]

So we will be looking at Dudley Registry office for the civil ceremony, which is a beautiful old building, but looking at the Clent Hills for the handfasting part. Being gay means we don't have to worry about dresses, make up etc. It was more the evening do, if our house was bigger we would have a house party but it sn't & it would have to be an early spring wedding at the latest as the prognosis for my dad's brain tumour is not good.

[tosca]

Aww sorry about your Dad.

For your evening do....do you have any fruit/veg/flower markets about where you might get a deal on mass spring flowers? That way you could go over the top with flowers and dress up a village hall. If you really want hand made, how about having a basic buffet and asking people to bring a plate of something they like to make to add to it? The crowd in our village do that when there is a celebration. It depends how far you want to go really, but that way you would have plenty of grub, a talking point and could concentrate on music.

Or you could go to a pub and let them deal with it. It depends on what is available in your area and what you can afford, and what your nature is too.

Whatever you do, I hope it goes well and your Dad will be proud.

[becks77]

Aww Sleepyowl congratulations to you both.

Also sorry to hear about your Dad

A friend of mine did handmade wedding it was beautiful, everyone made bunting to fill the barn, no cars as it was all local.
i love the idea of bring a dish,what an amzing variety that would be, dont forget labels if you go that way.
As has been said you can be as creative as you like, hand made is the best. For photos check the local college if it has a photography course you may be able to hire a tutor or final year student to do the pics

Congrats again and don't forget to post photos