Did you have the wedding that you wanted?

Yes, a lovely wedding in 1976, marrying the man I still love. We chose my outfit together. The registry office was under the flyover in Brentford, but lovely inside. All the photos were green , taken by a friend who offered as he had a camera.

All my friends and family were there with a limit on 30. My dear mother and aunt did the food beautifully. It was a hot day in April, we had the reception at home and my Dad's garden looked so colourful, full.of blooms.

We left at 5.00 with tin cans and confetti over the car. A wonderful day, we wouldn't have swapped it for another posher wedding. It was just what we wanted. No photos worth looking at to this day, but so many good memories.

A gorgeous wedding in 1974 with the reception at Lancashire County Cricket Club - round the corner from my parents house.

As my lovely dad & I (see photo) were closing the front door to walk down the garden path to the wedding limousine, an enormous cheer went up from passing Man. Utd football supporters on the way to a home game! The ground is close by to where we lived. The only problem? My dad was a season ticket holder for Man. City! At least it took our nerves away!
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Yes both times, first was big church wedding with family and friends page boy and bridesmaid, second one was in a Swiss Cottage just ten of us,

Yes, marriage service and nuptial mass. Extended family and friends with us, reception at hotel in the town. No honeymoon
we were married in January because police accommodation was available and we had to move in , so had to get married, not because of a pregnancy but to have a rent free accommodation..

The first Marriage l had was totally taken over by my Parents, even down to them cancelling my first choice of Dress as my mother wanted to Choose it! She didn’t, l actually bought and paid for it out of a local Bridal shop on my Lunch hour from work, it was a sample dress that was ex display, and she was not at all happy when she found out. Most of the Guests l didn’t know them, again invited by my parents, and our plans for a Buffet lunch for around fourth close family and friends soon turned into the nightmare of a large Three course meal for 240! I was a nervous wreck on the day, and not very comfortable at all.

My second marriage was much better, totally planned and paid for by DH and l, just 35 guests, simple registery office gathering, and a nice Ballerina length wedding rests by the designer Ronald Joyce, l loved it!

I was married forty years ago and it was a lovely wedding. My parents paid for everything and I was happy to compromise on most things, although my fiancé and I had the final say. We stipulated no children because there were already over 100 guests and that caused a bit of family upset on both sides. I enjoyed every part of it but I'm a drama queen! Sadly the marriage didn't last but I'm glad I had a wedding.

When my contract in Kenya finished and my then fiancé's had seven months to run, we got married in my school's chapel, a lovely little building at the end of an avenue of jacarandas. A group of colleagues formed a little choir and sang 'Lift Thine Eyes' from Mendelssohn's Elijah, My parents came over though his didn't. I didn't have a bridesmaid because my sisters couldn't come over. We had a reception in the grounds beside the chapel, buffet provided by a recommended Nairobi caterer. The sun shone, the bridegroom had to hide his hangover behind his sunglasses and the bride's father got his head sunburnt!
We lasted 15 years which wasn't bad going, statistically speaking.

I was the firstborn and aged 21 and I said to my Dad I didn't want a big family wedding, would rather have the money towards a house deposit. They said I'd be sorry later to have missed having a special big day.

I insisted on hiring my dress as I didn't want that hanging around for years.

Looking back on the old video recently, we left the reception soon after the sit down meal as we were off to Majorca for honeymoon. Second time in a plane. After waving us off, the party really started (local small hall) and they had a good old knees up and lots of funny games. I think my Dad felt obligated to lay on a similar do to what his brothers had all done. Second time, MUCH more low key.

Yes we did. A white wedding, church service complete with bells. Not a huge guest list about 120 I seem to remember.

A wonderful beginning to a wonderful marriage.

Forgot to say that a lovely photo that is Urmstongran.

Definitely not ?....would have made a good 'Carry on film's....
Canon W at our catholic church..looking at my 6month 'bump' said..."probably a short service then"
When my H arrived at the church on the day..Canon W had forgotten to unlock the doors so H thought the wedding had been called off....
H's mother arrived dressed in black from her tights up to her hat!!!
At the reception, after the meal..realised we had no music..a friend had to pop home for a tape recorder and cassettes
We had inadvertently chosen July 12th (orange day) and some of the older guests had very loud ,alcohol induced arguments about this..being a catholic family ?
Not going through it all..far too much went wrong...the night ended with myself,bump and H..walking home carrying a very large wedding cake and me clutching my face ,in agony with a very bad toothache...and I was crying because we hadn't one single photo..no one thought to bring a camera...the pictures would have been crazy anyway...49 yrs ago...4 children, 9 beautiful grandchildren later....lived in various countries...ups and downs...hey ho...definitely memorable..

Thank you Smileless. The photo is all the more poignant because my dad died 2y afterwards from cancer. He was only 47y.
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Urmstongran so sad for you. We married in February 1965 and my Dad died in January 1966, he was 54. My son was born the following September. My Dad had cancer too.

I never really thought about it. I wasn’t into white dresses and veils. We had a small registry office wedding as I was 4 months pregnant. That was in 1965. Still happily together .

Jane43 ?

We did. Fairly simple, register office, just 60 guests, marquee in my folks’ garden with outside caterers, stacks of champagne which my DF got at cost, since he was doing business with wine merchants at the time.
I had a simple, inexpensive long dress a friend with a better ‘eye’ picked out for me in a local boutique. No flowers, except a few on the cake. There were plenty in the garden. No special car, DF drove me and DM to the reg office.

We had a gorgeous sunny June day and guests were still making merry when dh and I left for the airport a good 7 hours after kick-off.

My mother often told me I’d always really regret not having a white dress and a ‘proper’ church wedding, but I honestly never did and never have. Dh and I thoroughly enjoyed our day.

Urmstongran what a beautiful bride you was with your dad. It brought a tear to my eyes because my dad didn’t attend my wedding. I didn’t hold it against him he knew I was about to marry a rat he didn’t want to cause trouble.

Aw that’s nice of you Redhead back in the day we were all lovelier than we gave ourselves credit for, most probably! We could have worn a black bin bag and looked gorgeous. Like most young people!

Your dad stayed true to his opinion - just that, sadly (for you) he was proved right. No wonder your wedding day was a day of mixed emotions.

I had a beautiful wedding, but not as I would have chosen. It was much bigger than I had wanted it to be.
DH had a large extended family, and he owned a business. We had to have a huge evening reception for all the family and business acquaintances.
It was fabulous though, and we left for our honeymoon at midnight.

Urmstongran, you were indeed a beautiful bride. You married the same year as us. We had a church wedding, United Reform Church and were married by the minister who knew us. It rained! The weather was horrible, but the next day the sun shone as we set off on our honeymoon. Camping! It was the only honeymoon we could afford. We went to Devon and Cornwall, but it started raining again after a few days so we drove across to Kent, where the sun was still shining.
My dress was beautiful. A Jean Muir design, but made by my Godmother. My chief bridesmaid made the three bridesmaids dresses. Two of my dearest friends were my bridesmaids, along with my nearly three year old niece. My mother organised the Reception for about seventy guests, and it was mostly family, but I was allowed to invite a few friends too.

I think it was what I was quite happy with at the time. My daughter’s wedding was much more sophisticated. We paid for it and said she could have exactly what she wanted. But things are much more sophisticated these days aren’t they?

My second marriage was perfect. I was in my 40's, 5 months pregnant (had thought it was the menopause) and we were both thrilled. We had a registry office wedding followed by a reception in our garden with outside caterers and the food was wonderful. I had a two piece made for me to cover the small bump and had a wonderful time telling everyone our wonderful news. It was the first day I didn't have morning sickness and was so happy. It is a good solid marriage and our daughter is our pride and joy.

We had a lovely day that had been arranged by us and both sets of parents. July 1971, so Golden anniversary this year.
Bought our own house so no honeymoon for us. I can’t remember any stress or problems - just a very nice wedding with friends and family.
Espee do tell! ?

No I didn't get the wedding I wanted. We had a lovely picturesque church in mind, I was baptised there and went to Sunday school and was confirmed there. We went to see the vicar and he flatly refused to marry us, he said we were outside of the parish.
We had to marry in a run down red brick church in a slum area that had nowhere for photographs. My mother dictated what we could and could not have and if I didn't have my 10 year old sister as bridesmaid then there would not be a wedding. My Dad said he would give us the money to run away and get married, I would have loved that but my mother would have killed him and us.

That's a wonderful memory for you Urmstongran, a photo of your proud dad with his beautiful daughter on her wedding day.

Yes, we did have the wedding we both wanted. Neither of us is religious so we didn’t want a church wedding. Neither of us wanted a fuss, to us the being married mattered more than the wedding day. We got married in a registry office then had a knees up in a local hostelry. Brilliant day, be 45 years in July.