Did you have the wedding that you wanted?

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.

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.

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.

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.

Jane43 ?

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 .

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.

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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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..

Forgot to say that a lovely photo that is Urmstongran.

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.

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.

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 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.

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!

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..

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,

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, 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.

Lovely to hear all your wedding stories. Like GagaJo I did not like being the centre of attention (and still don't) so all these guests were to much for me. I remember looking out of the window just before my Dad and I left the house and all the neighbours were out on the street which really freaked me. Just as Sarah1954 did, we bought our first house and did not go on honeymoon as the little money we had was ploughed into our first home together. For us it would have been better if my Parents had put some of the daft money they spent on our wedding towards helping us with the property we had bought. So yes the day was about them and what they wanted for their Daughter rather than what Mr J and I wanted. As I said before it was a wonderful day but just too overwhelming for me.

My first marriage was at a Registry office my dad did not attend he had fell out with my fiancé. We had a little reception at the in laws because we had spent our money on a deposit so it was the best we could do.
This my second marriage was on a Wednesday it was arranged with just my two children and our mums present. It was a different Registry office I am not religious and my husband is not a Christian so a church was out of the question. We had our wedding night alone at a nearby hotel.
We had arranged a small reception at the village hall for family and friends on the Saturday.
We had kept getting married early a secret because my ex husband was lurking about.

Yes, I did. I never wanted a big white wedding and, as both of us had a parent whose siblings ran to double figures, it was a huge white wedding, or what we had.

16 of us in total had a sitdown meal after the ceremony and then I put a coat on over my wedding dress (a white courtelle minidress that cost £5) and we went off to our flat. No honeymoon until the summer when we had a 14 day package holiday in Yugoslavia.

Never regretted it.

Yes. No money really, but I had a lovely wedding with a good mix of family and friends as guests.
We couldn’t afford a honeymoon then but we had one years later.

Very different from many of today's complicated weddings. Late 1960's it was a traditional Church wedding complete with giggling choir boys, a dress I loved (goodness I was slim) but was much too cold in as it was snowing. Formal photos, confetti everywhere and a reception for family and close friends in my parents home. Off for a three night UK 'honeymoon' that evening we only managed two nights as I developed shingles! The whole thing, other than shingles, was right for us, I still dislike being part of large events and definitely do and did not want to be the centre of attention.

I married in 1972. It was quite soon after my father died very suddenly, it was a small church wedding.
My only regret is my wedding dress. I didn’t want a fussy white dress, my bridesmaid made it, it was a very pale blue full length one in a sort of heavy crepe. Nothing wrong with it, well made, but looking back I wish I had worn a Laura Ashley flowery one, more suited to the time and more casual wedding.
Oh well, 48 years too late!