WEDDINGS! Great ideas.... things you like done, things you hate to see done....

[Josiah]

Weddings!

The ceremony!

What practices do you like? Dislike?

What have you seen that's different?

Traditions that seem weird or out-dated?

Church vs. Reception venue weddings? Garden weddings?



Here's one:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FTJ8zgkxVCw

I actually was at a wedding recently where this was done; also at a Catholic wedding. The wedding party came up - NOT coming in to "Here Comes the Bride" arm-in-arm as often done, but rather each singing a song (the example I saw wasn't this sing but this one sure works). I wish I had heard of this approach before our wedding, we might have given it a shot (since I think everyone in our wedding party can sing - not sure all would be WILLING however).



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[tango]

I hate seeing couples spending inordinate amounts of money on a single day, especially when they have to borrow it. Given how many marriages fail because of money issues (specifically the lack of it), it seems such a desperate shame to be saddled with crippling debts right from the start. I can't imagine thinking that something to commemorate a 5th anniversary isn't an option because you haven't finished paying for the wedding yet.

Other than that I like ceremonies that are clearly personal to the couple, as long as they don't dilute what it's all about. When a cousin got married (he'd been married and divorced before) he was married in a hotel with a registrar rather than in a church and the vows he and his bride took were so watered down as to be meaningless. Phrases like "til death do us part", that represent a specific commitment, were replaced with wishy-washy versions like "for the rest of our time together", that suggested they could walk out of the venue and end it because they were bored with each other and that was the end of "their time together".

Something I've noticed about wedding photos is that the way the groups get bigger and bigger means that people who are the least closely related end up hanging around for unknown amounts of time with no indication of how much longer it will be. The few times I've been the lead photographer at a wedding I start out with the "everybody" pictures, so that as soon as I'm done with people they can go and hang out at the bar while they wait, then gradually reduce the groups until it's down to the pictures of the happy couple in whatever settings they want. By that time everybody else knows they can be at the bar and won't be needed any more.

 

[Lamb]

Off the top of my head I like it when the bride and groom demand that guests keep the cell phones put away for the ceremony.