BAM ladies: Post Wedding Survey

Type of Bar: Open-- Beer, wine, "premium" liquor

Kids at wedding?: Yes-- with 11 nieces and nephews, "no kids" would not have flown

Unplugged?: Technically no-- but our wedding was small, so we didn't have a lot of ppl taking their own pictures

Seating Chart: Escort cards with assigned tables-- weddings without them are cluster-fs

Videographer?: Yes

Favors?: Yes-- handmade "buckeye" candy in the shape of acorns-- they were a hit.

Bridal Party Sizes: 0! One of the best wedding decisions we made

Ceremony Length: about 20 minutes.

Gap Length: No gap-- cocktail hour and portraits were before the ceremony, and the reception started right away

Reception Length: 4 hours

How many bride dresses: ONE!!

Plus One Philosophy: We only invited a handful of people not in a "serious" relationship, so we went ahead and gave everyone a plus one. If we'd had a bigger wedding, or if these people had different personalities, we wouldn't have been so generous, but as it was it would have been silly to not invite plus ones. As it happens, only one of those people brought a date-- all the others that came were solo.

STDs? ( yes? how early): Yes-- about 9 months beforehand. Our wedding was 4plus hours away for 99.9% of the guests.

# of people invited vs # of people attended: about 80 invited, about 65 attended

Garter/Bouquet Toss: No-- we had very few non-married guests that were not children

Type of Reception Exit (ex- sparklers): "see you later"-- our guests left on the bus before us, so it was very anti-climactic.

Where you registered: Amazon and Bed, Bath and Beyond

ETA Length of Engagement: two years

ETA type of dinner: buffet-- we got married in a Merry-Go-Round Pavilion, so table served was not an option (the food would get cold)

And just for fun, share a picture

Great idea! Here's mine (answers in capital for easier reading..)

Type of Bar: OPEN

Kids at wedding?: YES, 7 (AND THEY WERE A WONDERFUL ADDITION)

Unplugged?: NO, DIDN'T NOTICE ANYONE TAKING ANY EITHER BUT HAVE SOME GREAT PICS

Seating Chart: ABSOLUTELY

Videographer?: YES

Favors?: YES, PIZZA CUTTERS HANDED OUT AT END OF RECEPTION, CANDY IN ORGANZA BAGS ON TABLES

Bridal Party Sizes: 1 MOH, 5 BMs, 1 BEST MAN, 4 GM, 1 FG AND 1 RB (13)

Ceremony Length: ABOUT 30 MINS?

Gap Length: 2 1/2 HOURS (AND PEOPLE ACTUALLY THANKED ME FOR HAVING A GAP)

Reception Length: COCKTAIL 7-8, RECEPTION 8-12AM

How many bride dresses: 1

Plus One Philosophy: MARRIED, ENGAGED, LIVING TOGETHER, OOT.

STDs? ( yes? how early): YES, 7 MONTHS

# of people invited vs # of people attended: 225, 190 (PERFECT AMOUNT FOR US)

Garter/Bouquet Toss: NO/NO

Type of Reception Exit (ex- sparklers): NONE

Where you registered: BBB

ETA Length of Engagement: 18 MONTHS

ETA type of dinner: PLATED

And just for fun, share a picture: ENTRANCE, H LITERALLY SKIPPING IN LOL

@VMD - We knew not everyone would bring a +1 (like all our single friends/familY) nor would a lot of our out of town families come (that was like 100 people right there). We figured we would probably get 325-350. We had a few last minute cancellations (like the Thursday the week of the wedding) and then 10 no shows and ended up with 295.

Type of Bar: Open for cocktail hours (until dinner), Cash bar afterwards with wine included with dinner. I'm in Alberta, this is normal.

Kids at wedding?: close family kids only (they were all around 12 or older)

Unplugged?: Yes, no regrets.

Seating Chart: Yes!

Videographer?: Yes. I added this last minute, and I'm glad that I did. We found a guy just starting out so it was just under $1k. I've watched this video a few times

Favors?: Yes, we picked our favourite cookies in a cute bag tagged with a DIY calligraphy thank you.

Bridal Party Sizes: 3 girls, 3 guys - we only have drama free friends so it was fine!

Ceremony Length: About 30 minutes

Gap Length: Technically there was a 3ish hour gap, but we opened this up for a tea and cake reception at my aunt's house before the full cocktail and buffet. We had the slideshow play during that afternoon and my aunt's backyard was also fully open (as well as inside with seating). Gaps are another thing that are extremely popular and expected here and I learned from WW it was bad (after we had already booked the venue) so we added in the tea reception afterwards to try and mitigate.

Reception Length: 5 PM to 2 AM (Like a Canadian!)

How many bride dresses: 2. The second was a Chinese dress and it allowed me to Viennese Waltz for my first dance.

Plus One Philosophy: Only by name, no random plus ones.

STDs? ( yes? how early): Nope - I don't feel these are necessary or worth the money.

# of people invited vs # of people attended: 135ish invited, 95 attended including 2 that weren't really invited. 100 people RSVP'd yes (ie 7 no shows, 2 additional crashers). It worked out ok, just don't focus on this too much, it's not in your control

Garter/Bouquet Toss: Yes, but we didn't do the removal of the garter, I just handed it to him in from the box

Type of Reception Exit (ex- sparklers): None - we shut down the party at 2 AM.

Where you registered: The Bay, Royal Doulton (fancy dishes), and myregistry.com for some smaller items at other random stores for the lower budget gift givers.

Length of Engagement: 1 year

Type of dinner: Buffet, 2 meat choices

Type of Bar: Open! But we served beer (3 kinds), wine (3 kinds), and had two signature drinks (bride's drink, whiskey and coke and grooms drink, pineapple upside down cake).

Kids at wedding?: Originally, I didn't want kinds. I caved and there were 10 there (ages 4 and up). It worked out. The kids were adorable and danced and were all best friends.

Unplugged?: Yes, our ceremony was unplugged. As I wait for my pro-pics, I'm regretting it a little BUT I am really happy that everyone was completely THERE during the ceremony. There were a few jokes that everyone heard because they weren't on their phones.

Seating Chart: Yes, and it was actually a great idea! We took a few risks by pairing some people together, and we had a lot of strangers become friends! We put these 2 families together and they were chatting the whole night--even found out that 10 years ago they lived on the same street! Both of them told us they were "so happy we seated them together" since they obviously wouldn't have had a reason to talk otherwise.

Videographer?: Nope! But I'm not really a video person.

Favors?: Nope! But we spend the money on some extras, like serving ice cream in mini baseball helmets.

Bridal Party Sizes: 3 and 3, no fg or rb

Ceremony Length: about 30 minutes, but there was a slideshow too

Gap Length: like 40 minutes (cocktail hour)

Reception Length: 4 hours

How many bride dresses: I bought a little white dress to change in to during the reception. I was so glad that I did bc the ballgown, while fun and beautiful, was super annoying (and I even cut off the train!) It was a $30 department store dress which I can wear again and again, so it was worth it.

Plus One Philosophy: Only couples who live together (as I kept telling MIL, we're inviting PEOPLE, not spaces). I'm really glad we stuck to our guns, because my BIL would have totally brought his alcoholic friend and BIL was enough of a hot mess without him there!

STDs? ( yes? how early): Yes! Sent them about 6 months early.

# of people invited vs # of people attended: 78 attended, 120 invited

Garter/Bouquet Toss: Nope! But we only had a few young single people, so it would have been weird.

Type of Reception Exit (ex- sparklers): None. But we had an awesome ceremony exit (see pic!)

Where you registered: Macy's, Target, Best Buy, Kohls (didn't share BB or Kohls, just wanted the perks!). Macy's was my favorite. BB is new and is still a hot mess. I would stay away unless you want to spend an hour with customer service.

ETA Length of Engagement: Almost 1 year exactly!

ETA type of dinner: Plated (but everyone got the same meal, except kids and vegetarians)

Type of Bar: Open beer and wine

Kids at wedding?: Not invited but one couple's babysitter fell through so they brought their 5 year old twins. The kids were great and I had no problem that they brought them.

Unplugged?: No and we got some great photos from friends

Seating Chart: Table assignments

Videographer?: No and I wish I had although my sister recorded our first dance and cutting the cake

Favors?: No

Bridal Party Sizes: 1 - his 14 year old daughter

Ceremony Length: 15 minutes

Gap Length: 45 minutes for cocktails

Reception Length: 3.5 hours

How many bride dresses: 1

Plus One Philosophy: Yes to all

STDs? ( yes? how early): Yes, 5.5 months (2/3 of guests were oot)

# of people invited vs # of people attended: 91 invited, 57 RSVP'd yes, 54 attended

Garter/Bouquet Toss: No

Type of Reception Exit (ex- sparklers): None we danced until the end

Where you registered: Yes, BBB and Pottery Barn

ETA Length of Engagement: 7.5 months

ETA type of dinner: Buffet

And just for fun, share a picture

Type of Bar: Open with liquor, beer, wine and two signature drinks

Kids at wedding?: Family children only. Luckily we didn't have too many in our families

Unplugged?: No and I don't get this trend. Everyone was very respectful of our actual photographer

Seating Chart: Yes, didn't have too much difficulty putting it together

Videographer?: No

Favors?: Sort of - we had a candy buffet, our escort cards were also bookmarks and we let everyone take home some of the centerpieces which were books

Bridal Party Sizes: 4 girls and 3 guys

Ceremony Length: 20 minutes

Gap Length: No gap - cocktail hour and everything was at the same location

Reception Length: 4 hours

How many bride dresses: one

Plus One Philosophy: In a relationship and/or don't know many other people at the wedding

STDs? ( yes? how early): Yes, nine months out

# of people invited vs # of people attended: 145 invited, 100 attended

Garter/Bouquet Toss: Yes, our guests had a lot of fun with it

Type of Reception Exit (ex- sparklers): Sparklers! we never got permission from our venue, we just kind of winged it

Where you registered: BBB, Crate and Barrel, and Target - and it is now my life mission to make sure no one uses Target ever again. Horrible!

Length of engagement: 22 months. Got engaged in winter and wanted a fall wedding

Type of dinner: Plated with two choices. A buffet was just not what I envisioned for my wedding

Type of Bar: Completely open bar. Middle shelf options. Signature drink during cocktail hour - strawberry mojito.

Unplugged?: No, and I'm glad we didn't so we were able to have a guest record me walking down the aisle and our first dance.

Seating Chart: Absolutely!

Videographer?: No, and I regret it.

Favors?: We spent $400 on stupid scratchoffs in little silver envelopes and no one ever said anything about them.

Bridal Party Sizes: 4 girls, 4 guys

Ceremony Length: 30 minutes

Gap Length: None

Reception Length: 4 hours for dinner & dancing

How many bride dresses: 1

Plus One Philosophy: We gave everyone who had graduated high school a plus one.

STDs? ( yes? how early): Yes, I think 6 months out?

# of people invited vs # of people attended: 170 invited, 120 attended

Garter/Bouquet Toss: Nope

Type of Reception Exit (ex- sparklers): None, we danced until the last dance and then just left. Oversight, I guess.

Where you registered: BBB & Macys

ETA Length of Engagement: 1 year and 8 months

ETA type of dinner: Plated. Choice of salmon or steak

I don't like adding pictures of me so here's a picture of our centerpieces

Just an add-in, plugged weddings *can* go wrong. I attended one as a guest and couldn't see the ceremony because so many people were standing in front of me taking photos. The B&G may not have realized this.

Ooooo fun!

Type of Bar: free beer, cash bar (gasp! I've only been to 1 open bar wedding in my life).

Kids at wedding?: Yes! They make the best dancers.

Unplugged?: Nope, although my aunt had her huge iPad in many of my ceremony pics. Oh well.

Seating Chart: No, and didn't hear any complains and people were able to move around freely.

Videographer?: YES! I love my wedding video and love that we got the speeches recorded. Hub's dad and brother balled through their entire speeches and they said some really nice things that we love hearing over and over on bad days.

Favors?: "Mint to be" signs with lifesavers scattered around the table - super cheap.

Bridal Party Sizes: 1 MOH 1 BM and 7 bridesmaids, 7 groomsmen, 2 ushers, 1 personal attendant, 1 flower girl.

Ceremony Length: an hour - Catholic ceremony - our priest was AMAZING and everyone said it was the highlight of their day.

Gap Length: No gap!

Reception Length: 6 hours? I honestly can't remember. It went until midnight.

How many bride dresses: one

Plus One Philosophy: If they were dating/married, they got a plus one.

STDs? ( yes? how early): Wedding in October, STDs went out in January.

# of people invited vs # of people attended: Invited about 200, only 140ish showed up- we had SO MANY (about 30) people say yes and didn't come.

Garter/Bouquet Toss: No garter toss, the bouquet toss we forgot about until almost midnight because everyone was dancing.

Type of Reception Exit (ex- sparklers): No reception exit.. we just left.

Where you registered: Bed Bath and Beyond and Target.

Length of Engagement: 11 months.

Type of dinner: buffet. Two main options, four sides.

Here's two pictures for good measure.

Type of Bar: open bar shut down an hour during dinner

Kids at wedding?: wasn't supposed to be kids other than my 10 year old cousin and some teenagers (don't consider them kids), but then someone else brought a younger kid. It all worked out and wasn't an issue at all.

Unplugged?: no

Seating Chart: yes

Videographer?: yes

Favors?: We had a photo booth. Everyone seemed to love it

Bridal Party Sizes: 4 BM and 3 GM

Ceremony Length: about 20 minutes

Gap Length: Around an hour for pictures. We did them right at the venue while cocktail hour was going on, so there wasn't an actual gap between ceremony and cocktail hour

Reception Length: cocktail hour started at 5:30, we didn't get into the room until a little before 7. Reception ended at 11;30

How many bride dresses: 1 dress

Plus One Philosophy: yes everyone that was of a certain age got a plus one

STDs? ( yes? how early): yes, they went out in Oct I think

# of people invited vs # of people attended: 168 invites (included me and DH and bridal party) we had just under 100. However, DH had a blow out with his family, so his immediate family didn't come (his parents/brother, etc) which caused our number to go down

Garter/Bouquet Toss: no garter, yes to bouquet - however we gave away a bottle of champagne, so all the ladies could be involved

Type of Reception Exit (ex- sparklers): We just exited a lot of people had left, so we wouldn't have been able to do one of the grand exits anyways.

Where you registered: macys

ETA Length of Engagement: dec 2013 - may 2015, so 1.5 year

ETA type of dinner: served appetizers, served soup, served salad, buffet main course

Not to sound like an idiot, but what is an open soft bar?

I love these so much thanks for staring this thread!

@ Jaklyn an soft open bar is free non-alcoholic beverages I'm guessing

I wasn't sure if that meant dry wedding with free pop/tea/water or if it was open bar without hard liquor, so just beer/wine.

Thanks for this, what a great thread!

Jaklyn-- "soft bar" means beer and wine-- strange name since "soft drinks" has its own meaning.

Type of Bar: Dry (morning wedding) Open (after party)

Kids at wedding?: Yes.

Unplugged?: Failed unplugged ceremony attempt

Seating Chart: Yes, 132 guest

Videographer?: Yes, can I have it back already!!

Favors?: 1 oz of Bonnie Mae strawberry perseveres

Bridal Party Sizes: 6 girls, 7 guys

Ceremony Length: 30 minutes

Gap Length: No gap, 1 hour cocktail. 5 hours between reception and after party

Reception Length: 3 hours

How many bride dresses: 2. ceremony/reception and off the rack after party

Plus One Philosophy: Bridal Party only, none used

STDs? ( yes? how early): Yes, 8 months

# of people invited vs # of people attended: 175 invites - 132 attendees

Garter/Bouquet Toss: Yes, no regrets

Type of Reception Exit (ex- sparklers): No. I left the after party early b/c I was sick

Where you registered: Macy's and Target

Length of Engagement: 11 months

Type of dinner: Brunch Buffet

And just for fun, share a picture: Snapchat. The moment when you can't put on your own reception heels. I love my MOHs

Type of Bar: Premium open bar (5 hours) with 3 signature cocktails

Kids at wedding?: No.

Unplugged?: Only during the ceremony

Seating Chart: Yes- place cards

Videographer?: 2 videographers

Favors?: Photobooth and donation to an animal rescue league

Bridal Party Sizes: 6 on each side

Ceremony Length: 40 minutes

Gap Length: We had a one hour cocktail hour

Reception Length: 4 hours

How many bride dresses: 1

Plus One Philosophy: Only to those we knew who had bfs/gfs- of course all married and engaged couples brought their SO

STDs? ( yes? how early): Yes- 5 months early

# of people invited vs # of people attended: We invited 150; 110 attended

Garter/Bouquet Toss: Both

Type of Reception Exit (ex- sparklers): Sparkler exit

Where you registered: BBB and Crate & Barrel

ETA: Length of Engagement: 9 months

ETA: First look: YES! And so happy I did. I recommend it to any bride.

ETA type of dinner: Plated with three entrees: Filet, Chicken, and Eggplant Parm (salad, bread, and two sides)

@Watermill, you gave away almost 200 pizza cutters? That is kinda awesome.

Type of Bar: Open Bar premium liquor, champagne w/ strawberries upon guests arrival, wine, beer, mixed drinks, you name it we had it!!

Kids at wedding?: Not really, My FG who was 6 left after the reception entrance, my Ring Girl was 10 she stayed and only 2 other kids came, family from out of town. There were no issues with them running around, they danced and had a blast till they fell asleep on the couches in the lobby lol

Unplugged?: No... I got some great shots from friends, that I would have never gotten just from our photographer

Seating Chart: No seating chart for the guests to find there seats, I did do place cards, So I myself had a seating chart to go from.

Videographer?: Yes and I can't wait to see the video

Favors?: I had ARDS Awareness bracelets in honor of my dad, along with boxes of hershey kisses

Bridal Party Sizes: 5 GM's one Best Woman, 6 BM's One MOH, 2 Junior BM's, FG and Ring Girl. I couldn't have asked for a better Bridal Party. Everyone in our wedding means the world to us.

Ceremony Length: 30 minutes.

Gap Length: I didn't have a gap, We had an hour 1/2 absolutely amazing Cocktail hour, which everyone talks about for years after the wedding

Reception Length: 4 hour reception

How many bride dresses: 1 dress, 1 shoe change from heels to wedges, 1 hair style change from half up half down to all to one side

Plus One Philosophy: If you're married plus 1, if you have been dating plus 1, if you want to bring the flavor of the month NO plus 1.

STDs? ( yes? how early): I sent mine almost a year in advance because I had a lot of out of town guests and it was a holiday weekend.

# of people invited vs # of people attended: Invited 230, 180 RSVP'd Yes, 172 Actually showed up

Garter/Bouquet Toss: NO GARTER!!!!! just a bouquet toss, with girls just want to have fun playing

Type of Reception Exit (ex- sparklers): No exit just partied till our last song!!

Where you registered: Bed Bath and Beyond, Macy's, Both those stores give you a percentage off every item after you're married to finish your registry if you didn't receive all the items you may have wanted!

ETA Length of Engagement: 1 1/2 years

ETA type of dinner: Sit down dinner

And just for fun, share a picture