BAM ladies: Post Wedding Survey

Type of Bar: Going to get flack for this but whatever. Cash limit - so it was open for cocktail hour and a little while after, then when we hit a specified money amount it switched to cash bar. All non-alcoholic drinks we covered the whole time.

Kids at wedding?: No, except for H's nephews, who were our ushers, who were 12 and 14.

Unplugged?: No. Got some great pictures from guests, too.

Seating Chart: Escort cards with table numbers on them.

Videographer?: No.

Favors?: The escort cards were seed cards, so they can be planted, and we also had succulent plant favors.

Bridal Party Sizes: 2 girls, 2 guys.

Ceremony Length: 30-ish minutes.

Gap Length: Cocktail hour - between 45 minutes to an hour.

Reception Length: Cocktail hour started around 2:45, we got introduced into the reception around 3:45, reception ended at 8.

How many bride dresses: 1 dress. (I didn't pay all that money to take it off after the ceremony!)

Plus One Philosophy: Everyone got a plus one, whether they were dating someone or not. [Actually, to be fair, correction: H's nephews who were our ushers, did not. So I guess everyone over 14 got a plus one.]

STDs? ( yes? how early): Yes. About 7 months or so before the wedding.

# of people invited vs # of people attended: 108 invited, 72 attended.

Garter/Bouquet Toss: No.

Type of Reception Exit (ex- sparklers): No exit. Reception just ended and we extended an invite to the bar across the street from the hotel to anyone who wanted to continue to hang out.

Where you registered: Yes, at BB&B and at MyRegistry.com (mostly for my Pfaltzgraff dishes).

ETA Length of Engagement: 11 months.

ETA type of dinner: Plated - 3 options: chicken, filet mignon, lamb.

And just for fun, share a picture

Type of Bar: Open

Kids at wedding?: Nope

Unplugged?: Nope

Seating Chart: Escort Cards W/ Table Assignments

Videographer?: Yes

Favors?: No

Bridal Party Sizes: Maid & Matron of Honor, 3 BMs, Best Man, 6 GM

Ceremony Length: 20 min

Gap Length: None

Reception Length: 6 hours

How many bride dresses: 1

Plus One Philosophy: everyone out of high school

STDs? ( yes? how early): yes, 6 months early

# of people invited vs # of people attended: 200, 170

Garter/Bouquet Toss: Nope

Type of Reception Exit (ex- sparklers): DJ announced we were all going to the bar

Where you registered: BB&B & Macys

ETA Length of Engagement: 8 months

ETA type of dinner: plated

And just for fun, share a picture

I had to pick 2 because I always share the snow pic

Following, this is helping me..15 days to go!

I love this e=mc2 ! So much helpful information!

Love looking at the "# of people invited vs # of people attended" Lol Its pretty common to have about 40 people not attend - Which would be perfect for me!! Let's all pray!

@Emmy you had 70 non-invited guests show up??

@ FutureMrsPereira I was looking at that too but @ Emmy it looks like your number went up? or is that a typo?

Oops.

Type of Bar: I guess it would be considered open. My dad got bourbon and vodka free from work. We bought canned beer and wine.

Kids at wedding?: yes we had 50 kids! They danced all night!

Unplugged?: Nope

Seating Chart: Nope and everyone found a seat perfectly ok

Videographer?: No but now we kinda wish we had a family member record it because our deacon gave a great sermon!

Favors?: Nope

Bridal Party Sizes: 4 on each side and 2 ushers

Ceremony Length: 40 mins and it was a catholic ceremony but not a full mass

Gap Length: 40 mins

Reception Length: 4hrs?

How many bride dresses: just the one and i bustled it before the reception

Plus One Philosophy: everyone got a plus one. we didnt really have a limit

STDs? ( yes? how early): kinda. I stuck a small note in my christmas cards with date/wedding website

# of people invited vs # of people attended: around 350 (sent out 150 invitations) vs 230ish showed up

Garter/Bouquet Toss: yes but i gave the winners $10 instead of keeping the flowers/garter

Type of Reception Exit (ex- sparklers): glow sticks! but people were leaving before it got dark enough so we cut the lights out and did it inside

Where you registered: yes bed bath and beyond and walmart

ETA Length of Engagement: 15 months

ETA type of dinner: BBQ buffet!! Pulled pork, chicken tenders, Mac n cheese, green beans, butter potatoes, cole slaw, baked beans

Love this! Such a great Idea! Following!

A soft bar is beer/wine.

Type of Bar: Beer & cash. I really wanted to do an open bar with $ cap, but the venue strongly advised against it. Open bars are not done in my area, so it was no surprise to anyone attending.

Kids at wedding?: Hell no. This caused a shitstorm of drama in DH's family (tons of little kids), but we stood our ground. The most vocally angry about this came and had a very good drunken time; the other two who were angry did not come. Their loss.

Unplugged?: No, but we had no guests (other than my friend who was coordinating that day and the MOH's husband - he brought their son, who was our RB).

Seating Chart: No. They are not done in my area.

Videographer?: No, and I don't regret it. However ... I originally wanted to GoPro the ceremony because we weren't having any guests there. Day of, I decided I didn't want to deal with setting it up. I do regret that because the judge was funny and I wish I could show people.

Favors?: Koozies

Bridal Party Sizes: 2 on each side plus RB.

Ceremony Length: About 2 minutes. No joke. I wanted the shortest civil ceremony possible, and I got it!

Gap Length: 3.5 hours, but since we had no guests at the ceremony, this is irrelevant. I wish we would have had a longer gap for more pictures. We also had a 45 minute drive between the ceremony and reception locations in there.

Reception Length: 5 hours, but most guests left immediately after supper. Side effect of having a late reception on a Friday night.

How many bride dresses: One.

Plus One Philosophy: Didn't give any. A few people brought guests with them, but it didn't matter.

STDs? ( yes? how early): No. I think they're unnecessary.

# of people invited vs # of people attended: 200ish invited, somewhere between 130-150 came.

Garter/Bouquet Toss: Yes... I didn't want to do these, but DH did. We decided to have it open to everyone rather than just singles so no one would feel singled out or excluded. It went well.

Type of Reception Exit (ex- sparklers): None, we didn't leave until after all the guests did. DH did set off some fireworks though.

Where you registered: BBB

Length of Engagement: Jan 14 - May 15... almost a year and a half

Type of dinner: Buffet and it was delicious. Tons of compliments on the food.

And just for fun, share a picture:

Still waiting on pro pics... so here's one of the two I have so far.

I love it! Congratulations, you looked beautiful.

I love this post!

Type of Bar: Premium, full bar

Kids at wedding?: YES! We love kids

Unplugged?: No

Seating Chart: Yes

Videographer?: No - MAJOR REGRET

Favors?: no - but we had a photo booth so that was the "favor"

Bridal Party Sizes: three each plus FG/RB

Ceremony Length: Under an hour

Gap Length: No gap because drive time to reception was about 45mins in traffic

Reception Length: 3 or 4 hours

How many bride dresses: one

Plus One Philosophy: If they were dating someone, they got dates. I've since found out that some WERE dating people and I didn't know it; oooops

STDs? ( yes? how early): Yes; 6mos

# of people invited vs # of people attended: around 200; 156 total

Garter/Bouquet Toss: No way

Type of Reception Exit (ex- sparklers): We were the last to leave with family

Where you registered: Macy's and BBB

ETA Length of Engagement: six months

ETA type of dinner: Plated with filet and chicken

ETA: First look? No...I wanted to, but H is tres superstitious

And just for fun, share a picture

This is fun and helpful

@VM, the smaller your wedding, the less likely you will have no-shows. Sometimes there are illnesses/accidents or last minute issues with someone but generally you're going to have a smaller chance of no-shows.

VMD - You're having small wedding so let's hope did DOESN'T happen to you!!

Type of Bar: Open Bar, the basics, not top shelf.

Kids at wedding?: Nope, no thanks.

Unplugged?: Nope. And I am glad, we don't have any professional pics yet but we do have some nice ones from guests.

Seating Chart: Yep. It was a lot easier than I thought it would be. People move around after dinner.

Videographer?: nope, so far no regrets. But its early days

Favors?: Yes-Only because it is an italian tradition my mom wanted. Otherwise I would not have done them. We have a ton left over and I know I saw a lot that were left on the table at the end of the night.

Bridal Party Sizes: 3 each, almost did not have any at all though. Glad I did, it was nice to have these ladies by my side during the last few days.

Ceremony Length: about 10 minutes We really tried for a longer ceremony but..no go!

Gap Length: none

Reception Length: 5.5 hours

How many bride dresses: 1

Plus One Philosophy: everyone gets one

STDs? ( yes? how early): yes, 6 months prior, they weren't really necessary but they were fun!

# of people invited vs # of people attended: 151 invited, 132 attended

Garter/Bouquet Toss: nope

Type of Reception Exit (ex- sparklers): none, last to leave.

Where you registered: BBB

ETA Length of Engagement: 19 months

ETA type of dinner: Buffet, Chicken Marsala, Peppercorn Steak, Mashed Potatoes, Asparagus, Garden Salad, Rolls. No late night foods. 2 Appetizers. A small cake to cut and sheet cakes in the back. Plenty of food.

Me anxiously waiting to walk down the aisle!

Great thread. One more question I'd add: first look or no?

I just added first look question..

We did a first look, H didn't want to but then i told him it would leave more time for drinking that got him on board. Our photographers thanked us profusely, and i'm glad we did! The weather during photos was perfect- cloudy, not too hot, and we got to take twice as many pictures. To compromise the not wanting to do a first-look, his first look WAS me walking down our aisle, and we did it at our ceremony location. This also let us get some good "ceremony" pictures that weren't during the ceremony.