BAM ladies: Post Wedding Survey

Type of Bar: Beer and Wine, serve yourself. Ran out of beer before dinner

Kids at wedding?: 40

Unplugged?: Nope

Seating Chart: Nope, just reserved a table for family

Videographer?: no

Favors?: no

Bridal Party Sizes: four on each side, two FG and two RB

Ceremony Length: About 10-15?

Gap Length: 30-45? Pictures ran over =P

Reception Length: Hours

How many bride dresses: 1

Plus One Philosophy: Gave all of our guests the option, most just came with other friends invited.

STDs? ( yes? how early): Handmade and printed (tie the knot) sent out in October?

# of people invited vs # of people attended: 187/~120

Garter/Bouquet Toss: Nope!! Anniversary dance

Type of Reception Exit (ex- sparklers): Didn't do it. We left after all of our guests.

Where you registered: Macy's and BBB

ETA Length of Engagement: 9 months

ETA type of dinner: buffet, self catered. Appetizer heavy

ETA first look?: with my brothers and dad

And just for fun, share a picture

Type of Bar: Open Bar

Kids at wedding?: 3 kids all family Ages: Infant, 1.5 year old, and 6 year old. The 1.5 year old made a bunch of noise during the toasts.

Unplugged?: Had a note on the website, but wasn't strictly enforced.

Seating Chart: Yes. Was super smooth, helped everyone find a seat quickly.

Videographer?: No, but we set up a go-pro for the ceremony and speeches

Favors?: None

Bridal Party Sizes: BM, MOH. 2 bridesmaids, 2 groomsmen. Perfect size it made it easy to manage and drama free.

Ceremony Length: 20ish minutes

Gap Length: None

Reception Length: Cocktail hour, followed by 4.5 hour reception

How many bride dresses: 1

Plus One Philosophy: All single people got plus ones, people in a relationship were invited as a couple (I don't consider that a plus one)

STDs? ( yes? how early): Yes, sent about 5 months prior to VIPs. Many people appreciated getting them early so they could book travel. We kept the std list short, and didn't send them to people we were on the fence about inviting.

# of people invited vs # of people attended: 115 invited, 65 attended (I have a lot of family across country that I didn't expect to come)

Garter/Bouquet Toss: Skipped

Type of Reception Exit (ex- sparklers): Ceremony exit we had ribbon wands, no formal exit for reception

Where you registered: Yes, one small registry

ETA Length of Engagement: 20 months

ETA type of dinner: Catered Buffet of BBQ food

ETA first look?: Yes. I am so glad we did it. It was great to have a moment with just him, and to get photos done prior to wedding

Following. Love this! @HF can you tell me about your Lego favors? Where? How much?

I have a new question for everyone #hashtags did you use them, wedd pics? Or instagram? Or something else? Was it a success or skip it?

Type of Bar: Full open bar

Kids at wedding?: The youngest was 13 and there was only one other teenager. So basically no.

Unplugged?: No...and yes. People chose to be in the moment. I had very few photos from other people.

Seating Chart: Yes and I'm super happy about that.

Videographer?: No, but I had a great photographer and a few people took short videos of some cool moments. I'm good with that.

Favors?: Yes...set of 4 glass coasters. People loved them.

Bridal Party Sizes: Just an MOH and BM. Perfect.

Ceremony Length: 1/2 hour. No one complained...at least not to me, so I guess it was fine.

Gap Length: 1 1/2 hours technically...but people hung out for a long time after the ceremony and they were late to the cocktail hour, so...again, I'm guessing it wasn't a problem. We had a gorgeous, cheap, local hotel that people went back to.

Reception Length: 1 hour cocktail and 4 hour reception.

How many bride dresses: 2. DH didn't think my original gown was formal enough.

Plus One Philosophy: All guests of our generation had a plus 1. Two out of twenty brought them. My nieces and nephews and young cousins (late teens/early 20s) were denied a guest. They were "kids" at our wedding.

STDs? ( yes? how early): Yes. 10 months early. While our wedding was local for us, it was a destination for almost everyone else.

# of people invited vs # of people attended: 115 invited/90 attended. Most declines were plus ones. ?

Garter/Bouquet Toss: No and NO. I have always hated the garter bouquet toss. It usually interrupts a good conversation.

Type of Reception Exit (ex- sparklers): Poured ourselves into the limo which took us back to the hotel. Very uneventful.

Where you registered: www.myregistry.com. I could choose items from anywhere. It was awesome and one stop shopping.

ETA Length of Engagement: 2 years, one planning.

ETA type of dinner: buffet with carving station and interactive mac n' cheese bar. YUM!

ETA first look?: No, but for no other reason that there wasn't a place for us to pull it off without gawkers, and we ran out of time.

And just for fun, share a picture...Oh well, if I HAVE to :-) JK. I love sharing wedding photos.

Type of Bar: Open, but rack liquors rather than premium

Kids at wedding?: No, but only because the one couple who had kids chose not to bring them. They would have been welcome.

Unplugged?: No. We got some great nonpro pictures.

Seating Chart: No. Luncheon after the ceremony was too small to need one. At-home reception was cocktails and hors d'oeuvres, so people wandered from table to table.

Videographer?: Talented amateur friend.

Favors?: Not really, although we had flip flops and Chinese cotton Mary Janes for people whose shoes weren't comfortable for dancing.

Bridal Party Sizes: One MOH, one dude of honor.

Ceremony Length: About half an hour.

Gap Length: None. People went directly from the ceremony to the luncheon, which began immediately.

Reception Length: Luncheon was about 2 hours. At-home reception was 5.

How many bride dresses: One per bride, so 2 altogether.

Plus One Philosophy: At the ceremony, it wasn't really an issue, since it was out-of-town and midweek, and no one really wanted to bring a plus one to that. At the at-home reception, we allowed everyone to bring someone.

STDs? ( yes? how early): No.

# of people invited vs # of people attended: To the ceremony and luncheon: 14 invited, 12 attended. To the at-home reception, 100 invited, 60 attended.

Garter/Bouquet Toss: No.

Type of Reception Exit (ex- sparklers): None. We stayed until the end, and then cleaned up.

Where you registered: Amazon, Home Depot, Target

Length of Engagement: 14 months

Type of dinner: Luncheon after the ceremony was in the private dining room of Legal Sea Foods, and was very high end (fillet mignon, lobster, crab, or salmon). At-home reception was heavy hors d'oeuvres, wedding cake, and a chocolate fountain.

First look?: We got ready together, so there wasn't really a first look as such.

And just for fun, share a picture:

Bump for more :-)

Type of Bar: Open. 3 types of wine, 4 types of Liquor, 2 types beer, 3 types of soft + water

Kids at wedding?: Yes, about 15 very well behaved. No issues at all

Unplugged?: Kinda during "Catholic Ceremony" although some guests got very lovely shots

Seating Chart: No. Although my big sis made one, but didn't use it; we had over-flow of guests.

Videographer?: Yes, totally a good idea. Still waiting...

Favors?: Yes, cute Ferraro roche chocolates

Bridal Party Sizes: 5 ladies, 4 gents

Ceremony Length: 35mins

Gap Length: 2.5hrs

Reception Length: 5hrs

How many bride dresses: 2

Plus One Philosophy: Yes

STDs? ( yes? how early): No

# of people invited vs # of people attended: 250 invited, 160 attended

Garter/Bouquet Toss: Yes, bouquet (my fave of the evening)

Type of Reception Exit (ex- sparklers): Not permitted within church premises by our Priest

Where you registered: Hospital for Sick Children (Toronto Sickkids)

ETA Length of Engagement: 8yrs lol

ETA type of dinner: Buffet

ETA first look?: Bridal gown, second look (African native wear)

@nicolett the lego favors were a bit pricier than we anticipated (I think we probably spent ~$200-$250 for the minifigs and the blocks that acted as a base, this was for about 100 minifigs). No regrets, though, they were an absolutely enormous hit with every guest from age 2 to age 85, and they doubled as an "activity" for during the wedding.

What we did to keep costs down was buy a couple of sets of Chinese knock offs off of ebay and mixed them in with genuine lego minifigs. You could only really tell the difference with a magnifying glass. :p

We also bought a couple of these off amazon: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0085Y3GCW/ref=pd_lpo_sbs_dp_ss_2?pf_rd_p=1944687722&pf_rd_s=lpo-top-stripe-1&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_i=B0085Y3MTO&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=11K1X6CW7HJ7A6J4YEPK

The rest were a few sets of genuine minifigs off ebay, in figures that we were excited about. Here are a couple pics from the wedding:

Type of Bar: Beer and wine.

Kids at wedding?: Yep, we had about 10 kids under the age of 10 and quite a few teenagers.

Unplugged?: No, but I wish we had. A guest was running around crazy with her iPad. I did some nice pictures from it, but I wish she had just sat still for the ceremony.

Seating Chart: None at all, it worked out fine.

Videographer?: No

Favors?: Photobooth pictures.

Bridal Party Sizes: 3 bridesmaids, 5 groomsmens, 4 ring bearers.

Ceremony Length: About 20 minutes I think. Not really sure, haha.

Gap Length: None.

Reception Length: 5 hours

How many bride dresses: 1

Plus One Philosophy: All SOs were invited by name. All singles got a plus one.

STDs? ( yes? how early): Yep, just under 6 months out.

# of people invited vs # of people attended: 200 invited. 120 RSVPed yes. Around 80 attended

Garter/Bouquet Toss: Yes to the bouquet toss. The groomsmen wanted a garter toss and were sad I didn't have one on. So DH threw his garter straps at them.

Type of Reception Exit (ex- sparklers): None

Where you registered: Nowhere.

Length of Engagement: 9 months

Type of dinner: BBQ buffet

First look?: Yep and it was amazing.

I love these kinds of surveys! Straight to the point!

Bumping because we've had some new BAMS recently and this information is really helpful

Bump!

Type of Bar: It was open, but beer and wine only. We have so freaking much beer left.

Kids at wedding?: Loads. We had chicken fingers for them, set up corn hole, and put out a soccer ball. They all had a blast, an no issues.

Unplugged?: It was supposed to be, but people either didn't know or didn't care. It didn't end up being an issue.

Seating Chart: Yes, we assigned tables.

Videographer?: No. It is my only regret because the day just flew by.

Favors?: We did koozies, and they were a hit. Very few were left behind.

Bridal Party Sizes: Maid of honor, best man, 2 flower girls and 2 ring bearers. I highly suggest a small bridal party. So much easier and stress free.

Ceremony Length: It felt like 30 seconds, but about 15 minutes.

Gap Length: We had a cocktail hour between the ceremony and reception that lasted pretty much exactly an hour.

Reception Length: About 5 hours

How many bride dresses: Just 1. I loved it so much, I can't imagine having 2.

Plus One Philosophy: Extended to all. No one wants to go to a wedding alone.

STDs? ( yes? how early): Yes, sent 6 months in advance.

# of people invited vs # of people attended: 145 invited, 115 accepted, and probably 20 no-shows. I was pretty pissed at that after the fact.

Garter/Bouquet Toss: Neither.

Type of Reception Exit (ex- sparklers): Didn't do one. We were staying on the same property and knew we wouldn't want to leave the reception early (had to end at 11) so we opted not to do one.

Where you registered: Target and Bed, Bath & Beyond

ETA Length of Engagement: Almost 2 years

ETA type of dinner: Cuban buffet. It was a huge hit.

ETA first look?: Yes. I couldn't wait to see him, and wanted to try to avoid bawling down the aisle. It worked.

And just for fun, share a picture

My favorite part of this post is seeing how many people were invited vs. how many actually showed. My list keeps growing and I am hoping not all show lol

I think this might be the best post ever...

Bumpity-Bump-Bump!!

Steph&Mike bumping at midnight mayyy not do much help I agree though this could be helpful for the upocoming fall brides!! Add to the list summer married people

Sorry! Night nurse here... didnt even think about the time, I do a lot of my research at night....

Type of Bar: OPEN, 5.5 hours!! Hubby's one request

Kids at wedding?: Our 2 children (who were ring bearer and flower girl).. Plus one nursing toddler.. I fought long and hard to keep things that way... no regrets..

Unplugged?: Nope!! Non-pro pics have been amazing to view.. I get to relive my wedding day while waiting for pro pics.

Seating Chart: Assigned tables but not seats.

Videographer?: No, ran out of money

Favors?: Wedding cake to take home, photobooth pics.. no official favors, felt like those wouldve been a waste.

Bridal Party Sizes: 7 BMs. 3 GMs, 3 Jr BMs... worked out fine, just had 4 girls double up

Ceremony Length: 30-35 minutes

Gap Length: None, Ceremony and reception at same location, Just cocktail hour in between

Reception Length: 4.5hrs

How many bride dresses: 2!! Only wanted one at first but decided a month out I couldn't dance all night in my first dress (a heavy bodiced ballgown)

Plus One Philosophy: Truly significant other was invited or if someone contacted us stating they'd like to bring someone.

STDs? ( yes? how early): None, also thought was a waste of money... We told people and sent our invites early (March for a June wedding)... Our LOVED ones wouldn't forget our freaking wedding, those who did, oh well.

# of people invited vs # of people attended: 135 invited, 120 attended

Garter/Bouquet Toss: yes to both, it was fun...

Type of Reception Exit (ex- sparklers): None... we danced to a last song.. then everyone helped clear out..

Where you registered: Macy's and BB&B

Length of Engagement: 2 years (We had our son in the mean time)

Type of dinner: Plated, but guests were able to Choose Chicken, Beef, Fish or Veggie

First look?: Yes, we planned for first look and bridal party pics before ceremony, but I was running late so we just did first look before ceremony and pics during cocktail hour.

And just for fun, share a picture