Chill Brides

Girl, I feel the same way! You're not alone on this.
We are planning a "quarter formal" wedding: neither semi-formal nor casual but in-between.
For our ceremony we 'are not doing anything for decor, not even aisle markers or flowers at the altar and I'm not even carrying a bouquet, nor another prop or item.Fiancé's witness is his sister, mine is my BFF, they will be standing next to us (we're not doing a wedding party). Future SIL is planning to wear a skirt suit rather than a dress, BFF is planning to wear a casual pantsuit coz she never wears dresses nor skirts. Their choice. Our processional will be the witnesses , the officiant and us. No parents, grandparents in it. At our reception, the only decor will be 2 balloons on each tables, as centerpieces: 1 silver, 1 navy blue (colors of my dress and his suit). No flowers .We are definitely not sweating the small stuff such as napkins and linen colors, if the parents 'outfits will match or compliment each other , etc. My dress and shoes will be minimalist, things I can easily wear again as a guest or for an eve .Like you, we ditched many (but not all) traditions : we're doing a 1st look, we will walk down the aisle together, I'm planning to bring FH dress shopping and no one else 😀, no parents dance, no tosses etc... we already got serious backlash (especially about the 1st look, the fact we will spend the last night + the morning together and my dad is not going to give me away) but honestly: we couldn't care less as long as we are both love our decisions."we have zero dress code/attire recommendations for our guests- they can show up in whatever they like or feel comfortable in (literally, they could wear a bikini, a ball gown, a tux, or a flippin dinosaur costume!": Same! The guests don't need to be told how to dress... and if one shows up in bikini or an NBA/NFL jersey+short/pants , that's their problem 😆

You have the right idea! So happy for all you "chill brides."

I like to think I was a chill bride myself! I chose not to have a bridal party, although I did have 2 flower girls and they picked out what they wanted to wear! My husband drove us to the ceremony in his car and we hitched a ride with my sister back to our B&B at the end of the night. I also didn't have a train on my dress. I didn't wear makeup! I wore Dr. Scholl's flats!

I was definitely a chill bride. I didn't even make a pinterest look board lol. There were a few things that I knew I wanted, but it wouldn't have been the end of the world if it hadn't happened that way. Honestly, I found the whole experience somewhat relaxed and laid back.

Just do what you and your girls want (and you future husband if he has a "best maid" or some groomsmaids), don't listen to anyone else's opinion, not even mom's,nanas'.

The planning process will run smoothlier, trust me.

Don't mess with him 😀🤣.

Me! I have no bridal party, no pre-parties, no decorations other than table setup. Spent minimal money, and am not stressed about anything in the slightest. Everyone asked if I am nervous about the weather since we want to do it on the beach, and I'm just like, "no? We'll get married in the living room if we have to" lol. I feel so bad for women who get so upset when things don't do right exactly. The ONLY thing I am picky about is having good pictures.

Oh hi!! I would consider myself "chill" in the sense of everything you mentioned. Our (very minimal) wedding party all chose their own outfits. No "Welcome party" , no "bachelor and bachelorette" parties. Nothing is going to be the way I envisioned it but honestly, I don't see the need to stress about it nor do I want to spend our future downpayment on a townhome on trying to achieve it. Cousins and aunts and friends keep asking me if it's ok if they wear this and if they need to do that - and I honestly get a little giddy when I tell them "I don't care - do/wear whatever" and "um, no". I had to ACTIVELY keep people from trying to throw me a bridal shower. People really expect you to be super picky and high maintenance about your wedding that I almost feel like they are a little disappointed that I'm not that way x) Also I think I may be in the minority based on what i've seen on this website...but going above and beyond to have a good "guest experience" is so weird to me. My guests are getting free food, music, and beer/wine - they can all calm the hell down about anything else.

The absolute funnest wedding I remember in recent memory, was my FH's friends. It was in her backyard, everyone brought their own booze and just hung out. If my FH had a smaller family, we would 100% be doing that.

The only thing I'm not chill about is the covid surge (it's already peaked in LA, and I have 4 more weeks left but still) and general debilitating pessimism and anxiety that something catastrophic will happen. But that was always going to be the case regardless of global pandemic >_>

OMG RIGHT?! i don't care about IG, I want to get the whole thing over with so we can move on with our lives together