What ideas are brand new to you since joining Ww?

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A courthouse wedding is not real? It's as legal as they get. A big party doesn't make it real.

Honestly I wish more brides would bring tradition back! One I’m happy to be including is the bridal breakfast the day after the wedding for all the guests that came from out of town. It’s a late breakfast not quite a brunch and I’m happy to say that I will be the third of my siblings to do so!

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Of course it's real. But I see it ALL the time here. "We might have to get married in a courthouse [because reason] but we will still plan our real wedding for later." It doesn't bother me personally because my wedding was planned exactly as my husband and I wanted. But I do feel bad for people who are in the planning stages, who may have modest plans and small budgets, reading these forums and seeing so many people claim that type of wedding isn't meaningful, desirable, or "real."

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I know exactly what you mean. I always scratch my head when I read those too and am always curious what the motives are. Are they trying to copy tv/celeb weddings and only care about aesthetics or is something else going on?

I agree that it can be discouraging to someone on a budget to read that and get an idea that their girsts will be disappointed in them if they don't go extravagant.

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Hmm I've never of this. Must be regional?

Gifts for patents and in-laws. Proposal Gifts for wedding party.

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I've never heard of these either. Most people I know who have been attendants say they were asked over drinks or the phone.

View Quoted Comment It has always been that way for me as well. Lol. Then I saw discussion forums where people wrote, "what should I get my bridesmaids as a gift when I ask them to be one?"

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Oh yeah, add proposal gifts (actually, anything related to a "proposal" for wedding party members) to my list of things I had never heard of or experienced.

I don't think I had heard of giving gifts to parents, either, but I assume that would always be a private thing that a wedding guest would know nothing about, so that one was much less surprising to read about here.

Ones that I have never heard of:

Cash bars

Cash gifts (wishing wells, honeymoon funds, expecting that guests only give cash/checks if you don't register)

Brides planning their own showers and bachelorettes

Brides wearing white to everything

A separate reception dress

MCs being required

Introductions at the beginning of reception

Signs for everything

Flower/ring children allowed at adult only events

Late night snacks

Beer/wine only with signature drinks

Plus ones

The idea that if your distant acquaintance isn't a bridesmaid/reader/usher or some other unnecessary job, they will be offended and that being a guest isn't good enough

Someone other than the officiant reading or leading the ceremony

A full meal is required at every hour and cake/coffee isn't good enough

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I'm from the East Coast and we call it a farewell brunch or farewell breakfast. Every wedding that I can remember going to growing up, as well as every wedding in my extended family, has hosted a farewell brunch the morning after for out of town guests. The very first wedding I attended as an out of town guest without a farewell brunch the following day was the wedding of one of my husband's relatives in my 20s! My husband is from a different part of the country and he had never heard of a farewell brunch before. I think farewell brunches are also more common with black tie weddings, which is predominantly the type of wedding I was used to growing up in my family.

Things that I had never heard of before WW:

Cash bars

Groom's cake

Bridal luncheon

Cake and punch style wedding

View Quoted Comment Wow, that is a hefty list! And a lot of them seem like very common items. Out of curiosity, what area are you from? Just curious if maybe these are things that aren’t common in your country/area.

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I'm from the west coast of US but my family is from the southern states. So they are used to cake and punch only, a guestbook attendant at the ceremony, registry gifts only (no cash). The social circles fiance and I have been in over the years in those areas differ only slightly in that they occasionally serve local restaurant catering instead of just cake at a community center. But the same traditions otherwise.

View Quoted Comment I guess I didn’t realize weddings in the southern states differed so drastically from those in the rest of the country. I’ve only been to one wedding in the south, but it was when I was very young so I don’t really remember it. So crazy how things can differ so much!

I had never heard of proposal boxes for the BP (and I still don't get them), cookie bars, Jack and Jills, bridal portraits, paying for your bridesmaid's dresses (makeup, yes, dresses, no), no dancing, no alcohol, and all of those really regional things.
I'm from New Jersey, so often it feels like the Hollywood wedding reflects what is "traditional" for me. (I mean, I got my dress from a Kleinfeld pop-up sample sale. Missed Randy by a day, drat.) For us, weddings are usually pretty formal, involve dancing, a major meal, and cost a ridiculous amount of money, even when you are a "budget" bride. (Our budget, which was considered 'low-end' for our area, would have paid for the most lavish wedding in a good swath of the country. It's *obscene* how expensive it is, here.)

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I'm from the South and I've never heard of a bridal luncheon before this site either lol. If its a southern thing, I missed it lol. I also am not sure what it is lol.

View Quoted Comment Well I’m glad I’m not the only one that’s confused on this! lol

I have never heard of cash bars or cake and punch weddings. I've never been to a wedding before without a full sit-down meal, and I've definitely never had to open up my wallet at a wedding before. Before Wedding Wire, I also didn't know that some brides ask their bridesmaids to contribute to the cost of hair and makeup. I've been a bridesmaid many times and the bride always paid for my hair and makeup, and I just had to pay for my dress. Most of my family is on the east coast and west coast but I've been living in Atlanta for the past 6 years.

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No idea what region they are from but what I have read is that is the only pre-wedding event the bride is allowed to plan herself. Basically a thank you party for bridesmaids where their gifts are distributed. I have never met anyone who has held one but they are said to have been very popular among older generations (1980s and earlier).