Welcome back to another Wedding Wednesday post! It has been a minute since I shared any wedding content, but I am glad to be able to start sharing all the details now that our wedding is over. If you missed my original wedding post sharing my top wedding highlights, you can click here to check it out!
There were so many traditional things we skipped at our wedding, and I’m excited to share what they all are, why we skipped them, and if I have any regrets!
1. hired a professional officiant
Because Ryan and I are not very religious, we were not attached to any clergy members. We also did to want a stranger to officiate our ceremony, and wanted it to be more personal. One of my best friends Katie “officiated” our ceremony, and then Ryan and I went to the courthouse to get our marriage certificate. I am SO glad we did it this way! Our ceremony was absolutely perfect and we got so many compliments.
2. Invited kids or had kids in our wedding party
Ryan and I knew from the beginning of wedding planning that we did not want to invite kids to our wedding. We wanted our wedding to be a fun, adults only party. We didn’t want kids possibly disrupting our ceremony or having tantrums during the reception etc. Our budget was another factor in our decision. We definitely do not regret this one!
flower girl or ring bearer
Since Ryan and I don’t have any immediate family members or super close friends with kids who could have possibly assumed the roles of flower girl or ring bearer, we decided to skip this. I think things would have been different if, say, my sister had a toddler or young child… I would probably have wanted to include them. Also since we were not inviting kids to the wedding it didn’t make sense to have a flower girl or ring bearer.
3. Cut our cake
Ryan and I did not have any desire to cut our own cake. I was too worried it would break up the party and we just did not find meaning in doing it. The cake was something I literally did not care about at all since I am not crazy about cake. Apparently some of my family members were disappointed/asked my mom why we didn’t cut the cake… but I have no regrets about this, haha. I do wish we had the DJ announce that dessert was out because I almost missed it and barely ate any dessert, sadly.
4. Garter belt toss
Do people even do this anymore? We both have always thought the garter belt toss is weird and uncomfortable.
5. Sendoff or final exit
We chose not to do any type of send off or final exit. It was just something else to add to the list of thing to plan, plus I didn’t want to break up the dace floor.
6. Guest book
I don’t have much to say about this, other than Ryan and I did not need another item in our tiny apartment! I think this is something that often gets missed at weddings and to me it just seemed like a waste.
7. Favors
I have been to about 15 weddings and I have thrown out every favor I have gotten. I felt favors are just a waste of money and there were so many other things I wanted to put my money towards instead. I am so glad we skipped favors!
8. photo booth
I contemplated having a photo booth because I know they are so much fun at weddings! However ultimately we decided we did not want to spend the money on it and I am so glad we did not get one. Our venue offered a white arch, which we had our florist create an arrangement on. Our guests were able to use that as a backdrop for photos, which all turned out great!
9. Memorial table
I originally was going to put together a memorial table. I even bought frames from Goodwill and painted them gold. However as the wedding date got closer, I became more stressed out about it trying to get the photos together… it was just like “one more thing to do and pack and keep track of.” So instead, I had Katie mention the two most important people Ryan and I were missing in the wedding party and that was perfect.
10. Got married in a church
This goes back to the officiant in #1, but since Ryan and I aren’t religious, it didn’t make sense to get married in a church. We both knew we wanted an all outdoor ceremony and reception!
Venders
- Venue: Lauxmont Farms
- Planning: Rachel Kendall Events
- Photography: Chesapeake Charm Photo
- Gown: BHLDN
- Florals: Laura of Lauxmont
- Catering: Legends Catering
- Hair: Baltimore Bridal Hair
- Make Up: The Brushing Bride
- Rentals: La Lucia Boutique
- DJ: District Remix
