Alternatives to a wedding?

prodigalgirl

BF and I were talking last night, and we've started thinking that we might not want a wedding after all.  It's a second marriage for both of us and we both had a wedding the first time around.  While we do think this marriage deserves to be celebrated, we'd rather spend the money on our honeymoon, which we think is much more important (time to ourselves to get used to being officially married before the kids come into the picture).

I'm not a fan of just going to the courthouse and BF started asking what the alternatives would be.

I had no clue!

We've decided that we're going to think about it before we get engaged so that once he's proposed, we'll know the basics of what we want to do and we can start planning toward that (since we're planning to get married sometime BEFORE July 2011).

Bec20

You could organize something simple, with just your immediate families either at your church or on the beach.  You could could then celebrate at the private room of a restaurant or, if you want to invite more people, have an afternoon reception... people could still come, but it would seem less "wedding-y".

I'm sure you'll have an awesome time with whatever you decide.

PaigeMcC

What about a DW?  Go somewhere tropical with some witnesses and maybe some family/close friends.  Get married on a beach...sounds like a good time to me;)

prodigalgirl

Those are some ideas! 

We want to go to the mountains for our honeymoon, so if we did a DW, that's where we'd need to do it, right? 

noelle24

Yep.  Do a DW in the mountains.  I know there are a lot of wedding "packages" you can get in CO for a variety of wedding sizes (from just the two of you, to small family, to large wedding). 

Another option.  Find a JOP and have a ceremony on a beach, in your backyard, in a park, etc., and have a BBQ/picnic style celebration with your closest family and friends.  Or go to a restaurant after the ceremony. 

There are lots of options in between courthouse and big fancy wedding.

For ourselves, FI and I are going to the courthouse in the afternoon, and then out to dinner with 20 of our friends and family at a nice restaurant.  It still has some celebration factor to it, but is low-key and much, much less expensive!

hetshup

Ditto Noelle,

Many bed and breakfasts have little wedding packages. You can get married there and have light snacks. The one problem that I see with doing something like a DW is that everyone that is coming out is also on vacation, so you may not have the "alone" time to just relax. So I say, do a local B&B ceremony then have a wonderful honeymoon.

heyimbren

I think what you really mean is you don't want a "traditional wedding", because a wedding is just when you get married... and I think you still want that :P

I love DW but I would never be able to convince myself to have one... sounds contradictory I know, but I'd rather have people there than a great DW. That's just me though!

You could elope, you could JoP it (I actually also love the idea of a JoP because my familly is very into law around here.), you could do a really simple outdoor wedding. Some people get married on ships (usually cruise ships).

tafft1

You definitely have options. First you need to decide together how many people - if any aside from witnesses you really want to share your day with. When hubby and I decided to do a small DW in Lake Tahoe we knew we wanted to keep the list at 20 people total. There were lots of people who got married that weekend - some with just a few people at one of the local Bed and Breakfasts , some on the beach with close family , others inside a hotel and had dinner with close friends and family after.

A wedding dosen't have to be all frill , it can definitely be tailored to what you both envision , as simple as you want it without having to sacrifice - it is possible ! Look into some places you both love - beaches , mountains , tropical locations . etc. Hope this helps !

katanne9

I've you want no "wedding" feel at all, I've seen living room weddings. Literally just in the home, have a JOP come and marry you right in your house/backyard. You could always just run off to Vegas too!

prodigalgirl

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/special-topic-wedding-boards_not-engaged-yet_alternatives-wedding?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Special Topic Wedding BoardsForum:136Discussion:58b73589-61d2-4aa7-8ba2-e89aed138f6fPost:ffee69e9-09ae-47c6-88eb-ce895f2989ad">Re: Alternatives to a wedding?</a>:
[QUOTE]I think what you really mean is you don't want a "traditional wedding", because a wedding is just when you get married... and I think you still want that :P [/QUOTE]
Yes!  Ugh!  I just broke a major rule of knot-talk!  Oops.  At least I didn't say "real wedding", right? <img src="http://cdn.cl9.vanillaforums.com/downloaded/ver1.0/content/scripts/tinymce/plugins/emotions/images/smiley-embarassed.gif" border="0" alt="Embarassed" title="Embarassed" />


Thanks for all the tips, ladies!  It definitely gives me some ideas for our next conversation on the subject!

[Deleted User]

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/special-topic-wedding-boards_not-engaged-yet_alternatives-wedding?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Special Topic Wedding BoardsForum:136Discussion:58b73589-61d2-4aa7-8ba2-e89aed138f6fPost:34899114-34c3-41c9-918d-2a39806a3f4a">Re: Alternatives to a wedding?</a>:
[QUOTE]I've you want no "wedding" feel at all, I've seen living room weddings. Literally just in the home, have a JOP come and marry you right in your house/backyard. You could always just run off to Vegas too!
Posted by katanne9[/QUOTE]

Yep, if you come to Vegas, we literally have a chapel or venue for every personality.  There are tons of chapels on the Strip and downtown as well as in the different casinos/hotels and a lot of them are really nice - we also have mountains that are very close (a friend of mine got married up there in June and it was beautiful).  Whatever you decide, I'm sure it will be great.