His 2nd Wedding my 1st need Ideas

carriejohn09

Hey everyone. My fiance has been married before and this will be my 1st walk down the isle BUT im torn on what to do. I always figured I would have a destination wedding but since we are in the middle of buying a house all of our money has gone there so we decided to just get married in city hall then have a lunch afterwards. We are going on a really nice honeymoon but I dont know if we should have a reception after we come back or should we just invite ppl to the lunch. Has anyone else gotten married in this city hall and invited more then just the parents out to lunch or just waited to have a recepetion? All ideas and suggestions are really appriciated

[Deleted User]

I think this is strictly your call.  Whatever works with your schedule and budget.  In fact, since the "wedding" will have already taken place, you can get very creative with time and location - brunch, lunch, dinner, large, small, etc.  You've undoubtedly taken a lot of stress out of the event so you can do whatever is fun and affordable.  When I was college age, a friend of mine did the city hall wedding and later had a reception at the groom's biochemistry fraternity house, and we did not ask about the oriigin of the punch; we just drank it and hoped for the best.  Of course, I was younger then.

AbbeyS2011

You can do any of the following:

Plan a reception/luncheon for right after your city hall wedding, sending out invited to extended family and friends.

Plan a reception the day after your wedding.

Plan a BBQ after you return from your honeymoon.

Any idea would be fine.  You could even have an informal open house at your new home.  If you wanted to send out invites, word them like this:  We invite you to celebrate our marriage on September 25, 2010 at ABC Place, 1pm - Luncheon will be served.

As PP said - it is really up to you. 

Sue-n-Kevin

This is pretty much the "no rules" board on the Knot, so do what feels right to you. My fiance has been married 2 times before, I have never been married. Everyone here is doing what feels right to them. You should too.

An open house, celebrating your wedding and new home would be appropriate. You can combine the 2 and have a BBQ, or whatever feels right.

Good luck.

carriejohn09

Thanks Ladies. We came to the conclusion that since we dont know how long its going to take at city hall we are going to host a dinner later that night for just our immediate family. I guess I just feel a little cheated that I dont get to do the whole engagement party, bridal showers etc.. things but I will be hosting one BIG house warming ...LOL

prusgirl

Carrie if you are ALREADY feeling cheated PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE have the affair you want.

I have two friends who cheated themselves out of what they wanted.  One got married at city hall, she was 18.  They got divorced and she had A BLOWOUT second wedding.  She told me she was always bitter with her first husband because he couldn't afford the wedding she wanted.  FYI, the second wedding didn't even cost 10k.  It was in February on a Friday so it was cheap.

Next, my other friend got married kinda shot gun style.  She was 36 and preggers.  I'm ALWAYS uncomfortable around them when the subject of a wedding comes up.  She gets bitter!!! He told her they couldn't afford a wedding because they were buying a house.  There are times when I'm with her and she totally spazzes out going into a transe about the wedding she should have had.  

So, please don't do that to yourself.  Would you consider getting married again? Having something during the off season so that you can have the dress, the pictures, the friends and the things that you dreamt of.

FYI, my husband was married before and like you it was my first time down the aisle.  He did want a destination wedding.  We had an intimate upscale NYC wedding.  I let him pick out a lot of the things so he didn't feel cheated or forced.  And we are both VERY happy with the outcome.