A billionaire heiress's budget wedding... hmmm

andamu

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-1379921/Richard-Bransons-girl-Holly-marries-budget.html

This is going to be a bit of a post-and-run as I'm off to bed, but I read this article while catching up on royal wedding gossip (I know, I know), and a couple of things stood out to me.

"Some 300 of Holly’s closest friends, including Guy Pelly, Pippa Middleton and Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie, celebrated the Virgin heiress’s engagement last week – at the Virgin-owned Kensington Roof Gardens in West London.

Although Holly was already saving a fortune on venue hire, guests still paid for their own drinks.

And, in another money-saving move, the party doubled as a wedding reception for the majority of the guests who won’t be on the list of 100 invitees to Necker."

Now, I've never been to the UK, so maybe I'm just ignorant of local etiquette.  What do you ladies think?

thesuninherhead

Cash bar and pre-wedding parties which include non-guests are pretty standard in the UK. 

jill11

Cash bars are completely expected and normal in western Europe.  Granted I wouldn't travel in the same circles as Holly Branson!  I was at a wedding last summer, held in a castle and with a cash bar.  Different strokes

ootmother2

Weddings in the U.K. are very different tha weddings here.

Most of the important festivities happen before the wedding and tiered receptions are common, particularly with the royalty

DeadUtopia

I read that not even Wills and Kate are having a dinner reception. It will only be champagne and canapes for 600.

To save money, I should have a UK style wedding then, cash bar and all...LOL

SparrowSong

Camping on a private island sounds fun. I can't imagine a huge number of her guests are the "sleep on the ground" type though.

lyndausvi

I've been to Necker Island and there are no cash bars there.  So at least the wedding guests will not have to pay for their drinks.

lyndausvi

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_etiquette_billionaire-heiresss-budget-wedding-hmmm?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20BoardsForum:9Discussion:a48d2cf8-4585-4b84-a9f4-b37b53c21f7bPost:6e024b95-c061-43db-97f0-8bf483a0dfd9">Re: A billionaire heiress's budget wedding... hmmm</a>:
[QUOTE]Camping on a private island sounds fun. I can't imagine a huge number of her guests are the "sleep on the ground" type though.
Posted by SparrowSong[/QUOTE]

<div>Necker as a lot of day beds all round.  I was told it's not unusual for Brandon's guests to 'camp' out on those when all the other beds were taken.  When I was there it only slept 26 people.  I think they have added rooms since then.</div>

andamu

Thanks for explaining, ladies.  I couldn't tell if the Daily Mail was going for "Holly Branson!  Has cash bars just like us!" or the "Fun new ways to save money!" angle.

I think the idea of camping out sounds awesome, and whoever said that they didn't get rich by spending their own money is right on.  (Besides, I doubt most of her invitees will have any trouble paying the airfare to the Caribbean themselves.)

Always interesting to learn something about etiquette elsewhere in the world.