Couple questions here...or more

nhultberg461 · August 2015

1. Our alcohol budget only calls for say one type of beer. Do you think at that point a dry wedding maybe better off?

2. Flowers. I have bad allergies and asthma. So I was thinking fake flowers for the bouquets. Part of me thinks really tacky but I don't want to be asking for my inhaler during the vows.

3. Centerpieces. I know or I think etiquette calls for something. I was looking for disposable cameras and it was brought up with cell phones etc might not work and actuall cost more. Do you have to have centerpieces?

4. Favors. What is the right thing here? I'm confused.

AddieCake · August 2015

1. I think you should do a dry wedding. Budget is a huge concern for you.

2. Fakes can look nice if they are good quality, but that means money. Why not skip bouquets and do something non floral, or nothing at all?

3. Disposable cameras are kind of a thing of the past.

4. Skip favors. Again, budget is one of your biggest concerns.

beachyone15 · August 2015

You can (and probably should) skip all of these things.

mrscomposer · August 2015

nhultberg461 said:

1. Our alcohol budget only calls for say one type of beer. Do you think at that point a dry wedding maybe better off? 2. Flowers. I have bad allergies and asthma. So I was thinking fake flowers for the bouquets. Part of me thinks really tacky but I don't want to be asking for my inhaler during the vows. 3. Centerpieces. I know or I think etiquette calls for something. I was looking for disposable cameras and it was brought up with cell phones etc might not work and actuall cost more. Do you have to have centerpieces? 4. Favors. What is the right thing here? I'm confused.

1) If one type of beer is what you're offering, then that's what you're offering. If your guests don't want to have that type of beer, they don't have to. If you choose to have a dry wedding, that's fine - but the fact that there's only one type of beer isn't really an issue. Just make sure that there isn't another type of beer that isn't hosted within eyeshot or available at all. (ETA - I misread a bit. If YOU only have room in your budget for one type of beer, I would allocate those funds to something else. A dry wedding is fine).

2) There is nothing wrong with fake flowers. You can find beautiful ones at any craft store, and they are not tacky. Plus, if it's a health concern, this should be a non-issue.

3) Etiquette is how you treat your guests. Centrepieces have nothing to do with how you treat your guests. Ergo, centrepieces are not an etiquette issue. It makes a table look nice to have something in the centre, but it is not required. Also - I wouldn't go with disposable cameras. A lot of money for something that people will likely not use - exactly because they'll all likely have cell phones. I would not pick up a disposable camera to take picture when I have a cell phone that takes better quality ones - and doesn't cost anything to develop.

4) Favours are not required. If you don't have room in the budget for them, don't worry about them. If you do decide to get favours, edible is best.

frenchiekin · August 2015

1. I would probably go dry in this case. It sounds like you would be stretching it in order to have that one type of beer, so save your money since alcohol is not required. If it's really important to you to have it, then your guests should graciously accept what you are hosting (being the one type of beer and then non-alcoholic options) - but it's not necessary to have it.

2. Lots of ways to make silk flowers look beautiful. There are also non-floral options that can work as well - I've seen bridesmaids carry things like lanterns, pinwheels, pretty clutches down the aisle. If you have severe allergies, then that should be your priority in making this decision. Having no real flowers does not affect your guests in any way.

3. You don't need centerpieces - they are part of the decor and have nothing to do with etiquette, so don't worry about that. Depending on how many tables you have, you could always repurpose whatever the bridesmaids are carrying into centerpieces. I've seen the BM bouquets in vases on the tables during the reception at several weddings. Centerpieces also don't need to be big and expensive - you could always do just a few candles if you really want to put something there.

4. Favors are not required. If you don't have the time, money, or emotional energy to deal with them, skip them. We are!

ETA - definitely skip the disposable cameras for all reasons PPs mentioned.

cgss11 · August 2015

1. I think just one type of beer is totally fine, but dry is also.

2. Fake flowers have come a long way, and many look great! There are also other options..paper flowers, brooches, sola flowers, etc.

3. I would not put out disposable cameras, I think that's really outdated. I think there are very simple centerpieces that can look just as great. I personally bought a variety of goodwill vases in all shapes and sizes (less than $1 each). Each table had a mirror, 4 votives, and 2 vases with a single flower in it (again could go fake). I think it looked great, so don't feel like you need a huge centerpiece.

4. Favors optional, stick with an edible if you do them. I used individual Reese's cups (gold was one of my colors) bought little stickers on etsy that went on the top and sprinkled some on each table. Most got eaten, and it was very inexpensive.

Maggie0829 · August 2015

1) So all you would offer is one type of beer and no other alcohol? While offering just beer is fine I do think options are better. Beer and wine would cover the majority of drinkers better then just beer. Can you bring in your own alcohol?

2) Fake flowers are perfectly fine. There are also many options for non-floral bouquets. CLICK to see some pictures.

3) Centerpieces are not a must but if you don't have anything then your tables could look rather bare. A simple pillar candle placed inside a tall glass vase with colored marbles on the bottom is an easy and inexpensive centerpiece. Or you could just get a bunch of votives and place them around your table number and call it a day. I find that candles can do a lot for a room.

I would not waste your time or money on disposable cameras.

4) Favors are not required so you can just nix these and then use the money towards something else if you want.

nhultberg461 · August 2015

Maggie0829 said:
1) So all you would offer is one type of beer and no other alcohol? While offering just beer is fine I do think options are better. Beer and wine would cover the majority of drinkers better then just beer. Can you bring in your own alcohol?

2) Fake flowers are perfectly fine. There are also many options for non-floral bouquets. CLICK to see some pictures.

3) Centerpieces are not a must but if you don't have anything then your tables could look rather bare. A simple pillar candle placed inside a tall glass vase with colored marbles on the bottom is an easy and inexpensive centerpiece. Or you could just get a bunch of votives and place them around your table number and call it a day. I find that candles can do a lot for a room.

I would not waste your time or money on disposable cameras.

4) Favors are not required so you can just nix these and then use the money towards something else if you want.

We can bring our own alcohol in. That's why we can only do one type of beer. It's what our budget allows.

I feel better about the favors and centerpieces.

I'm going to have to further look at the pictures of silk flowers or maybe not carry anything but just hang onto my sons arm.

marie2785 · August 2015

Question on beer--is this a keg? Or you can only afford 1 type from like Costco? Because if you can only afford 1 type and it's bottles, a number of brands make variety boxes. EG Sam Adams has a box of 24 beers that includes 4-6 different varieties. I've found that tends to be a people-pleaser at parties.

But if even that is stretching your budget, just go dry. Just expect that if it's an evening wedding, and you have a drinking crowd, they may leave early.

nhultberg461 · August 2015

marie2785 said:
Question on beer--is this a keg? Or you can only afford 1 type from like Costco? Because if you can only afford 1 type and it's bottles, a number of brands make variety boxes. EG Sam Adams has a box of 24 beers that includes 4-6 different varieties. I've found that tends to be a people-pleaser at parties.

But if even that is stretching your budget, just go dry. Just expect that if it's an evening wedding, and you have a drinking crowd, they may leave early.

Not the keg. I was thinking bottles or cans. We have lees liquor and a place called total wines out here plus the Costco and SAMs club too.

Maggie0829 · August 2015

Honestly it sounds like even providing the one type of beer is stretching your budget so I would just have a dry wedding.

And if you don't want to carry anything then you don't have to. I mean once you get to your FI you will just be handing off your bouquet anyways, so save yourself the money and worry and just go empty handed so to speak.

JaxInBlue · August 2015

1. Agree with PPs. If budget is a big concern, going dry can save you a bunch of money. That said, I don't think offering only one kind of beer is terrible. (Our bar was one kind of beer, red wine and white wine. We did our best to pick what was most popular among our guests.)

2. Fake flowers can look great if you get the right ones (usually the more expensive ones). You can look into other options if you want to carry something - a fan, a clutch purse, feathers. etc, But nothing is necessary.

3. Centerpieces are also not necessary. I do agree that they can help fill in a table and add dimension or texture to your reception. You could use special or sentimental books, fruit, candles, pictures of you, FI and your family. There are a lot of options that would probably be less expensive than a floral arrangement.

4. Skip favors. They aren't required, especially if your budget is limited. If you want to include favors, I would try to think of something that could double as a centerpiece a the table, such as cake pops you could arrange in a vase or candy or carmel apples that could be arranged in center display.

julieanne912 · August 2015

Another cheap centerpiece that always looks nice is baby's breath in a vase or jar or silver bucket.

MobKaz · August 2015

nhultberg461 said:

1) So all you would offer is one type of beer and no other alcohol? While offering just beer is fine I do think options are better. Beer and wine would cover the majority of drinkers better then just beer. Can you bring in your own alcohol?

2) Fake flowers are perfectly fine. There are also many options for non-floral bouquets. CLICK to see some pictures.

3) Centerpieces are not a must but if you don't have anything then your tables could look rather bare. A simple pillar candle placed inside a tall glass vase with colored marbles on the bottom is an easy and inexpensive centerpiece. Or you could just get a bunch of votives and place them around your table number and call it a day. I find that candles can do a lot for a room.

I would not waste your time or money on disposable cameras.

4) Favors are not required so you can just nix these and then use the money towards something else if you want.
We can bring our own alcohol in. That's why we can only do one type of beer. It's what our budget allows. I feel better about the favors and centerpieces. I'm going to have to further look at the pictures of silk flowers or maybe not carry anything but just hang onto my sons arm.

Were you planning on using any type of clutch for the day? You could carry that if you think you might feel the need to hold onto something. My daughter had her BM's carry a clutch. The clutch had a fabric band around it, to which were affixed a small floral arrangement. Perhaps you could attach a silk flower to it.

Are you religious or having a faith based ceremony? You could walk up carrying a family bible or rosary.

loveislouder · August 2015

julieanne912 said:

Another cheap centerpiece that always looks nice is baby's breath in a vase or jar or silver bucket.

If you desperately want centre pieces, I'm with Julieanne on this. This is one of my favourite centre pieces:

ETA: Typo. Also no centrepieces are okay too

thespeshulestsnowflake · August 2015

nhultberg461 said:

Question on beer--is this a keg? Or you can only afford 1 type from like Costco? Because if you can only afford 1 type and it's bottles, a number of brands make variety boxes. EG Sam Adams has a box of 24 beers that includes 4-6 different varieties. I've found that tends to be a people-pleaser at parties.

But if even that is stretching your budget, just go dry. Just expect that if it's an evening wedding, and you have a drinking crowd, they may leave early.
Not the keg. I was thinking bottles or cans. We have lees liquor and a place called total wines out here plus the Costco and SAMs club too.

If you are doing bottles or cans, you can do more than one type of beer.

For example, if you want Bud and Bud Light. A 12 pack of each costs around the same amount of money, so you could split the costs between them, getting 50% split of each.

[Deleted User] · August 2015

MobKaz said:

nhultberg461 said:

1) So all you would offer is one type of beer and no other alcohol? While offering just beer is fine I do think options are better. Beer and wine would cover the majority of drinkers better then just beer. Can you bring in your own alcohol?

2) Fake flowers are perfectly fine. There are also many options for non-floral bouquets. CLICK to see some pictures.

3) Centerpieces are not a must but if you don't have anything then your tables could look rather bare. A simple pillar candle placed inside a tall glass vase with colored marbles on the bottom is an easy and inexpensive centerpiece. Or you could just get a bunch of votives and place them around your table number and call it a day. I find that candles can do a lot for a room.

I would not waste your time or money on disposable cameras.

4) Favors are not required so you can just nix these and then use the money towards something else if you want.
We can bring our own alcohol in. That's why we can only do one type of beer. It's what our budget allows. I feel better about the favors and centerpieces. I'm going to have to further look at the pictures of silk flowers or maybe not carry anything but just hang onto my sons arm.

Were you planning on using any type of clutch for the day? You could carry that if you think you might feel the need to hold onto something. My daughter had her BM's carry a clutch. The clutch had a fabric band around it, to which were affixed a small floral arrangement. Perhaps you could attach a silk flower to it.

Are you religious or having a faith based ceremony? You could walk up carrying a family bible or rosary.

The clutch cracks me up. Story time. I was a bridesmaid in my Brazilian cousin's wedding. Sister of the groom told me I had to carry a clutch. I told them I didn't need a clutch because FH would just be holding my stuff. Nope, I needed a clutch. I tried leaving it in the car, someone got it out for me. I tried leaving it in the getting ready room, someone brought it to me. I ended up holding this damn clutch down the aisle for the wedding. In all the wedding party photos all the girls are holding their damn clutches. I'm tall and stood in the back and didn't have the clutch visible. Fast forward a couple years to my sister's American wedding. My Brazilian cousin and her girlfriend are both wearing beautiful dresses and holding their clutches. For the family photo, the photographer motions to me to grab the purses from those two lovely ladies in the front. I just shook my head and told the photographer that it's a Brazilian thing, they have to have their clutches at weddings and in wedding photos. It's just what they do. *sigh* So, the clutch, while not a bad idea, just cracks me up.

nhultberg461 · August 2015

adk19 said:

MobKaz said:

nhultberg461 said:

Maggie0829 said:
1) So all you would offer is one type of beer and no other alcohol? While offering just beer is fine I do think options are better. Beer and wine would cover the majority of drinkers better then just beer. Can you bring in your own alcohol?

2) Fake flowers are perfectly fine. There are also many options for non-floral bouquets. CLICK to see some pictures.

3) Centerpieces are not a must but if you don't have anything then your tables could look rather bare. A simple pillar candle placed inside a tall glass vase with colored marbles on the bottom is an easy and inexpensive centerpiece. Or you could just get a bunch of votives and place them around your table number and call it a day. I find that candles can do a lot for a room.

I would not waste your time or money on disposable cameras.

4) Favors are not required so you can just nix these and then use the money towards something else if you want.
We can bring our own alcohol in. That's why we can only do one type of beer. It's what our budget allows.

I feel better about the favors and centerpieces.

I'm going to have to further look at the pictures of silk flowers or maybe not carry anything but just hang onto my sons arm.

Were you planning on using any type of clutch for the day? You could carry that if you think you might feel the need to hold onto something. My daughter had her BM's carry a clutch. The clutch had a fabric band around it, to which were affixed a small floral arrangement. Perhaps you could attach a silk flower to it.

Are you religious or having a faith based ceremony? You could walk up carrying a family bible or rosary.

The clutch cracks me up. Story time. I was a bridesmaid in my Brazilian cousin's wedding. Sister of the groom told me I had to carry a clutch. I told them I didn't need a clutch because FH would just be holding my stuff. Nope, I needed a clutch. I tried leaving it in the car, someone got it out for me. I tried leaving it in the getting ready room, someone brought it to me. I ended up holding this damn clutch down the aisle for the wedding. In all the wedding party photos all the girls are holding their damn clutches. I'm tall and stood in the back and didn't have the clutch visible. Fast forward a couple years to my sister's American wedding. My Brazilian cousin and her girlfriend are both wearing beautiful dresses and holding their clutches. For the family photo, the photographer motions to me to grab the purses from those two lovely ladies in the front. I just shook my head and told the photographer that it's a Brazilian thing, they have to have their clutches at weddings and in wedding photos. It's just what they do. *sigh* So, the clutch, while not a bad idea, just cracks me up.

Omg I just snorted.

I was reading one if the other posts here not to sweat the small things.
I just want something simple and to have fun.

princessleia22 · August 2015

Alcohol: Doing a dry wedding is fine. Doing one type of beer is fine. If you are getting bottles/cans, you can still mix it up with a little variety. But, if you are that tight on budget, I'd just go all non-alcoholic.

Flowers: There are actually some great fakes out there these days. Look at "Real Touch" or "Natural Touch" flowers. Some can get expensive, some aren't so bad. They sell Real Touch at Michaels if you want to check them out. Some varieties do look more real than others. Www.afloral.com has some great options for decent price. My BM bouquets were latex (similar to Real Touch) pre-made orchid bouquets that I got from afloral.com... for $10 each. Then I just combined 2 of them and added greenery for my bouquet. I had to convince my photographer that they were fake (after she was smelling them) and the hotel maid put my BM's bouquet in water for her. Attached is photo of my $20 fake bouquet.

Centerpieces: Are just decoration. Nothing etiquette related about it. You can go ahead and skip them or do something really simple and cheap. Maybe even just sprinkle some flower petals in the center of the table if you don't want it so empty. My flower girl dropped fake flower petals while walking down the aisle... these were picked up and sprinkled on the guest book table at our reception for some decoration and it looked good.

Favors: Again, not required. If you are that tight on budget, skip them.

LondonLisa · August 2015

1.) if more than one type of beer is going to break the bank then yes, I would do a dry wedding. If your budget is that tight, it will just make it more stressful than it needs to be.

2.) Whilst fake flowers can be ok, there are plenty of non-floral alternatives that look great (and are cheaper) such as Parasols:

Lanterns:

Pearl bouquet:

3.) Etiquette definitely does not require centerpieces! This more falls into the "tradition" camp rather than etiquitte. However, if you would like something, just do simple candles in votives (you could easily do this inexpensively from IKEA). Group 3 tall glass vases with different size candles and a few tea lights. Candle light is so romantic and does so much to set the tone. How chic is this (even without the Orchids)!

4.) Skip the favours.

SP29 · August 2015

Agree with the above.

1) One type of beer *is* fine, but options are better. So if you know you have $XXX to spend for Y number of guests, see if you can split that up between a couple of brands.

However, a dry wedding is also perfectly acceptable.

2) Fake flowers are fine. Or, as others said, you can carry something else.

3) Centerpieces are not etiquette. If it's stretching the budget, I wouldn't worry about them at all- especially if you could use that "centerpiece money" toward your alcohol budget (if you still want to have it) to get you another brand or two.

At the last wedding I went to, the tables had simple small bowl vases filled with water and a floating candle every couple of seats. You could get the vase and the candle from a dollar store for $1 each.

But honestly, no one cares.

4) Favours entirely not necessary. The reception is your thank you to guests for attending your ceremony.

Regarding flowers, centerpieces and favours, if you currently have money allocated to these items, I would take that money and put it towards your alcohol budget over worrying about these individual items.

NicRen17 · August 2015

1) If one type of beer is what you're offering, then that's what you're offering. If your guests don't want to have that type of beer, they don't have to. If you choose to have a dry wedding, that's fine - but the fact that there's only one type of beer isn't really an issue. Just make sure that there isn't another type of beer that isn't hosted within eyeshot or available at all. (ETA - I misread a bit. If YOU only have room in your budget for one type of beer, I would allocate those funds to something else. A dry wedding is fine).

Question?
Our reception is going to be on the second floor of a pub/brewery/restaurant. We are going to have a private bar and are debating on doing a few microbrews/wines/water/soda kinda thing. The question is that the pub downstairs will remain open to the public and the main bar will be available. Will this be a side-eye to have a fully open and stocked bar downstairs for the public and patrons and a limited (but cash-free) bar for the wedding reception?

julieanne912 · August 2015

NicRen17 said:

1) If one type of beer is what you're offering, then that's what you're offering. If your guests don't want to have that type of beer, they don't have to. If you choose to have a dry wedding, that's fine - but the fact that there's only one type of beer isn't really an issue. Just make sure that there isn't another type of beer that isn't hosted within eyeshot or available at all. (ETA - I misread a bit. If YOU only have room in your budget for one type of beer, I would allocate those funds to something else. A dry wedding is fine).

Question?
Our reception is going to be on the second floor of a pub/brewery/restaurant. We are going to have a private bar and are debating on doing a few microbrews/wines/water/soda kinda thing. The question is that the pub downstairs will remain open to the public and the main bar will be available. Will this be a side-eye to have a fully open and stocked bar downstairs for the public and patrons and a limited (but cash-free) bar for the wedding reception?

You should probably start a separate thread for your question.

NicRen17 · August 2015

Ok thanks

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