Wacky weddings

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Nevarlander

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I think since it’s about marriage we can talk about it here. Anyone ever invited/go to a theme wedding? I hear about this stuff, but am curious to know just how common it is, and if the “theme” stuff detracts from the actual occasion.
I have two examples I know of, one good and one bad, but I know/of a lot of strange people. I’m hoping it isn’t quite so common.
I’m not considering a theme thing. Still looking for the husband, LOL.
  1. There is a couple of my acquaintance (a very slight acquaintance) getting married this Halloween. It’s pirate-themed. ¯\O_o/¯ Yeah. That’s what I thought too.
  2. Also, was at a salon in '05 and had my nails done by a woman who had gotten married in a LOTR-ish wedding. Saw some pictures - the LOTR stuff was beautiful and didn’t seem to have detracted from the solemnity. Don’t know how the actual ceremony went, though, so can’t say.
 
I wanted to edit this post, but time expired while I was writing it. Changing the focus of the topic to “theme weddings done well”. Can it be done?
 
One of my friends from church was in a theme wedding. It was a medieval theme, with madrigal music and renaissance banquet. The wedding party all wore period gowns and the men wore garb of that era. Other than the dress and the reception theme it was a normal wedding.

Not for me, but the gowns were beautiful in the pictures.
 
ooooh…I’d be interested in this too! (Still looking for the husband 😃 too)

But it’s never too early to get ideas, is it? 😉
 
I’ve seen Victorian themed weddings, Western themed weddings, a few ethnic ones (Mexican, Scottish–yep, the men wore kilts!) and while they were tasteful (especially the Victorian one… where they found top hats for the men I’ll never know!) it WAS a little distracting to see a bride wearing a white lace cowboy hat with a veil attached (who knew such a thing was available? Probably the same place they got the top hats from!) Most, however, were NOT Catholic weddings, nor even church weddings. That probably says a lot.

I guess it’s better than matching gorilla suits or skydiving while getting married… never seen those, but have heard of them.
 
At one of the Catholic churches where I used to serve as cantor, there was a couple who had a Scottish-themed wedding complete with kilts, bagpipes, plaid bridesmaid dresses, and all that. I found this to be rather “different” because neither of them are Scottish; they just thought this would be “fun” or whatever. Um, OK… Also, one of my friends has a brother who had a Native American themed wedding (outdoors in moccasins, non-Catholic). He is a German immigrant and the happy bride is of Dutch heritage, hardly Native American-looking at all! I wonder, if there are guests who belong to the ethnic groups that these non-members are borrowing from, how they feel about having their heritage used in this way. 🤷
 
My husband’s cousin was telling me about one of her friend’s weddings…

It was Disney’s Snow White. She wore the snow white dress and he was Prince Charming. The walked down an isle flanked by guys with trumpets with the little flags hanging off of them. The whole ceremony area (not a church I think) was decorated to look like it came out of a Disney movie.

Dh’s cousin said it was cute, but kinda silly for adults to be playing dress up like that at their wedding. 🤷
 
I went to a circus wedding. The actual wedding was pretty straightforward, but the reception had clowns, jugglers and fire eaters. The menu was hotdogs, cotton candy, lemonade, peanuts and all kinds of carnival food. The groom was a graduate of Ringling Clown College and is a professional clown.
 
Catholic Wedding:

The groom is Scots-Irish, so he wore his clans plaid. The other grooms men wore their perspective clan plaids, or blackwatch.
The bridesmaids were sashes in perspective plaids or blackwatch.

http://photos-c.ak.facebook.com/photos-ak-sctm/v97/75/86/144701097/n144701097_30464906_5725.jpg

I guess it’s not all that weird.

OH!
My cousin’s husband rode in, with the rest of the groomsmen on horseback and tied up the horses near by. We sat on bales of hay, and the groom cake was an armadillo.
 
I think theme weddings kind of detract from the solemnity of the occasion. I’ve heard of sky-diving weddings and other such things (underwater, etc.) but I can’t help but think that these marriages suffer from too much attention on the “event” and not enough on the sacrament.
My daughter just got married in a beautiful outdoor wedding and it was pretty straight-forward. We spent less than $2000 because we did everything ourselves. It was lovely!
 
I don’t think I would categorize the inclusion of valid ethnic heritage, like Scottish, Irish, Mexican, Native American, etc, along with theme weddings. By “valid” I mean that one of the people getting married is actually a member of the ethnic group.

Especially the Snow White one, that is just childish and I question the maturity of the people getting married and their ability to really understand the commitment they are making.

I think, if a couple has a real attachment to something they share, and incorporate it as a kind of theme in their wedding, then it might be done in a way that does not detract from the solemnity of the event. But doing it frivolously, just for “fun” is probably a bad idea.

Funny thing…I was much more “feminist” in high school and college than I am now. One of the things that really woke me up to just how traditional I am was planning my wedding!
 
Biblioassistant said:
I went to a circus wedding. The actual wedding was pretty straightforward, but the reception had clowns, jugglers and fire eaters. The menu was hotdogs, cotton candy, lemonade, peanuts and all kinds of carnival food. The groom was a graduate of Ringling Clown College and is a professional clown.
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Circus reception - awesome!
I’d have to agree with duskyjewel about “ethnic” things not being weird if you’re part of that ethnicity. It’s part of who you are. But, like, Disney wedding stuff… just weird, man. Though the one travelers’ Catholic church (Shrine of the Immaculate Conception) in Orlando is really lovely if you have to have a Disney wedding. Its decor feels appropriate for Disney stuff without detracting from their being an actual wedding.
 
CarrieH said:
At one of the Catholic churches where I used to serve as cantor, there was a couple who had a Scottish-themed wedding complete with kilts, bagpipes, plaid bridesmaid dresses, and all that. I found this to be rather “different” because neither of them are Scottish; they just thought this would be “fun” or whatever. Um, OK… Also, one of my friends has a brother who had a Native American themed wedding (outdoors in moccasins, non-Catholic). He is a German immigrant and the happy bride is of Dutch heritage, hardly Native American-looking at all! I wonder, if there are guests who belong to the ethnic groups that these non-members are borrowing from, how they feel about having their heritage used in this way. 🤷
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DH and I were bemoaning our lack of an ‘interesting’ ethnic background when we were planning our wedding–never occurred to us to just hijack one! LOL :eek:
 
I think a more traditional wedding is a better idea, to concentrate on the sacrament itself and all; maybe incorporate parts of the bride and/or groom’s heritage, like the kilt stuff, but no full-blown ‘themes’ like the Disney one. If you want a theme, go wild on the reception. That’s the party time, the time to celebrate and have a good time congratulating the happy couple, etc. Then you can get the best of both worlds: a solemn and respectful wedding, with a fun reception afterwards!
 
I almost hesitate to tell you all this…

My wedding was a traditional Catholic wedding… no funny clothes or decorations… no funny music or vows… just a very devout sacramental nuptial mass…

but the reception…
well that was another story…

We had our reception at a reindeer ranch. We wore jeans and sat on haybales… we ate BBQ and pie (I hate wedding cake). We toured the ranch… the kids ran through a corn maze…

I did this because we wanted the kids to be comfortable. We had alot of kids at the reception including 3 of mine and 1 of dh’s. All the cousins… Why make them stay all dressed up and indoors trying not to get dirty? Invites told the guests that the reception was jeans attire and listed the activities for kids.

Anyway, it was this or travel far for the reception because little did we know everywhere else would be booked because of… and I kid you not… The first annual Antique Tractor and Farm Show. The nice reception halls within 20 miles…all booked! You should have seen us scramble to get hotel rooms for out of town guests… the only way I got rooms was through my boss. He is best friends with a guy that owns a hotel… one that I had already called and was told was booked solid for the event…one phone call and I got 4 rooms!!!

In the end we all had a great time and the kids had a blast. It worked out better than I could ever have imagined. The kids were outside almost the whole time and the adults were inside where the alcohol was… that is after most of them toured the ranch.

These are actual pictures from the reception:

http://shutter11.pictures.aol.com/d...2/04/WcAjLoV-5TpNobyeOnl58kK4uU7fsB8r0300.jpg

http://shutter14.pictures.aol.com/d...0/39/5zBjIpY1YKh2fMAs3iyjlXyAKJvQW5Pc0300.jpg
 
BlestOne said:
I almost hesitate to tell you all this…

My wedding was a traditional Catholic wedding… no funny clothes or decorations… no funny music or vows… just a very devout sacramental nuptial mass…

but the reception…
well that was another story…
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The reception is not part of the liturgy, so if you want to do something wild, crazy, or outrageous for your reception, go for it! Looks like you had a great time at the Reindeer Ranch! 🙂 One of the best receptions I ever attended was at a county park. They had a picnic with the usual picnic foods, and we played volleyball and badminton instead of dancing. The kids loved it because they could play in their jeans instead of having to behave themselves while wearing dress clothes. 👍
 
When I have gone to wedding lately, I have seen a lack of dressy clothes. Lots of jeans, a few t-shirts…
I thought you were supposed to get dressed up for the wedding!

You know, if I had been thinking, I could have had my reception at a lovely park not far from the Church, with BBQ and all kinds of fun stuff. Darn me and not being creative!
 
I went to a wedding at a minor league ball park once. I expected it to be corny and stupid. But, it was really fun. And, really touching.

I’m betraying my Catholic roots, I know. But, it was the most fun wedding I’ve attended. The nat’l Anthem was sung by a broadway singer (cousin of the groom). And, the minister (who looked about 15) gave a wonderful and solemn sermon. The bride and groom (a former high school baseball star and newsprint sports writer) looked radient. The groomsmen were the groom’s former high school baseball team players–I guess they were really close friends.

It was really fun. 🙂
 
BlestOne said:
I did this because we wanted the kids to be comfortable. We had alot of kids at the reception including 3 of mine and 1 of dh’s. All the cousins… Why make them stay all dressed up and indoors trying not to get dirty? Invites told the guests that the reception was jeans attire and listed the activities for kids.
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I think this is so wonderful. I get so tired of hearing about how people don’t want kids at their wedding! As Catholics, we are supposed to be celebrating the Sacrament of Matrimony within our community. Children are part of that community. Plus, I just always wonder what people like that are going to do when their own kids inconvenience them later. Also, I think weddings are family events, and again, children are part of families. So I just wanted to tell you that I think considering the kids’ needs on a day when probably no one would blame you for being totally self-centered shows awesome character, but also a loving attitude. 🙂
 
CarrieH said:
The reception is not part of the liturgy, so if you want to do something wild, crazy, or outrageous for your reception, go for it! Looks like you had a great time at the Reindeer Ranch! 🙂 One of the best receptions I ever attended was at a county park. They had a picnic with the usual picnic foods, and we played volleyball and badminton instead of dancing. The kids loved it because they could play in their jeans instead of having to behave themselves while wearing dress clothes. 👍
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And her wedding photo is lyin’ around here someplace in CAF- and she was a lovely bride! (We need an emoticon with a hanky).
I have been to 2 protestant weddings where the actual wedding was themed. One was StarTrek. They even based their vows on it. I wanted to yell “Beam me up Scotty”. The reception was fun. One was 1940s vintage wear, but the ceremony was out of the Book of Common Prayer, 1928 edition. It was quite lovely. The reception had big band in the background, but was very true to the time period: champagne, punch, wedding cake, nuts and mints (afternoon wedding).

My sister, the Lutheran, was married at the local Ren. Faire. Her photos are quite lovely. My niece was adorable. She was about 13 at the time, and dressed as a lady’s maid.
 
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