Easy laid back wedding???

Question

Need ideas on this...We are wanting a small wedding...We want it very casual and laid back for everyone but I still want the fancy of a wedding dress and him in a tux.

Wanting something thats very laid back where people dont need to worry about the attire to wear. Any affordable ideas?

Looking for also having the wedding and reception at the same place.

Answer 1

I don't know what it is like where you are located, but this was my same mentality after realizing the elaborate wedding I was planning was getting ridiculous. Bridezilla was not a good look for me. :)

This is what we are doing...

The church and hall is actually the "town" church and hall of a city that is about a block long right outside our city's metro area. By right outside, I literally mean like 10 minutes. It's quiet and peaceful, beautiful and get this...$500 for the church and the hall for the WHOLE weekend of the wedding.

It holds about 100 people which was great for us.

I am just having a MOH and my FH a Best Man, we are having our family be the rest of the procession.

For the ceremony I picked some of our favorite songs to put on a CD that my best friend is going to be playing while people are getting seated...the song we walk down to will also be on that CD.

My MOH was basically given a color and I told her she can do whatever she wants. Pick her dress, how she wants her hair, whether she wants her nails done etc. She got a simple navy blue tea length dress. The BM is wear khakis and a nice button down navy blue shirt. My FH is in the Air Force and will be in uniform.

My dress is amazing and was only $300 from David's Bridal.

The reception we are having BBQ brought in, simple and inexpensive. Just a keg and wine for alcohol.

The one "splurge" was a DJ. I didn't think we needed one but my parents insisted.

As for decorations and such...EBay is a godsend. I got 75' rolls of tulle for $4.50 each...including shipping.

We made our invitations on vistaprint.com.

So that is my simple wedding, but I think it is going to be perfect and I can't wait!

Answer 2

you could have so much fun with this...when i got married, we got married at a park/resort (not really a resort - but a place that companies rent for company picnics). It was in September, so was all outside, but they did have a gazeebo , big enough to house 300, in case it rained.

I wore white shorts overalls, with a pretty white shirt under. he wore black short, with short sleeve light summer henly type shirt. I only used nieces and nephews instead of bridesmaids...3 girls, 3 boys. The boys matched my husbands clothes, and the girls wore white shorts, but matching purple t-shirts to match my flowers.

Wedding was on site, they put up a really pretty tressel, decorated with really pretty flowers, and everybody came in shorts, sundresses, jeans, or whatever they wanted. Everbody was SO relaxed. They had a pool, horseshoe pits, volleyball, ping-pongtables, wood trails that everybody could use. The food was hamburgers, hot dogs, corn on the cob, bushels of clams, french fries, watermelon, fruit, funnel cake, and the kids could have as much ice creak as they wanted. I did however have 3 hot stations...prime rib, paiella, and a pasta. I did have a DJ. People were jumping in the pool with their clothes on, they were having so much fun.

Now, 9 years later, people STILL tell us, we had the BEST wedding they EVER went to, and they will never forget it. One lady I worked with who came with her husband told me THREE years later, in church, the topics of weddings came up, and he stood up in church, and told everybody about our wedding. People had such a great time, they didn't want to go home. People actually pooled money together, ALOT of money, to pay for extra hours to the lodge place, so we didnt have to leave.

At first my mother was dissapointed that I wasn't having the dress, the church, i guess what she always looked forward to her ONLY daughter always having. But, she finally gave him, and said "yeah, i guess it will be fun". But she put her foot down, when i asked if we could see if Mc Donalds could cater it !!!

And at least once a week, i pull out my wedding album, just to look at my pics, it was such an amazing day !!!! try something like it...you WONT regret it .

Answer 3

We are doing this next weekend. Very laid back. Ceremony will be at our Unitarian Universalist church, then off to our home for the party. We have an acre of land. We will have it fenced in (hopefully!) this weekend, and have a big fire pit for a bonfire. Even though we will have some catering, we are also having other food for people who want more of a cookout/picnic feel.

It's very inexpensive to do it in a park or in a backyard. Unless you need to build a fence like we did, haha.

Answer 4

We are doing that...the formal attire for the wedding party, but the wedding and reception itself is very informal. We rented a hall for 100 people at a museum that is adjacent to a courtyard for the ceremony outdoors...we saved a lot by doing this.

Answer 5

Ours was just like that.  My husband didn't wear a tux, though.  Just a really nice suit that we bought (and now he can wear it for other occasions).  

We found a nice restaurant in a resort area near our hometown and got married on the lawn.  We had the reception meal immediately following inside.  Later that night, we rented a house on the lake and had a big bon fire and house party.

Answer 6

If you are looking to stay cheap, hold the wedding and reception in the backyard of a friend's house. Just tell the guests that it is semi-formal.

Answer 7

i did that for my wedding too. i didn't want our guests to have to worry about getting all dressed up, so on the bottom of the invitations we wrote "casual attire please".  our guests showed up in shorts and t-shirts, it was great!!