5 months until my big day and this week, I am finally deciding to end my wedding. My fiance and I the past 2 years have live together and honestly it’s been not the best.

A few weeks ago or families got into a fight over a rehearsal dinner. This fight words were said and there is no turning back from these words. It is just not getting better. It has opened my eyes to the type of person my fiance truly is. He said to me twice his family comes first before me. He basically won’t compromise. Said he hates being around my family. Said he has to spend the holidays with his family because he hates my family. Feels bad leaving his mom for holidays.

It would be so embarrassing to even have this wedding at this point because of this on going fighting. Every few days is a new fight about something new. Our next deposit is due November 1st and I need to cancel before it comes. I don’t want to waste more money. I feel let down, heart broken, stressed and all of the above about this.

Things have been booked, and I feel guilty and embarrassed to cancel a wedding. All over a rehearsal dinner. How stupid and childish!!

I tried my hardest to try and work on things and give alternatives to things to my fiance about our families not getting a long and he does not like any of them. He keeps saying there is no choice but to end it. I hate that I have to end my 5 1/2 year relationship because of a rehearsal dinner and his mom wanting things her way and my mom calling his mom a vulgar word. But like I said it brought out some true colors to my fiance. -example saying he had to spend holidays with his family.

I told him we need new traditions and he just doesn’t want to compromise..

I don’t want to end things but this seems to be the only out come. I have been talking to my therapist and I can’t even think of reasons why I love my fiance. Which is quite sad too. She asked me the last time I felt in love with him too and I couldn’t even answer that but now thinking about it… it has to be well over a year. Before we moved in together.

He said he invested a lot of time into this and he wouldn’t have bought a house or bought a ring if he didn’t see long term with me but he constantly dismisses my needs. Makes me feel bad for doing things I want to do. Makes fun of the way I dress and says I dress weird. List can go on.

I thought this was the person I was going to spend the rest of my life with.

TLDR: My wedding is in 5 days. I paid my catering / table settings / rentals invoice over a week ago. And yesterday I discovered I was the victim of a BEC - business email compromise. At some point in the last month following many many many months and many email chains of correspondence with my caterer and event rentals rep, an impersonator email inserted themselves into the conversation. We talked about my tablecloths, they sent me an updated invoice based on what I had spoken to the real caterer and real events company rep about. As an already stressed bride, I feel like the joy has been completely plucked out of my wedding week. I’m scrambling to make sure I still even have a caterer, sobbing, embarrassed, hurt. How can I even focus on the good right now… so defeated.

————-
As my final payment due date approached, the caterer emailed me several payment options and I figured wire most efficient option given the large amount owed.

I received a response appearing to come from the caterer confirming that a wire transfer would be acceptable and providing banking information to complete the payment. Because this information was provided within what appeared to be our ongoing email correspondence, I believed the instructions were legitimate. I subsequently initiated the wire transfer to the provided account.
After the transfer, I received confirmation via email that the payment had been received. Communication continued as normal regarding the final details of my wedding, and I had no reason at the time to believe anything was wrong.

Last week, I requested additional rental items, including table clothes and extra seating. The caterer/event rep indicated that they would send me an updated invoice for the additional balance. Correspondence continued including talks about end-of-night event breakdown and setup.

Yesterday, I received a phone call from the caterer checking on the status of my original wire transfer. After discussing the payment and reviewing our correspondence, we discovered that I had been communicating with a fraudulent email address impersonating the caterer (they changed one letter in the email address but I never noticed because it appears they pasted a previous email thread I had with the real caterer in the body of the email). The imposter even knew my new balance which was discussed in correspondence with the legitimate email addys of the caterer / events rep and sent me updated invoices.

I worked so hard to save up for this and I’m devastated and feel stupid like I should have known better or took better steps to protect myself but I had so many different vendors calling and emailing me over the last two weeks that it was very overwhelming. I guess I just wrote this post as a warning. Do as much over the phone as you can.

After a year of reading every thread on this sub, our wedding (~200 guests, black tie, VHCOL) finally happened. It was the best day! After receiving so much advice from reading others experience here’s what I'd spend on again and what I'd change.

Our venue was at a club that handled catering and a lot of logistics in house, so these are the vendors we contracted separately.

Worth it:
Photographer. I found a mid-priced photographer and she was incredible. She ended up moving along a lot of the day and it made it much less stressful. If you're deciding where to put extra money, put it here. 1000% worth it.

KRUU Photo Booth. There's next to no info about this company in the US and there was very few reviews so I took a chance. It cost a fraction of a traditional booth and our guests absolutely loved it. They deliver it a few days before, we tested it and didn’t have any issues thankfully. IMO it was worth the gamble to spend $300 vs. $1K+

A quality DJ. Find one who will meet with you ahead of time to plan the details, and who can handle ceremony sound too. Entrances, speeches, and flow add up to a lot of logistics you don't think about until you're in it. Ours was a huge reason the reception ran smoothly.

Live music trio for cocktail hour instead of a reception band. This saved so much money and gave the day an elevated feel. Look for local musicians who may not be on The Knot or WeddingWire.

A florist who works with your budget. Tell them your budget and vision up front. Mine stayed completely within it. Many places will try to upsell you, but the right one won't. You won't remember the difference at the end of the night or even after you go down the aisle for that matter.

What I'd do differently
Don't go with the lower-priced coordinator. Even as a type A person who planned every detail, this was my biggest mistake. We went with the lower end of pricing, and the day-of coordination was a pain. A few examples of where it went wrong :

- Final call was canceled last minute, and the rescheduled call was taken from another couple's rehearsal
- Décor instructions which were clearly defined with photos were not followed, and family and venue staff had to correct them
- Coordinator tried to start the processional before the groom was in place and gave almost no help lining up the bridal party
- Interrupted the planned private moment after the ceremony to ask for batteries
- Ended cocktail hour early without consulting us
- Left vendor gratuities undistributed, and I had to apologize to vendors who had already left
- Gave incorrect guidance about leaving belongings overnight, and did not coordinate breakdown with the venue causing family / bridal party to scramble.

The day went smoothly because our venue team, photographer, DJ, and a friend who is a professional coordinator stepped in. If you're tempted to save money here, don't. Ask who exactly will be your coordinator, how many events they've run, and go with your gut if something doesn’t seem right in the vetting process.

Do a trial with every hair and makeup artist. The stylists who did my own beauty were fantastic and had been tested ahead of time. The others sent by the same company were rude and one cut a bridesmaid's hair without her consent and it caused a ton of distress (don’t worry, we are laughing about it now thankfully). If you can't trial everyone, treat your bridal party to a test run with the specific artists if possible.

Good luck to everyone still planning! The stress will all have been worth it when the day comes, I promise !!!

My fiancé and I just got engaged and don’t want to be engaged too long so we are starting to plan. I’m learning that planning with my parents is not as fun as I thought it would be (I’m the bride btw).. First, we want to get married in a forest up north in our state during the spring. This area would be less than 2 hours from home. My parents are saying that’s too hard and are only sending us venues from our area. I understand it’s harder but we would love a venue up north. Second, I was explaining the color of the tie my fiancé wanted and my mom rolled her eyes and told me to tell him to let us just plan those things because “traditionally the bride and her family plan things like that”. Why can’t the groom who will literally wear the color not have an opinion?! This is for him too! Third, I’m so so so nervous to go wedding dress shopping because I just know whatever I want to wear will be too revealing (aka shoulders showing, maybe a slit in the skirt of the dress) for my mother to be willing to pay for it but I cannot afford a dress by myself right now. Fourth, they refuse to supply ANY alcohol which is minor because my fiancé’s family can do that but I don’t want them doing certain things to cause a rift. Fifth, my father said that yes we are the ones getting married but we are also hosts so it’s not just about us. I understand you want it to be happy and fun for the guests too but WE are the ones getting married? I’m so lost on how to navigate this and I’d rather not elope so we can have our loved ones there but this is so stressful.. Any advice or ideas would be much appreciated, thank you.

As the title says.

My mom was diagnosed on October 19th. She was so tired and not herself for a year. I’m her first daughter and up for the task. My fiance and I just closed on our first home and finished our move literally on October 18th. I am much closer to her now. I don’t know how this week went by with doctor appointments, phone calls etc. we have family around. I just don’t feel like any of this is real.

The course of action most likely after our first oncology appointment is going to be(after all the testing ), 3-4 rounds of chemo , surgery and then another 3-4 rounds of chemo

I have delegated the rest of the wedding stuff to my fiance and he is capable of handling it( welcome party, details, etc) we had done a ton of major decision in the early days.

I just want my mom to not be in pain. I don’t feel celebratory and can’t think about my wedding at all. She is a fighter , she is just tired and in pain.

For people who have been in my shoes, what advice do you have for me?

Hello, all,

I made a post yesterday, which basically says that I can't afford a wedding because I am in debt pay-off mode from an "intense" Bachelors degree and some small loans I used to live off during that time. I am not looking to have a fantastical wedding, just something "normal." However, I live in NEI and the lower end is going to cost $12,000.00. That is excluding my dress, as I have been told to keep the dress out of the budget.

I talked to fiancé and MIL last night and they said we are not doing a Courthouse wedding. I brought it up in passing. Just as a "So what if we did a Courthouse wedding instead?" and they were like "Noooooo."

Sooo, I don't know what to do at this point. I am probably going to have to finance my wedding dress or take out some loan even though that is a horrible idea. I know its a bad idea, but I don't know what else to do at this point. Of course, I am going to put as much as I can in a high-yield savings account, but things need to be booked in the next few months so I can only save up so much.

MIL is going to pitch in, but we don't know how much. It could be $1,000 or it could be $10,000. I am afraid to ask. But since, she wants us to have a "traditional" wedding so bad, I am kind of starting to expect her to put in a little more than before.

I will also be doing mostly DIY decorations, as my friends have done that in the past, and I am not mad at that idea, as I like to create stuff.

Please let me know your thoughts and ideas, as I greatly appreciated them on my other post.

TL;DR: I realistically can't afford a wedding, Courthouse wedding is off the table and I am stuck.

My fiancé and I are getting married in 2028, and somehow, out of all the things we could disagree on while planning a wedding, we disagree on the date.
We want a late spring/early summer wedding, and we’ve settled on the weekend of June 30th and July 1st. The problem is that June 30th falls on a Friday, while July 1st is a Saturday.
Personally, I absolutely love June 30th as a wedding date. I know that might sound silly, but there’s just something about it that feels right to me.
My fiancé, however, thinks we should go with Saturday, July 1st, because it’s more convenient for our guests. People wouldn’t have to take time off work, and it would generally be easier for everyone to attend.
I understand his point, and I do want our friends and family to be there! However, we’re planning this wedding more than a year in advance, so I feel like giving people plenty of notice would allow them to request Friday off if they wanted to attend.
I guess my perspective is that I’d rather choose the date we love and give everyone plenty of time to plan around it, rather than choose a different date solely for convenience. That said, I know not everyone has the flexibility to take time off work, and I don’t want to disregard that either.
Neither of us thinks the other is necessarily wrong. We just have different priorities when it comes to choosing the date, and I’d love to hear some outside perspectives.

So for those of yall who’ve attended/planned Friday weddings we have a couple questions:

Was attendance noticeably affected by having your wedding on a Friday?

If you were invited to a Friday wedding with a year in advance would you consider taking the day off?

Hi, frustrated bride here! I just had my second Azazie color “retire” on me within three months. The first time I got over it, but this time is pretty annoying since I started buying things to match the bridesmaids dress color with the wedding getting closer. The color retirement date is next month, still 6 months out from my wedding so I’m not comfortable demanding all the girls pick a style, try on sizes, purchase a dress etc within 3 weeks with still so much time until the wedding.

I’d love to know where everyone else is having their girls buy their bridesmaid dresses?? I love the price point, convenience, and overall variety of styles that Azazie offers, but i’d love to shop around at similar places! I have also looked into Birdy Grey but haven’t read the best things on their quality, so would love to hear more on that as well. Thanks!

We got an email yesterday saying that due to a permit issue they will no longer be hosting events. There’s nothing we can do about it. We had booked it 5 months ago.

I cried for two hours then calmed down and then cried some more. We talked to the catering company who are basically an events company. Our contract was with them and they run a few venues in our area. They are being very nice about this, it was not them but the venue owners fault, and the event planner I talked to seemed livid with them. She’s working on finding us other options and they refunded us.

Now, we’re still a year out which I know is plenty of time. We don’t have outsider vendors booked or save the dates sent out, thank god. I am just now struggling to move on. There is nothing else like what we had in our area. We were supposed to get married on NYE in a restored mansion like a mile from our house. Now we’re being offered industrial looking buildings and one option outdoors with a heated tent. And they are all like an hour a way from us, not in the city we live in and wanted to get married in.

I don’t know what to do here. The event planner I talked to said that honestly there really aren’t any other venues of that type nearby that could host 100 people indoors. Obviously we could go with a totally different style, but the whole reason we booked this was that we loved the style and location. We could also move the date, and do something outdoors but idk like I said this something we picked specifically because we liked it.

Ultimately I just feel like every option we are being offered just feels like a major downgrade from our vision. I really feel like if I’m just going to be feeling like whatever we go with is not as good as what we had, why even have the wedding. It would not be that hard to just cancel everything at this point. And I feel like all the work and stress we put in is totally gone and we’re going to have to do all of it over which I just don’t want to do.

Cancelling makes me to sad too, though. I was supposed to buy my dress this week and now i keep breaking into tears thinking about how I’ll never get to wear it.

I would just love some advice or opinions.

Spent the last year spending every second of every day and every dime we made making our wedding happen.
Planned a whole weekend ordeal, kept it as low budget as we could and somehow pulled it off to have one amazing wedding lined up.

A nor’easter had other plans. Sat stagnant for a week over our location, and wiped out the one road into the island we’ve called home the last 5 years. In the past our DOT has been phenomenal at getting that road open in about 48 hours. We’re going on a week closed with no timeline to reopen now. Visitors banned from traveling to the island (that’s all our family, wedding party, and childhood friends). All our vendors are out here so can’t pivot and have one back where we’re originally from, as well as leaving out all the new friends and chosen family we’ve made here over the last few years. We don’t have the funds to pivot and try and book a new venue/some vendors and make something happen last minute. Have important people flying in who aren’t able to cancel or get refunded for their flights. Everyone asking what the plan is.

I’m just heartbroken to look around and just come to the realization that this wedding isn’t happening. Needed to scream into the void.

To go on a trip that is 12-14 hours away.

I am about 3 months away from my wedding!! I cannot decide what to do about makeup 😬

In general I never wear makeup. I own some but hate how it feels but I am not sure of that is just my application or products? If I do wear makeup I will be hiring a professional.

When I say it feels bad, i mean I am constantly aware of having something stuck all over my face and ESPECIALLY eye products like mascara and eye-liner are a constant bother. I feel like my lashes get stuck together or like little granules of makeup are constantly falling into and irritating my eyes. I tried wearing a but the other night to dinner and used a wet wipe at the table half way through to remove it all because it was just that bad.

If I do go makeup free does anyone have tips for skin treatments that might be helpful in the lead up so that my skin looks as good as possible bare on the day?

I am not sure if the microneedling I have heard about will be good or other things?

Recently attended the wedding of my future sibling in law and wow.. it was probably at least a 100k weekend long production and they had full service wedding planning and design assistance. We get married in a few months and I’ve felt pretty on track planning on my own but after attending their wedding I’m feeling pretty stressed and down. I feel like no matter how hard I try our wedding will feel extremely modest in comparison. I know it’s not the most important thing in the world but after attending that wedding, I saw so many things and elements I would love to have but budget is limiting.

My fiancée says I'm not excited about our wedding, but I'm paying for most of it and doing a ton of planning. Am I missing something?

I'm genuinely looking for outside perspectives here, especially from couples who have gone through wedding planning together.

My fiancée and I are planning our wedding for April 2028. We're expecting approximately 175 guests, and our current projected budget is around $70,000–$75,000.

I'm taking on the majority of the financial responsibility for the wedding. My fiancée contributes too, and she's planning to resume putting approximately $1,200–$1,400 a month toward our joint savings starting in November. I've already saved $13K for the wedding and put it into a join investment account for us, and saving $5.5K-$6K a month. I'm also covering the majority of the financial responsibility for our next house, which we're hoping to purchase in 2027.

For context, here's roughly what our wedding budget looks like:

These are planning estimates, not finalized vendor contracts. We're still comparing options and trying to save money wherever possible.

I mention the budget because I think it's important context for why my attention is often focused on the financial and logistical side of the wedding.

I'm also regularly researching vendors, emailing companies, comparing prices, looking into importing a wedding tent to save money, discussing catering concepts, touring venues with my fiancée, and cake tasting.

Just last night, I was emailing tent vendors around 11 p.m when she was passed out next to me.

We're talking about wedding planning almost every other day. I'm genuinely invested in making this a beautiful experience for both of us. But this is really starting to frustrate me when my emotions are challenged as if I don't care. I know I'm just upset but it almost feels ungrateful on her part.

Here's where the disagreement happened. My fiancée recently booked dance lessons for us. The lesson is about two weeks away.

This morning, she mentioned that I hadn't asked her much about the dance class.

I told her I thought it was great that she booked it, but since it's still two weeks away, I hadn't really focused on it yet. We have other things going on this week, Halloween, matching costumes and etc she has asked me about, and my attention has been on saving money, paying down debt, and preparing financially for the wedding and our future home.

She responded that she feels like I'm not excited about the wedding and that she's the only one who is. That really frustrated me.

From my perspective, I'm putting a tremendous amount of time, money, and effort into making this wedding happen. I'm attending the tours, coming up with ideas, open fire cooking and etc, communicating with vendors, and taking on most of the financial responsibility.

So hearing that I'm somehow not excited because I haven't been asking about a dance lesson that's two weeks away feels dismissive of everything else I'm doing. I told her that we might just show excitement differently.

She seems to want more conversations about the emotional and fun parts of the wedding, while I'm focused on making sure we can actually afford and execute everything we're planning.

I absolutely want to marry her. I'm excited about our wedding and our future together. But I also don't feel like I should have to constantly verbalize excitement to prove it, especially when I'm actively working toward making it happen.

For those of you who planned weddings with your partners, did you ever feel like one person expressed excitement differently than the other? Is it unreasonable for me to feel hurt when my involvement is questioned despite everything I'm contributing?

Orrrrr does my fiance need a wake up call like, "GIRL!! Your man is taking care of things and participating in a expensive wedding, just enjoy his participation and see that he cares!"

And for those who were more financially or logistically focused during wedding planning, how did you balance that with your partner's need for emotional engagement? I honestly feel like she needs a girlfriend to vent to and be excited with about the details instead of expecting me to be ready to scream and jump for joy all the time.

EDIT: Oh yeah, and I'm going to be building the wedding website from scratch and make it all funky and cool with all type of widgets and etc. I'm a software engineer so I knew we could save there and really make this happen.

We're getting married in a few weeks at a small indoor venue. Our plan for photos has always been to do them before the ceremony in a park near our hotel. But mid-November in the Midwest can be unpredictable, so in the event of bad weather, our backup plan was to use our hotel's lobby. I was just informed by the hotel that they've booked an event in their lobby for that day, so it won't be available for any photos. Now I'm stuck wondering where people do wedding photos if outdoor isn't an option? Our venue is fairly simple/small and will probably still be getting set up at the time we're looking to do first look and photos. Any ideas/advice?

We currently are set to have our reception on 4/24/27 at a restaurant we booked and paid the initial deposit ($3400). However, we found after booking there were a few limitations that made us wish we hadn’t booked. For example, they are very strict on decorating and strictly only a wine/bar place. We know our family/friends and know that we prefer a venue with hard liquor included. But I know, our fault for not reading the contract throughly.

We found another venue that fit our needs more that is about the same price, but with more things offered and allows outside vendors, open bar. However, our current contract states if we cancel more than 91 days prior, our deposit is non-refundable and a possibly difference of 40% of the estimated price..

My question is..

Is it worth to cancel and lose the initial deposit for a venue that suits our needs? Or should we just continue and make it work?

Hello, I need advice on this. I have been planning my wedding, and due to excitement and wanting to share my joy, I’ve invited a couple of my best friend’s friends. We aren’t close and speak here and there.

Anyway this week I learnt in passing that one of them is having a pretty elaborate 30th and I wasn’t invited, it hurt way more than I expected it to. And it’s as if the ball dropped and I realised oh we aren’t friends. I’ve already sent them invites and they’ve all RSVPd that they are coming. They have been helpful too and tried to support me in the wedding plan, sharing vendor recommendations etc.

I just don’t want them at my wedding anymore, it feels scared and it’s the only time I will have a wedding. I only want people who see me and hold me in the same way I do them. I know it’s socially unacceptable to uninvite people, but I really don’t want them there anymore.

How can I go about this?

Thank you for your advice.

Edit: Will not be uninviting, thanks to all the helpful folks. Feelings are so tricky, but I think it’s better to keep the invites to honour my initial excitement and hopefully build the friendship in the future.

I feel like I'm finally going insane.

I'm currently in the midst of planning my partner's (26M) and my(24F) wedding, which is now two months away. To be honest, though, the wedding planning doesn't feel hard. From day one, I just kind of made an ideal timeline of everything and stuck by it. I've enjoyed the Pinterest boards, shopping lists, and coordination with vendors to make this day perfect. And so far, everything has been working out. Except, you know, coordinating around the people you're inviting.

Everyone asks for open communication from you when it comes to planning the big day, or else they feel left out, but if you communicate too much, then you end up coming across as a Bridezilla or taking away the decisions people want to make with you. I've always been an "I can do that myself" type of person, and I've been trying to make everyone feel included in this important life moment. But I feel like at some point it's just becoming more exhausting begging for them to respond at all, or to look at the things I'm sending them. The timeline I had originally made was sent over to a family group chat I had, and my MOB and FOB have confessed to still not having looked at it, but intend to at some point. At which point you might ask? Well, it seems like the day before the wedding.

(My two guardians are my MOB and FOB)

This might not be considered an example, but I've been asked for the wedding website link with all of the possible information guests and adjacent would need so many times now that it's borderline insane. The invites have a QR code to the site, and I have it pinned in the Discord of my wedding party for easy access.

Let alone making sure that the people you want to be there are happy and content at the cost of you being stressed out on how to KEEP them happy and content.

"Can I bring my girlfriend?" "Oh no, we just broke up, but it's okay, I'm talking to someone new" - I had just given this person a plus 1 after meeting their girlfriend and liking her

"I'm going to need 4 invites for my work friends. What do you mean you haven't met them? You met them when you were 12, and I talk about them all the time" - Said 2 months before the wedding, and a week before guest RSVPs are due

"Hey, I know your website says that you would prefer not to have kids at the wedding, but I didn't know that applied to my kid." - Months after said person RSVP'd

I mean, I know I probably sound whiny in all of this. But I've enjoyed a lot of the process of planning and designing these things with my partner. At the end of it all, we're in a good place with the planning and are trying to make the most of it together. I think I just finally snapped while looking at wedding chargers for the guest tables, oddly enough.

I know that I can't please everyone, and I don't want to make people feel left out or have bad blood with anyone. But the wedding planning itself isn't the stressor; it's genuinely the people you have to plan around.

Anyways, here's to shooting this off into the void. I hope at the most, that at least if someone out there is going through some similar, that they are not alone. It sucks, but what can you do outside of eloping and running away fast enough to the honeymoon that none of your relatives can catch you.

I’ve decided to do my own makeup and hair for my wedding. Before I get people telling me it’s worth the money and blah blah blah. It’s simply not about the money, I’ve had extremely sensitive skin, eczema, and a history of being a carrier for MRSA (no active outbreaks or contagious) but this makes me uncomfortable having Somone use their brushes, their makeup, and many more things on my skin.

Ultimately I have a skin care system down, however I need to then buy makeup to do myself. I used to do makeup a lot in high school but I’ve grown to love my natural skin after all my acne went away.

Recommendations for: Primer Foundation Concealer: I use haus labs and I LOVE it Lip stain and gloss? I’m honestly not sure what all goes into bridal makeup so any more recommendations are appreciated.

I’ve always used concealer for blemishes, blush(rare beauty), highlighter(Dior), and a lip gloss(Dior and Summer Fridays).

My biggest thing is the whole no water and silicone bases mixing. I have no idea what goes good with what and Google sure isn’t helping.

Wedding is in may 2027, so I have time to practice. Thank you if you read this ❤️.

This is a slightly longer post, and I’m sorry, but I wanted to give those who may reply a feel for how simple the planning will be. Basically what the title says! I’m sure some will say to get as much done as soon as possible, but I still have quite a bit of time.
For reference, we already have our venue booked. It’s a very classic, gorgeously decorated historic hotel. They provide in-house catering, cake, an open bar, chairs, a stage, setup and cleanup, and a few other odds and ends, like candlesticks and table number holders.
I’m pretty set on having a very classic, timeless wedding. Our colors are black and white, with lighter and darker shades of green incorporated through the floral arrangements and greenery. We’re also keeping florals fairly minimal and planning to use a lot of flameless candles in hurricane vases of varying heights. Minimal as in we are having my bridal bouquet, my six bridesmaids’ bouquets, a large hydrangea arrangement at the entrance of the ballroom for the ceremony that will be moved to the entrance of the reception, and two large arrangements that be behind us on pillars during the ceremony, then move to either side of the bar in the reception hall.
I’ve already put together a very detailed and organized wedding binder with inspiration, item details, and pretty much everything ready to purchase when the time comes.
Basically, I’m curious when others who have had long engagements started getting into all the little details, like ordering custom cocktail napkins, having a personal monogram designed, purchasing candles and vases, etc.
While I’m pretty set on the overall look and feel of our wedding, I’m terrified that I’ll love something right now but won’t love it this time next year. On the other hand, I love planning and would love to start checking some of these things off my list! I started spiraling about this because I have a friend who just bought her dress at the boutique I am planning on looking at and she suggested waiting so I get to see the newest styles available, but also having time for the dress to come in and have any alterations done.
For those who had longer engagements, when did you start purchasing decor and finalizing the smaller details? Did you regret buying anything too early simply because you changed your mind on it? Thanks in advance!

Hey guys! So bit of a background, me and my fiancé are in a high CoL city in USA and are getting married back in Thailand ( we are immigrants and family is still there ) on 4th January. All my friends from outside work are going but facing a bit of a dilemma for coworkers and what should be the best etiquette to invite them. We knew about the wedding for like 9 months and everyone in the office knew as well but due to not being there physically, I was having difficulties in securing the venues we liked and not having a fixed date.

We only locked it this week making it just over 2 months before the big day. Now, I really want to invite my coworkers as I hang out with some of them outside work as well ( we are a large but still a fanily office so not many people ) bit unsure if it would come up as rude or unprofessional to do it when the wedding is fast approaching or like how can I do it? Should I just explain the reason bluntly while sending invites or just skip on inviting and celebrate once I am back? Thank you.

How would you decorate this location / altar?

Im being super indecisive so grateful on ideas!

Our colour palette is burnt orange, light pink, hot pink, purple (ie sunset colours)

My fiance and I are going non-traditional and hosting a banquet party rather than a typical wedding. I’m a little torn on dress code because it doesn’t quite fit into the standard wedding formula.

Wedding is in a ski town, we booked a full buy-out of a historic restaurant on the Main Street. We are going light on florals but only because the restaurant has large amounts of greenery and tasteful decor as-is. It has a ground level with hardwood floors and an ornate carved bar, and a terrace level with a decorative wrought-iron balcony, high ceilings with wood paneling, but is fairly small (we are only having 70 people) so I wouldn’t say it feels “grand”. For reference, when we go there for dinner on a normal night, drinks are $15-17 and entrees are $26-50.

- Cocktail hour and toasts will be on the ground floor starting at 5pm, with an open bar that includes a selection of small-batch wine, craft beer, name brand liquor, custom craft cocktails, and grazing tables.

- Dinner will be upstairs on the terrace level and will be seated with table-side service, but is family-style like their typical dinner service. It’ll be a multi-course dinner with high-end offerings like fully-from-scratch pastas and bread, pork chop, short ribs. Tables are varnished wood, plates are glazed earthenware, rectangular tables of 8-10 will be arranged along the edges of room so a few guests (immediate family) will be seated at leather booths along two of the walls. Table decor will likely be minimal to avoid crowding. The family style serving and a few booths are the main things making me question formality.

- After dinner, there will be more drinks, dessert, and dancing back downstairs until 10 (we are considering extending until 12am but will make that decision once we have a better idea of our overall budget).

- My dress is a satin evening gown with crystal beading, fiance will be in a dark suit.

We want people to dress with some flair, but not costumey. Is “Fun Formal” appropriate for what we have planned? We’re going to include the descriptor “Sparkle, color, and texture are all welcome! Bolo ties and formal dress boots are appropriate menswear.”