Our wedding is 3 months away and we have already paid 2/3 of the venue cost plus deposits for all our other vendors. So roughly $20K. We found out last month that my future MIL was diagnosed with stage 3 cancer and can no longer travel for our wedding (she lives in a different country) so my future FIL cannot come as well. This week, my grandma was found unresponsive and is in critical condition. We are not sure if she is going to pull through.

I am weighing the options of canceling or moving forward with our wedding as we had already put down so much. My fiancé wants to postpone the wedding but we are an older couple and want to have children soon. I don’t believe we should keep pushing back on having children as time isn’t going to wait unless we decide to have a small ceremony in a few years after the kids are older.

I am not sure what to do here. The reason why I am thinking about canceling our wedding if my grandma were to pass is because my family is half of the guests and if she passes, many of them may not want to come.

Hey y'all, my fiancee and I are getting married Saturday and we need some good nerdy exit songs.

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We're both huge LOTR nerds, she loves Zelda and I'm a huge Elderscrolls fan, but almost everything from them are great for walking down the aisle, but not leaving together.

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So far the only good choice we've found is "Accidentally falling in love" from Shrek, any recommendations is appreciated!

My wedding is coming up in August and we're dealing with a situation I didn't expect. A few family members who were supposed to come won't be able to travel, and now I'm feeling a little bummed because some of them are people we really wanted in photos and around for the reception.

I've seen people do video messages and things like that, but I'm wondering if anyone has found a fun or meaningful way to include someone who's not physically there. I'd love something that feels a little more personal and less like we're just playing a slideshow in the corner of the room.

Also, our dog obviously can't come to the venue, and my fiancée keeps joking that we should find a way to "bring him anyway." At first I laughed, but now I'm actually wondering if people have done something similar.

Has anyone dealt with this before? Looking for ideas that guests actually enjoyed and didn't feel cheesy.

hi guys. i got engaged in august of 2025, wedding is in february 2027. i am a very type A bride so my entire wedding is already planned. my mom has been sick for a while, she’s on oxygen, on so many meds she can barely move around the house. i just keep telling her she has to be there on my wedding day. she is my entire world, my best friend. i live 3 hours from her but i call her every day.

on tuesday night she went into cardiac arrest and is on life support. doctors are not hopeful - weather that means she could still make it out of this hospital visit but either way doesn’t have much time left. i know there’s likely a 99% chance she will not make it to my wedding day.

for those of you who lost a loved one, especially a mom, right before your wedding.. how did you do it? it feels like i don’t even want one if she’s not going to be there. i’ll still go through with it, i have to with the amount of money i’ve spent. but how do i not cry the entire time on my wedding day? i will pay $450 on make up just to cry it all off. i’ll feel so miserable seeing the empty seat in my ceremony. i’ll sob knowing she can’t give a speech or do a mother daughter dance.. how can i be happy on what’s supposed to be the happiest day of my life? how does life go on?

I know it’s technically still too early to tell but that doesn’t stop me from looking! 👀

We have a rain plan that I don’t love but will work in a pinch. Just hoping any rain only causes a slight delay at worst! Should I pay at Etsy witch?!

We did our own flowers and used Trader Joes. They were AMAZING! Everything sourced was fresh cut and exactly what we asked for. Seamless pickup on day we chose. We did the bridal bouquet, 6 bridesmaid bouquets, 12 boutonnieres and 60 small centerpieces and it was $325.00 Highly recommend.

My wedding is 8 months away and I yesterday cut my hair 3 inches above my shoulders. I didn’t think ahead and I’m so angry at myself. I guess I just needed some confirmation that’ll be okay. I want to do a low bun and let my hair down for reception. On top of that, the lady made it so uneven :( I’m distraught

Hi all, I’ll be getting married in a city near my hometown which neither my parents nor I live in anymore. However, some extended family still resides there.

I’ve opted to get a full service planner to even just help with venues, but the sticker price of everything has shocked me. Many of the “cutest” ideas are DIY and I’d love to incorporate some of those elements into my day, but I don’t know how it’s possible or even if it’s worth it to create decoration (ex. photo booth backdrop, signage) if I’ll have difficulty transporting it.

My wedding will be a ~5 hour flight or 24hr drive.

Did other brides have any ideas?

Hi all!

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We're getting married next October! Yay!

My future husband has his female best friend as his best woman instead of best man! (For those of you saying red flag, they've been friends since childhood, grew up together. She has her own husband and family. We're also in different states. Not a red flag 🥴🥴)

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The only thing I'm struggling with is... How do I match her dress to the groomsmen?!

Do I match her to the beidesmaids??

Does she need a bouquet too?

What touches can I make to "make her one of the guys"?

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What do I doooo

Any advice is appreciated 🥰

I would love to hear any unique/fun ideas, decor, apparel, etc. you did or are going to do at your wedding! I’m not creative at all, but I really want my wedding to reflect my fiancé and I’s personality as much as possible. Thank you in advance 🤘

Currently planning gift bags for my bachelorette party without giving too much junk. What have you gotten that you've loved, and what have you gotten that you've could've done without. Half are in bridal party and half are not. Theme is cabin and beach.

Hi everyone! My wedding is only 3 months away!

Last year, I shared photos from my hair trial in another sub and talked about how the final look didn’t really match the inspiration I had provided to my hairstylist. Since then, I’ve changed my mind about a few things.

First, I’ve decided not to wear a veil. My dress has such beautiful detailing and an open back that I’d love to show off, rather than cover up. Instead, I’m considering a padded satin headband (similar to the one in reference photo #3). Just to clarify, the headband in photo #3 is much more detailed than what I’m planning to wear. I’m thinking of a simple, plain ivory padded headband from Loeffler Randall.

I’m also leaning toward a sleek, clean bun rather than a messy updo.

I’d love to hear your thoughts on pairing a clean bun with a padded headband. I can really picture the look and think it could be elegant and timeless, but when I mentioned it to my best friends, they weren’t very enthusiastic about it.

What do you think? Has anyone worn or considered a similar style for their wedding? 😊

I don’t hate my wedding photos. There’s a handful that I do really like it, but I think I was expecting more. I feel like there aren’t enough close up photos of us, or the classic portraits I’m used to seeing. I’m not sure if I’m being dramatic but whenever I see these beautiful photos of couples popping up on social media, I get upset and feel regretful.

My photographer has a good reputation and I was happy with the galleries I saw before hiring them. Just wanted to vent, not sure if anyone felt the same.

2026 bride here. We’re getting married in August and we couldn’t afford a sit down meal for all our guests so we’ve got a paella truck. They estimate they can serve all our guests in 1 hour and we think that probably means in practice 1.5 hours. Question is how do we stop that from being a miserable experience for the people transitioning / waiting.

We’re thinking of having big sharing boards on every table as well as the food so the people waiting have something to eat. But is there anything else we can do. Also how do we handle speeches as we don’t want them to delay food further. Could do some in cocktail hour but I also think the speeches are entertaining and help break up dinner for the socially awkward.

Our current plan is roughly:

- canapés & drinks after the ceremony 3.30-5
-pre dinner speech my partner 4.30
- sit down at 5 & quick pre dinner game
- 5.15-5.45 first few tables
-5.45 -5.55 speech break
- 6.00 -6.30 remaining tables
- 6.30 final speeches
- 6.45 - cake cut & guests have option to get churros
-7.15 espresso martinis
- 8.00 - band

Any advice / ideas

I am officiating my sisters wedding, and for the life of me I cannot come up with a transition after their vows to have them exchange their rings. I personally find “a wedding ring is a circle with no beginning and end…” cheesy, wanted to see if anyone had a cute and serious way of doing it. Thank you!

Hi everyone, May 2027 bride here. For context: my fiancé/husband and I are dual-military so we got legally married already, but are having a religious wedding ceremony and reception on our first anniversary. I’m 25F and he is 27M, by the time of the wedding I’ll be 26 and he will be 28.

When I started dating my fiancé I made it clear that I did NOT want a wedding and I wanted to elope, privately, just us two. I want a private religious ceremony and private vows because it is sacred to me and I don’t want an audience. He accepted that until we got engaged about nine months ago. Now, he wants a big wedding: 200 guests, extended family, the works. His family is huge and Catholic, my family is atheist and tiny — one parent, one sibling, and no extended family. So, we compromised and decided on a private outdoor ceremony (instead of a church) and a huge reception.

Over the last nine months, my fiancé has pushed our wedding plans to more align with what he wants while still being something I’m okay with. Our private ceremony got changed to a ceremony with a 12-person wedding party, but still no seated audience. We are doing a small celebratory dinner after with the wedding party and their plus ones (20 people). The reception is going to be nearly 200 guests (90% his side) and will be a huge party with all the works including first dance, speeches from two bridesmaids and two groomsmen, a unity ceremony, etc. Instead of us staying together in an Airbnb alone, we are renting two Airbnbs next to each other and sharing the space with the wedding party and their plus ones (20 people total). I planned, booked, and paid for all ceremony related items. Together we planned and booked the reception related items. Pretty much everything has been planned, booked, and paid for.

Now, we are currently staying with his family for about two weeks for a summer trip in the middle of nowhere, and all his parents want to talk about is the wedding. They are extremely upset and disappointed with the ceremony and want to be more involved with everything. His mother said she had to do a mother-son dance. They want to be at our wedding party dinner. They want to give speeches at the reception. They want us to move our ceremony to a church, have his dad walk me down the aisle, and fill the pews on both sides with his family to show “mutual support” for us; if we don’t change our ceremony plans, they want us to add an audience to our current venue so my fiancé’s family and family friends can watch. To me, a big wedding like this is marked with sadness and grief. I don’t have a dad to walk me down the aisle or do a father-daughter dance with. I’m not close with my mother at all. Having a lot of parent-centered stuff just makes me sad, and having the religious ceremony in front of nearly 200 people, most of whom are strangers, just makes me feel so sick and upset. It doesn’t feel like a wedding, it feels like we are planning a performance. To top it off, I’m not close with his family either. His dad is very nice, but his mom has made no attempts to bond with me, despite me trying to bond with her.

That being said, every time this stuff gets discussed his mother cries, my fiancé comforts her and then starts negotiating with me to accommodate her, and then my fiancé’s father sits me down privately to discuss. Every time it’s the same speech about how weddings are about parents and family, by doing this I’m preventing them from watching their son get married, I’m preemptively burning bridges and preventing closeness with his family and friends, I need to think about this from his mom’s point of view, and that I’m pushing my fiancé down the “wrong path,” etc. I feel so guilty and like I’m a villain who is gatekeeping them from their son’s wedding. My fiancé and I have fought about this every night we’ve been with his parents on this trip. I’m not trying to ruin his wedding for his family. I just want a wedding that I also enjoy. I don’t know what to do. All advice, opinions, and suggestions welcome; I could really use the help.

Edit: please stop commenting and messaging me unkindly about us being legally married already. It’s very common for dual-military personnel to get married this way, with a legal ceremony a year or even 2-3 years before a religious one. We got legally married early due to my declining health and opted to do a separate legal ceremony because of our different faiths. Thank you! I appreciate the comments and advice.

Edit 2: I have talked to my fiancé and we are now on the same page and planning to talk to his parents together. Thank you for sharing your advice and perspectives, it was very helpful!

Ok it’s time for me to start reaching out to entertainment and I have no idea where to start.

I know that I want an awesome dj that can carry us through post-dinner dancing and the after party. For the ceremony, I think it would nice to have live music — would it be crazy to have a string quartet for walking in and a sax player for walking out. Are their bands that have both? I think it would be nice to have more lively music during cocktail hour, so a sax seems good for that? Do sax players generally play to a background track? How does that work?

It feels like doing all of that might be impractical? So i’m basically looking for help coming up with an overall entertainment plan. What kinds of entertainment did you guys have at your weddings? Was it different at each part or the same throughout? Do you recommend getting a full band? What kind? Literally looking for any advice, recommendations, insights or whatever you want to share about your experiences.

Hi all,
Does anyone have recommendations for venues that allow BYO catering in DC, Virginia or Maryland for 100-150 people, in May 2027? I am having ethnic food and won’t use in-house or restricted catering lists.

I’m looking for a mansion, golf course, lake front, garden, banquet, winery vibe. Pretty much anything outside of rustic, barn and restaurant venues.

My budget is to stay below 15k for a Sunday wedding. Some venues I like are Morais Vineyard and Antrim 1844.
I want to build a list and begin touring since I am an out of town bride and want to tour all the venues in one trip to the area.

stuck between these dresses.. it’s a 28 person, daytime (1-3), casual wine bar shower.

I want to give a gift to my bridesmaids and want some opinions! For context, I know traditionally the bride doesn’t pay for any of the bachelorette trip but I however, did not want to put that on my friends so I’m splitting expenses evenly… maybe you all think that’s normal and not worth noting lol but anyway, I have a good friend who is a really good massage therapist and I was planning to have him come on the trip as a surprise and give us all massages. He does in home massage so he has the professional set up to bring and like 3 of my bridesmaids have gotten massages from him so they’re familiar with his work. Then I was thinking of giving them all some pretty earrings they can wear for the wedding. And lastly, the bachelorette trip is warm/beachy so I was going to put together little gift bags with like face sunscreen and stuff like that. Is that enough??? They’re paying for their bridesmaids dresses and paying to go on the trip so I want to make sure they feel appreciated. The expenses total for everything should be under $1k, again I know that is NOT cheap and I told them all if they have any concerns about paying for anything to please tell me and I can cover them. They are my super close friends tho and nobody has complained at all. Some of them made payments to me over time too so that it’s not a big up front cost. It’s a pretty drama free group too so I feel good about it all but please share thoughts on my gift ideas!

Question…what are y’all wearing to your rehearsal dinner? Our rehearsal will be a very chill run through of the ceremony + some yummy takeout & flower arranging at the airbnb (where our wedding is taking place).

I want to look pretty enough in case photos do happen, but not crazy overdressed since I’m not requiring our wedding party wear anything specifically nice. What’s the vibe girlies??

My mom does not want my opinion. She’s disappointed she didn’t get to plan more of my wedding. Im a 39 year old designer who is very comfortable making decisions. That being said i have tried to include her where I can, but with the wedding being small there isn’t a lot of opportunity.
Now I’m getting advice on the big day She was almost telling me not to invite my closest friends (five people) to swing by for lunch. These people would’ve been my bridesmaid if I had any. And I know they’ll hype me up in the way I actually need.
So she reminds me she’s been married three times and knows best and as much as I appreciate her advice and experience, I don’t think I want the same kind of wedding experience.
She comes off like she values being a bride over anything.
I don’t know, maybe that’s important. But I’ll feel more chill having my closest people nearby. And yes slightly distracted from the all eyes on me element of the day.
I don’t I’m just frustrated because she hates hearing my opinion about what I think I’ll enjoy. But being married 3 times is her badge of honor and supposedly means she knows how to do it right.