"You've ruined my wedding!"

[Jester]

So we had to wait 10 min for the restaurant to open. Thanks for rushing us. But we were the only ones in the restaurant.

So there was one waitress and it took more than an hour to get drinks, though we got served our empanadas first.

But I guess I should have called a few days ahead to let them know there might be a big party showing up (who knows, maybe my relatives might not have wanted to go have coffee). But none of us bitched about how slow the service was.

Part of 10, right at opening, with no one else there? No excuse for it taking an HOUR to get your drinks. That is ridiculous. Especially if we're just talking about COFFEE.

Ridiculous.

[SuperNat]

We're doing a 'wedding reception re-make' this Saturday night. I was MOH for my bestie's wedding in November and she couldn't invite everyone she wanted to the first time, so we came up with the idea (only a few days ago) to re-do the reception. This is for the people that couldn't attend the original reception. We're all getting dressed up and S is even wearing her wedding dress. And yes, it's going to be at a pub (we know the people who run karaoke there, which is on Saturday nights, and we all love karaoke). The difference for us is that WE HAVE BOOKED A TABLE AHEAD OF TIME

[Andara Bledin]

>.>
<.<
http://leahhaydock.blogspot.com/2011...on-pearce.html

Lovely.

And "Nothing Else Matters" was on the playlist at my wedding, too, only as the first dance. The song was still "new" so hadn't been covered much, if at all, at the time.

^-.-^

[depechemodefan]

Ah, now I feel worse about after my mom's funeral. Mom got buried the day after Thanksgiving at 9am. I told my relatives we should go get coffee at a restaurant me and mom went to a lot, since I didn't expect mom to get buried soon (this being the VA cemetary, and goodness knows when she will get buried) So 2 relatives go ahead. I decided to show the other relatives where mom was going to be buried and right away they were burying her.

The 2 relatives that went straight to the restaurant called us, asking us why we are taking so long, they were going to go. So more then 10 of us went to the restaurant. The restaurant wasn't going to open until 10 though, since it was the day after Thanksgiving. So we had to wait 10 min for the restaurant to open. Thanks for rushing us. But we were the only ones in the restaurant.

So there was one waitress and it took more than an hour to get drinks, though we got served our empanadas first.

But I guess I should have called a few days ahead to let them know there might be a big party showing up (who knows, maybe my relatives might not have wanted to go have coffee). But none of us bitched about how slow the service was.

[Alpha Strike]

Wow you guys look awesome in those photos. Also, mad for the video game and Dr. Who references in the vows

Had to go back and look at the wedding vows just to see this - pretty cool indeed!

Now I have this crazy urge, if I ever get married, to call out at the end of my vows: Wifey-chu, I choose you!

[manybellsdown]

Oh, KiaKat, that DRESS! SO pretty!

[Syriilord]

Wow you guys look awesome in those photos. Also, mad for the video game and Dr. Who references in the vows

[KiaKat]

>.>
<.<
http://leahhaydock.blogspot.com/2011...on-pearce.html

Yup. That was at a restaurant. Yup. We reserved in advance. Private Event Space FTW.

I admit it was kind of awesome, having random people get all excited when they saw me enter, or when they saw us doing photos on the stairs. But we stayed out of the store, out of the main restaurant, and away from the areas where people were doing business. It was a store and restaurant first, and our wedding venue second. We were very careful to be accommodating, and only speak up if random customers ignored the "Private Event Upstairs" sign and came crashing into the middle of photos.

[workerbee222]

I built some historical garb for a woman who was going to attend the wedding of a friend- a fellow re-enactor- who had planned her wedding at one of those "living history" sites. You know what I mean: the employees spend the day doing ordinary historical things and explaining to the paying guests what life was like at that point in time.
A few days prior to the wedding, the bride to be was dismayed to discover the living history site would be open to the public during her wedding. They weren't even going to corral the chickens.

[Jester]

As someone who not only has worked in the food service industry for 25 years, but also worked for several years as a wedding DJ, I feel I HAVE to chime in here. (Yeah, I like need a reason to have an opinion....)

But first....

There's a saying sometimes heard around our house: It amazes me just how many people spend their lives planning the perfect wedding... but spend no time at all planning the marriage that's supposed to follow it.

I quote this for more truth than anyone else here, including myself, has spoken. This, this, and more of this.

FOB: Is there someone I can speak to about those RUDE young people over there? We want to sit together and have a meal, but those kids won’t move! They are only drinking! Make them move!

They won't move because they planned better than you and got here first.

FOB: It’s their WEDDING DAY. They want their WEDDING MEAL. This is their first meal as a MARRIED COUPLE. You’re telling me you are going to turn away THIRTY people who are going to order meals??

If you didn't book or call ahead? Yes.

FOB: You’re a pub! No one books ahead at a pub!

People who plan better and have a party of 30 coming in to a pub on a busy Saturday night do.

B: Why are you still serving those people?! They are only drinking!

They are drinking a lot, and paying a lot, and got here before you.

We want to eat together! It’s my WEDDING DAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!

Maybe you or someone in your wedding should have planned better and reserved or called ahead.

B: You are really going to send us away? We are going to spend lots of money!

So are the people who are already here.

B: This is my wedding reception! This is my wedding meal! You are ruining my wedding!

No, YOU are ruining your wedding day by acting like a spoiled little girl and not understanding the way the real world works. If you PLANNED to hold your wedding reception here, you should have made PLANS to book this place ahead of time.

B: Not everyone in the world can afford a fancy reception! We came here because you are a good value place to eat! Or so I thought!

No, not everyone can afford a fancy reception. But just about anyone with half a brain knows that if they are coming into a place on a Saturday night, they should CALL AHEAD and RESERVE THEIR TABLES. It's called, at the risk of sounding repetitive, PLANNING.

B: Well....that’s....it’s still not fair! They are hogging all the tables!

It's "not fair"? Are you going to stomp your foot and hold your breath now? Look, they aren't HOGGING the tables. They are USING the tables, because they got here BEFORE you did, and those tables were not RESERVED, as they would have been by anyone who had the BRAINS to PLAN AHEAD.

B: *tears forming* I just can’t believe this has happened on my wedding day!

I can, since no one in your party bothered to actually PLAN things ahead of time.

FOB: I hope you can all live with yourselves after what you’ve done!

With a clear conscience and pep in my step, thank you very much.

But I still felt bad because of the people pointing and laughing at the bride.

If you act like a fool, don't be surprised when people laugh at you. Pure and simple.

You gotta laugh at these people with their dramatic "I hope you can live with yourself!!" exit lines. Yeah, this is going to disturb my sleep tonight for maybe five seconds, you idiot.

Five seconds longer than it would disturb mine.

And no wedding party in their right mind goes to a pub instead of a real wedding reception after getting married! BOO-YA!

I heartily disagree. As has been noted, plenty of people prefer a pub atmosphere to a fancy restaurant. My bar is not at all fancy, but we have good food, good staff, and a wonderful atmosphere, and we get special events, rehearsal dinners, and yes, even weddings all the time. Whenever anyone calls about any of these, we automatically give them the cell number of our manager who, in addition to her regular managing duties, is our official Special Events Coordinator.

I'm actually going to be doing something fairliy similar to the above. But first, where-ever we end up eating after my wedding, we will have called and made a reservation so the restaurant will know we are coming...

Then it is nothing like the above.

It would have been very easy for the FOB to get the students to move to another area. All he had to do was offer to buy them a round of drinks if they moved.

Maybe. Maybe not. I know that if I'm at a bar or pub and enjoying myself, and some wedding party comes in and wants me to move, odds are I won't, as I will probably be enjoying myself, and if I give up my seat, then I get the joy of standing in an even more crowded pub and attempting to drink and get drinks from the now overworked bar. Yeah, right.

But there might be a chance that a free round could persuade me. But once the guy started acting like an ass? Any offers of free drinks would be responded with suggestions of places where he could put those drinks. And the places would be most noticeably not sunny.

i've heard that the average wedding is like $10k, i can't imagine spending that much money even if it is (hopefully) a once-in-a-lifetime event. and don't get me talking about bridezillas

Many go for even more. As a DJ, I attended weddings that easily topped the $30-50k mark. And that was in Phoenix, where things are not so expensive, about 20 or so years ago.

That being said, in New York, where things are expensive, my Lil Sis got married on a budget of $2,500. Her original budget was $2,000, but when I found out that all she wanted was a little more money in the budget so that she could invite everyone she wanted to (not a lot of people at all), I wrote her a check for the extra 5 bills, as my wedding present to her. (Got her a little something something else, too, but you get the idea.)

And for those who think that a pub is not the "right" place for a reception, my Lil Sis's wedding was awesome...and it was at a pub. And those people took fantastic care of us. Why?

Because Lil Sis planned ahead and reserved part of the pub for the wedding. Not just the reception, mind you, but the ceremony as well. (Neither her nor her groom were at all religious.)

And my ex-fiance and I were budgeting up to about $4,000 for our wedding, and our guest list topped out at 40 people. But then, this is Key West, and our tastes weren't cheap.

We're intending on getting married on a beach and then finding the nearest beach-hut/beachside diner so we can all have burgers or something on the beach. Not because we're cheap, but because we're dirt poor lol.

I still intend on going to the diner or whatever a few days before hand to ask if we could just put some tables together etc.

Most places, if you make arrangements ahead of time, are more than happy to comply.

I could see reserving the deck at Jester's bar for a reception. mmmmm rum drinks!

As I said above, many people do. Hell, one of our waitresses, before she ever lived in Key West, actually DID get married on our deck! And then when she and her husband moved down here, she applied immediately to work at our bar.

In the end, the amount of money you spend entirely depends on the kind of wedding you want.

Precisely. While my ex-fiance and I wanted certain things, like an open bar and having the ceremony outside rather than inside, other things that matter a lot to other people didn't matter to us.

But forget my personal experience. From my PROFESSIONAL experience, some of the best and most memorable weddings I worked and attended were not in some fancy ballroom, but were in funky, quaint, wonderful places, including (but not limited to), in a backyard, on a farm, on a boat, in high school auditoriums, at small restaurants, and yes, even at bars.

[sweetj82]

My friends wedding reception was at a bar. BUT they did the right thing and reserved the place in advance. The bar was able to have more staff. It was a great and fun party.

[42_42_42]

i've heard that the average wedding is like $10k, i can't imagine spending that much money even if it is (hopefully) a once-in-a-lifetime event.

Depends on where you live and your social circle. Most of my friends and family had weddings averaging about half that because we do the afternoon wedding at the church with finger-food reception in the church's hall and no alcohol. There's brides out there who spend on the dress alone more than we spent on our entire wedding, including the honeymoon. In the end, the amount of money you spend entirely depends on the kind of wedding you want.

[Gurndigarn]

remember:

B: Why are you still serving those people?! They are only drinking! We want to eat together! It’s my WEDDING DAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!
B: This is my wedding reception! This is my wedding meal! You are ruining my wedding!
B: *tears forming* I just can’t believe this has happened on my wedding day!

in my world that should be "OUR" there is more than one person in a marriage....

There's a saying sometimes heard around our house: It amazes me just how many people spend their lives planning the perfect wedding... but spend no time at all planning the marriage that's supposed to follow it.

[fireheart]

That's the place for that all right.

Full disclosure: we reserved our reception venue well in advance (about a year). We had the ceremony in the hotel atrium and the reception in a banquet room.

My cousin did that. We had almost the entire second floor booked out for the event (not the accomodation obviously). The two function rooms, plus the bar, plus the chapel and a few of the hotel rooms to accomodate photos, outfit changes and whatnot, were all booked out for my cousins wedding.

As for my uncle's second marriage, we went to a nice little restaurant out in the middle of nowhere (a German/Austrian restaurant-and no, it wasn't cheesy). They had the actual ceremony out on the main lawn and then the reception inside. It was a nice place. One of my uncle's friend's younger son spent the whole night trying to hit on one of the waitresses. We found out the next day that he'd actually gotten her number

Someone else I know did a backyard wedding: they did photos out in front of the old winery near me and then went back to the house for the actual ceremony.

My dream wedding will be booked well in advance . Someone actually did their medieval-themed wedding AT the medieval fair. O.O

[brucetiki]

My mate got married in a nice garden, then had the reception in a hotel which in the room that (on selected nights) is a tittie bar