<p>Can’t imagine anything but real flowers but would be curious to see examples.</p>
<p>Silk flowers can also be very tasteful. We had one in a bud vase for each table at our reception. I thought they looked nice. The rest of the flowers we used were real–some even came from my parents’ backyard (lucky to live in HI). :)</p>
<p>If you’re doing a casual aesthetic. Obviously not if you’re doing something highly formal.</p>
<p>I also can’t imagine anything but real flowers. Of course, there maybe some people who are allergic to flowers.</p>
<p>I had balloons for my kid’s graduation party. Oh, what a tangled mess.</p>
<p>I could do my own flowers, boutonieres, and centerpiece because I took the flower arrangement series before my wedding. But my mother didn’t let me, she said I would be so tired if I did my own flowers. She was right. Glad I listened to her. But I did do 2 flower arrangements for the wedding of one of my relatives .
I think to save money on flowers, just do loose flowers on a vase. I love tulips, so I had tulips loosely on a vase. No stiff arrangement which costs money.</p>
<p>I think I will be forgoing real flowers at my wedding. I like the sentiment behind getting flowers but once I get them home, I find it very sad to watch them die. I am contemplating replicating this origami flower bouquet I saw online, and my centerpieces will not feature flowers. </p>
<p>A lot of people are using candles more in their centerpieces now, I think. What few flowers my SIL had for her and my brother’s wedding she bought wholesale and arranged herself. </p>
<p>My favorite wedding that I have attended was definitely the cheapest out of the three I have been to, and my least favorite was the most expensive. My favorite had a church ceremony (the bride and groom are extremely religious) and then a reception in a tent on his father’s property. I think the tablecloths were plastic, they served delicious barbeque from a local restaurant that set up a pit on-site, the centerpieces were small jars with candles in them, and a friend of theirs was the DJ. I think they also rented a dance floor, but the rest of it was grass. </p>
<p>There was a LOT of love at that wedding, and it was fun and casual. Also, the food was amazing and I ate myself silly, and I know for a fact that for what she served, it is $13.50pp. (I wasn’t looking this up to be rude, by the way. I am actually looking into having this same caterer at my wedding.)</p>
<p>My least favorite wedding was, I think, the most traditional. It had a super long Catholic ceremony with a really dull priest, and it was odd because while confirmed, neither the bride or groom ever really went to church. The reception was in a huge banquet hall at a hotel that was pretty but boring, and she had tons of flower arrangements and a huge elaborate wedding cake (which was so dry, stale, and sickly sweet that it was pretty much inedible). The DJ played a lot of older music and very few people danced. The food was buffet-style and I remember it being pretty good. All in all I heard she paid around 30k for her wedding. That is versus the $6k for a wedding I really enjoyed (my brother’s) and less than that for my personal favorite.</p>
<p>One of my cousin’s kids bought pretty flowering plants. They had talked with the local Parks Dept. and after the wedding, the plants were planted in one of the local parks! (I suspect that mom & dad claimed a tax deduction for the donation. That cut the cost a bit! ) I think it was a nice idea; I’ve never heard of anyone else doing it. The B&G are very environmentally conscious and their motivation was simply to avoid waste and to help beautify a park in their neighborhood.</p>
<p>I have found that when it comes to weddings, all of a sudden the couple becomes quite religious; especially Catholics. Maybe that’s the good thing as they approach marriage and children and want to bring their children up with some beliefs. For others though, it seems to be just for show to have that church wedding. Some are surprised that the church does take it seriously, duh, and there are certain steps that need to be followed. Back to the priest/minister etc. You really ccan’t separate the religious aspect of marriage from the ceremony itself but some can be quite overbearing. I do totally respect when the officiant can make the service personal to the couple. I attended a Catholic wedding where the family had been members and participated on all levels, not just showing up on Easter and Christmas. It was very impersonal. So much that I was surprised he even got the names of the bride and groom correct.</p>
<p>Re: Catholic weddings when the bride and groom don’t seem religious. Often, couples will get married in a Catholic church to appease relatives like parents and grandparents. I did years ago as my in-laws would not have considered us married had it not been in a Catholic church. Contrary to many comments on this thread, wedding decisions are often made with others in mind, not just the interests and wishes of the bride and groom. The location and timing of our reception was also based on making it easy for elderly grandparents. Weddings should be a way of bringing families together IMO. I’ve always said that if you see your wedding day as the most important day of your life (those brides who get too hyped up about having a “perfect” wedding), then the rest of your life is going to be pretty boring. :)</p>
<p>Wedding PSA having just had our daughters wedding Friday night. Please, please check with your officiant the morning of the ceremony if you are not having a church or temple wedding. Our original officiant had to back out a week ago due to a serious problem with her son but she has someone that covers for her. 1 /1/2 hours before the ceremony my now SIL got a call from the new officiant to go over some things for the ceremony TOMORROW. Good thing he answered the phone. She made it to the wedding but we were 45 minutes late starting and she had no time to go over the vows.</p>
<p>I chaired a fundraising gala recently (on a Friday evening). We went very budget on the table flowers and also used votives for a beautiful centerpiece for each table. The flowers were “Thursday sale bouquets” (half price at upscale grocer rearranged into dollar store vases by a volunteer with some floral arranging experience. About $8 per table (including votives and vases). VIPs (donors and the board members) were invited to take an arrangement home. </p>
<p>At a recent wedding, the flowers were amazing and extravagant. I can see shelling out some money for the altar flowers and moving them to the reception area (e.g.at the guest book or entry way), but I would rather allocate budget to other things (or save the money) versus having an expensive arrangement at each table. </p>
<p>I really hope my children opt for a lower price point weddings (in about 10 years!). The less formal celebrations on this thread sound much more special/fun than the others!</p>
<p>Just today I have been scanning a bridal registry for ideas for her shower coming up next month. I see lots of very expensive place settings and crystal. Maybe they drink a lot? Not crazy about the whole registry thing where the couple pick out what they want, then I get to watch as they ooh and aah over it as the open the gift they picked out. I do get that this may be a good way to assemble a set of china, but I was hoping to get something practical for the shower. I guess I can get one set of towels at bloomies for $100. In Aqua.</p>
<p>I can’t help but wonder, do the couples purchase the remainder of the items in a set? I noticed several crystal items where they want 12 and 1 has been purchased. Do young people entertain this lavishly these days? Of course, they’ve been living together for years, so I suppose they have all the basic stuff.</p>
<p>I plan to give them a check for the wedding, but I am in a pickle about what to do for the shower.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Is there some reason they didn’t have a rehearsal? That would have eliminated this risk.</p>
<p>junie, some couples do purchase the remaining place settings/crystal, etc. if they don’t get the number they requested (most of the time that isn’t an issue). Many stores offer the b&g a discount for a year on any item on the registry. As I’ve mentioned before, the registry is simply a suggestion. There’s no reason that you can’t choose something else for the shower, or for the wedding!</p>
<p>junie, it sounds to me as if they have registered for wedding presents, not shower gifts. Certainly, I wouldn’t give someone a place setting of expensive china for a shower gift. And I do not give money. As we were discussing earlier, just because stores have people register for “place settings” doesn’t mean that people have to give place settings. There’s nothing wrong with giving a dinner plate or a glass if that’s your price point. It all adds up.</p>
<p>My BIL and SIL registered for the world’s most hackneyed china. ARGH! I dutifully gave them a couple of place settings for their wedding gift. They later told me that they returned it because they only received 4 place settings. I would have continued to give them pieces for Christmas in subsequent years, but whatever. Now, if they had received 12 dinner plates instead of “place settings,” they would have had enough to actually hold a dinner party. (In reality, they would probably have put it aside “for good” and never used it anyway, but hey. 
)</p>
<p>I prefer to give crystal rather than china or silver, if all are on a registry. When I do, I buy an equal amount of red/white or wine/water glasses. I figure that if I buy 8 glasses–4 of each kind–the young couple can use them when they have another couple over for dinner,even if they don’t get any others.</p>
<p>I often go to the china/crystal area of a store and buy something I thing is beautiful, such as a lovely salad bowl, pitcher or dish. I include the receipt and they can take it back if they don’t like it. Shower gifts, imho, do not need to be elaborate.</p>
<p>One of the weddings we went to the bridesmaids carried Japanese lanterns (battery operated) and the bride carried a single calla lily. It was beautiful in its simplicity.</p>
<p>I guess I was surprised that the registry items were mostly china and crystal. The shower invitation mentioned the 3 registries I looked up. I haven’t been to a bridal shower in years, and my expectation was that they would want textiles and appliances. </p>
<p>I actually found a lovely wedding keepsake box with a glass lid at pottery barn which can be personalized, so I think I’m going to go with that. For the wedding, I will probably get a fancy Christmas ornament and include a cash gift.</p>
<p>I rather enjoyed receiving random gifts from friends and family when I got married. I still remember who gave me some of them, and it gives me pleasure to remember it all.</p>
<p>When I registered…centuries ago…at Geary’s (Angelenos will know this store well) my mother was against registering. It was like “asking” for gifts. And when she married she had 4 people there so there was no frame of reference. </p>
<p>I had the best saleswoman ever. I picked what I “wanted”. Back then it was formal and everyday china, stainless and sterling, crystal and glasses. I picked stuff that I liked. And then this wonderful woman said, “options”. Options for everyone attending. My registry went from $10 to $150. ($150 was a lot of money back then). The best surprise? I asked for glass or crystal bowls…nothing specific. One family sent a Waterford bowl. I use it all the time to this day. The fancy crystal broke in the earthquake. The other…6 pieces for $20…I use to this day.</p>
<p>Oh…as for the Bloomingdale’s towels. They go on sale…all the time. NEVER pay full price there. I bought 4 place settings of one bride’s formal china for the cost of 1 and a half…Macy’s one day sale.</p>
<p>So for you people who like the registering (i.e. asking for the gifts), I see a lot of gifts that would appeal to the bride specifically, i.e. crystal, china, etc., that probably very few of the grooms care about at all. Do you consider this when registering and put some decent items on the registry - like power tools, hand tools, electronics, etc.?</p>