My bridesmaids wore navy and the flowers were orangish and cranberry colors. Song? I know it was one of the Tim McGraw/Faith Hill songs. There are two that I always get mixed up. I should remember the name of our song... lol.

My wedding was 21 years ago. My bridesmaids wore floral cotton Laura Ashley dresses, medium blue background w/ pink/mauve flowers, if I recall. We had a fairly casual wedding -- just went to the Laura Ashley store and let the bridemaids decide together on which one they liked. My flowers were white roses, I think?? And the bridesmaids had pink roses.

I assume you mean the first-dance song at the reception. Ours was "Nothing Compares To You" by Sinead O'Connor.

I didn't have a color theme. My flowers were a mixed bouquet with lots of color. I don't even remember what type of flowers were in it! I just remember it was lovely and fresh and colorful.

My one attendant wore a black dress because the dress looked best in black. We had hoped for red, a favorite color for both of us, but it looked tacky as all get out in red.

We didn't have a song and I don't recall what we used for the first dance. I'm just a sentimental old fool, I guess.

My 18th anniversary is this weekend. I think I'll get the photo album out for a trip down memory lane.

DH and I were married in our tiny living room in the presence of a few close family members, by a one-armed minister. ;-) I wore a champagne-colored sheath, DH wore a tux, and I had only one attendant, my niece, who was 2 at the time. She really stole the show in her pretty little white dress, and although she was supposed to precede us into the room tossing rose petals from a basket, she opted to cower in the hallway instead so I led her in by the hand and we all just gathered in front of the fireplace and the ceremony began. I didn't carry flowers. I wanted the ceremony to be very simple but elegant, and I think we pulled it off. We had a lovely tiered cake in ivory, black and turquoise (sounds awful, but it was stunning!), and the champagne flowed freely. We played light classical music before the ceremony, and vintage jazz hummed in the background during our reception (staged in the adjoining dining room). After most of the guests left, DH and I rode up to a neighborhood biker bar (still in our wedding clothes) on his motorcycle and bought a round for all of the old crusty bikers who were there that afternoon.

For our wedding night, DH and I and a few other family members went to see the band Primus in concert. Not exactly a traditional thing to do after just saying vows, but we had a great time and it was a memorable occasion!

Color was a deep amethyst/lavender shade, flowers were lavender roses & other mixed flowers in shades of pink/cream/purple, and our song was one by Celine Dion...

We've been married since 1999... I would love to do it again. Same guy of course, just a different wedding. There is so much I'd do differently. Different florist, different reception venue & caterer. If I were doing in today, I would love to get married when the peonies are blooming & plan everything else around them. :)

Raspberry, cymbidium orchids & rubrum lilies, and the love theme from "The Godfather" -- DH's idea. His old Italian relatives loved it. It was 1982.

bridesmaids/ maid of honor wore dark teal (it was october). their flowers were coral shades-silk bouquets and hairpieces. my flowers were white and real-roses, freezia i think and i don't know what else. black tuxes and striped ascots for the guys. 'wherever you go' by weston priary monks was one of the songs in the church and roberta flack's '1st time ever i saw your face' was the song we danced to.

My bridesmaids wore chocolate brown, and carried peach and ivory roses. My bouquet was all red black magic roses. Our wedding song was Shania Twain's You've got a way. It was a fall wedding in mid-October of 2001. The country, especially in our area, was still reeling from 9/11. I had several guests who did not attend because they lost loved ones. It was indeed a tough time, but a beautiful day for us, and for many of our guests who were struggling to get back to some sort of normal.

Busybee, what year? Had the same song with first dh in 1972. Dress was a veggie print empire waist and my bouquet and hair crown was made with freshly picked black-eyed Susans.

Natal, I love that!!

Please tell about your dress, too...

natal, 1984 ... the song surely wasn't current, but it was a beautiful song by a beautiful voice. my husband had the album i think....
our wedding itself was formal and traditional---sounds like your 1st marriage 'fit' the early 70's-free-spirited!!! much more along the lines of what i would do if i was marrying today!! (barefoot on (almost) any beach would be ideal!)

We were married the morning of January 15th in Grosse Pointe, Michigan, 28 years ago. My colors were several shades of rose with soft green. I wore a slender, satin wedding dress (that I could move around easily in ) and carried a longish bouquet of roses, lilies and ivy. My sis, who was my matron-of-honor, wore burgundy and carried a single deep pink, long-stemmed rose.
I walked down the aisle to John Denver's "Annie's Song" ("You fill up my senses like a night in a forest, like the mountains in springtime, like a walk in the rain . . . ."). I was wanting something different from the usual and we both loved that song. We still do and now it brings back a lot of great memories.
We had what's called, an Afternoon Tea Reception for 90 guests at a nearby country club. The room overlooked a lake and snowy golf course with tall evergreens. It was gorgeous out there! We had many different hot and cold hors d'oeuvres and lots of champagne, with a pianist who played Cole Porter (and similar) music throughout. It was very elegant, but still very warm and friendly.
That evening, my parents hosted a dinner for 30 close family members in a private room, at a restaurant overlooking the river. The flowers there were deep rose and white lilies and I wore a rose colored sheath. The music then was Sinatra . . . ahhh!
Lynn

Lynn, I've been married one year longer than you and we had Annie's song played (not sung). We also had a Bach prelude. A mix of classical and our own personal favorites. I wish I could think of the name of the beautiful old hymn we had played. Our pianist was wonderful. We did have two soloists (one male and one female).

We had a fairly formal church wedding - big but we had lots of friends and family (had grown up in that area). I had wanted to use pink dresses for the bridesmaids but after viewing pictures we were told that pink might not show up well in the pics. That season there was not a deeper pink or rose so I used almost a cranberry shade for my attendants. Pink roses(and a mixture of other flowers)and pink and cranberry ribbons were used in the attendants bouquets. My bouquet was mostly white with some pink roses and white/pink ribbons. Flowers and decorations used at the reception used pinks and cranberry colors.

tina

My dress was white, all lace and ankle length. My favorite part was the scalloped hem, that was the prettiest part of the whole dress and it's what sold me on that one. I think it was called a portrait collar (?) - almost off the shoulder but with a big collar that formed an almost sleeve (to hide my upper arms!). No veil or headpiece, I only wore a few flowers in my hair.

I think it was the 2nd dress I tried on, it didn't require any alterations, and, most importantly to me, it wasn't very expensive. I've spent more on non-wedding dresses.

Not being a terribly sentimental person, I gave my dress away to an organization that re-sells them & uses the money to grant wishes to breast cancer patients.

I think the best thing about the recent royal wedding dress is we may be at the end of the strapless era. I don't think that style is really the most flattering on many and yet it's the only style I've seen in years and years and years. No offense to anyone who wore it. If you were happy in it, that's all that matters.

The joy of the Russian Orthodox church is that the music never varies. So, no discussion over music--all sung by a choir, punctuated with birdsong coming in through the open windows.

Peonies, and all white.

I got married at City Hall on my lunch break :) (really). And for some reason (my wonderful husband), it was awesome. We giggled the whole time. I don't know how to explain it, but it was NICE being the only two there (other than the City Clerk).

By the time we decided to actually get married at 26, my husband and I had been together, off and on, since we were 16. We just wanted to be married and didn't care how it happened. We both have gigantic families and there was no feasible way to have a small wedding without people having their feelings hurt. It was either 300 people or City Hall!

We DO have a couple songs that are special to us...When You're Gone by the Cranberries and Champagne Supernova by Oasis. Funny how you can guess a persons generation by their wedding song :)

First wedding:
September, 1969. I wore my white eighth grade graduation dress and my sister got a new dress to be my bridesmaid (Classic sister move). Got married in Reno, Nevada at a church with a forged birth certificate. My sister forgot the music so I walked down the church aisle in complete silence. No cake, no reception. I was 14 and 4 1/2 months pregnant. Ended up in hospital three days later with a really bad kidney infection.

Second wedding:
Oct,1983. I wore a victorian style dress that hit below the knee with a high priest style collar. It was Ecru with lace. Can't remember my flowers but I had a rose wreath instead of a veil. Aimee was 13 and my maid of honor. She wore a dress she chose. It was dusty pink floral. We wrote our own vows.

We got married at Ted Lyons home (Lyons Moving and Storage heir). We invited everyone we knew and hoped to know. LOL! Our wedding invitations were great. They were flyers that said "Black tie optional. Be there or be square. All trumpeters bring trumpets!"

One of Aimee's friends (8th grader) sang 'The Rose' by Bette Midler. Aimee picked it. We hired a blue grass band for the potluck reception. We danced until we fell.

My cake was everything to me. It was made by the entire small town (pop. 125) of Washington, where I grew up. It had three tiers and the towns people where I grew up borrowed the ovens at the school. It was beautiful and filled with so much love. It tilted just a little. I cherish the photos my mom took of the baking process. Even the towns men got involved. They were in charge of making sure the tiers were stable. I called it my Barbie Doll wedding cake.

The entire cost of the wedding was under $1500. and we had about 250 people. Lots and lots of love was present.

Oh, Golddust, your (second) wedding sounds like such a special one . . . and, fun! And your DD got to stand up for you. I'll be smiling the rest of the day thinking about how the town all came together for you like that!

For ours, my one sis was my only attendant, my future FIL was DH's best man (what an awesome man he was) and DH's brother married us. He'd just finished at the seminary and we were the first couple he married. Ours was a small, but very special wedding party.
Lynn

Our wedding was similar to danielleg's - at the courthouse. We had to get married - no, not what you may think. We got married because my husband needed a green card to start working. We had met the previous year on vacation in Mexico, and he had just finished his MBA at the University of British Columbia. Within about 6 months he had moved to my hometown of Sacramento, and started his job search. When he found a job the only thing missing was a social security number and green card. So I got off early one day from my waitressing job and we headed down town to the ocurthouse. I put on a dress he had bought me in Vancouver which was a dark pinky red and we headed out. It was a warm sunny March day, so the judge who married us suggested we do it outside. He grabbed a reporter who happened to be roaming the courthouse halls to be our witness/photographer with my Polaroid camera. Once outside the judge picked a few camellias (which were the same color as my dress) from a nearby bush for me to hold since "every bride needs a bouquet".
I had been married before, briefly, and had a regular wedding, but our spur of the moment wedding was much more romantic, and lasted a lot longer - 27 years to date!

No music, song or flowers. Another justice of the peace/courthouse wedding here!

So funny, after reading Terriks' post- my dh had just *gotten* his green card. I told him I'd marry him once he had one, and I did the next day!

We went to a lovely Chinese restaurant over-looking the water nearby after the "ceremony," and drove three hours to Washington D.C. for a 3 day honeymoon which I just loved! Enjoyed the beautiful hotel, great food, the Smithsonian, etc., and was so happy that we were married!

We lived together for 2.5 years, and will be married for 24 years this June 26.

So funny, after reading Terriks' post- my dh had just *gotten* his green card. I told him I'd marry him once he had one, and I did the next day!

My DH would have preferred to have had a job a bit of money saved before we got married, but that wasn't possible without the green card. Seems to have worked out okay so far though.

Golddust, I knew you were young, but not that young! A real child bride!

Another JP for the second. We went to his house and got married in his back yard. Never had a honeymoon. Spent a month in Mexico City a few months before we got married, so we counted that. Lived together for a year. 32nd anniversary in November.

Yep, Natal, I was indeed a child bride. Funny thing is, I still have that birth certificate that is very badly forged by my mother. It was legal to get married in the state of Nevada at age 16 (with parental consent) so my mom used white out and made me '16' so I could get married. (I've always wondered if we were ever legally married. If not, why did we bother getting a legal divorce?)

My mom said, "The first baby can come any time. The second baby takes 9 months." (!!!) I'll never know what they were thinking but I was declared a grown up and sent off to get busy with my life. Reception or not.

I was married in a $400 off white Jessica McClintock lacy dress with a big-*ss bow on the butt. My flowers were a tightly packed "bidemeyer?" bouquet with peaches and purples, stephanotis and queen ann's lace. My bridesmaids wore peach satin, as my sister declared in the middle of the Fancy Boston bridal shop, "I'm not wearing f-ing taffeta!!" We danced to Louis Armstrong' s It's a Wonderful World at a campground here on Cape Cod. I didn't care a bit about any of it...just that we'd be married. It'll be 23 years in September.

Beth p

Wedding colors were pink and white lace. Flowers were pink, white and lavender.

The "song" was the oddest part of the wedding because I was so busy planning this event by myself I never got around to picking a song. The night before the wedding my fiance spent the night at a buddies house. They realized I still hadn't told the DJ what song to play so they went through his friend's collection and picked out something he liked. At the reception I was as much in the dark as the guests were what the song would be. The DJ started the music and we slow danced to "our" song, one I had never heard before!

Terriks, I hear you! I just thought it was interesting to hear of anyone speaking of green cards, much less green cards in connection with their marriage. I have not encountered others who have lived with this scenario.

Believe me, I know how that whole permanent residency situation is difficult and challenging. In my situation I needed to proceed as I did for a number of reasons. You did what was right for the two of you.

Cheers!

Hey Bethpen - what day is your anniversary? We will be married for 23 years on Sept 17th.

My bridesmaids wore dark teal satin tea length dresses. Their flowers were peach.

Our first dance was to the Stylistic's "Betchabygollywow".

We had the ceremony at a church an the reception on a boat circling New York City. It was especially fun because all my guests were from the south so the NYC skyline was a thrill.

Great topic!

My first wedding was in 1982, at a little country church. I wore an eggshell satin & lace dress my mom made for me. Had a sweetheart neckline and dropped waist with an a-line skirt. It was a very pretty dress, actually! She also made the two bridesmaid dresses that were white with lavender & light blue floral print. Gunnee Sax was big back then, so it was that style. My bouquet was simple, with asiatic lillies, carnations and roses. No music, we did the reception at my folks house and if there was music it was rock & roll!

2nd, and forever marriage was at the County Courthouse, I wore a light green silk, floaty summery dress loaned to me by a girlfriend. My flowers were a huge array of asiatic lillies with greens (made by me). My girls were bridesmaids and carried rose bouquets, while the boys & DH wore rose boutineers. The music was "First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" sung by Roberta Flack. The judge said he'd had flowers in his chambers but never music. We didn't dance, but we did have plenty of tears!

1995 July wedding.
Colors, deep hot pink fuchsia bridesmaids dresses, deep pink roses in a tight bouquet, rose bud boutonnieres, deep pink cummerbunds.
Flowers, everything pale pink to deep pinks, blues, whites

The tiered, basket weave cake was decorated with fresh flowers.

Song: Perfect Union by Matthew Ward. Lots of other music too, but that was the defining song.

We got married in 1999 in Las Vegas. My husband gave up his entire life in Sweden and relocated here to be with me. To say funds were tight is an understatement. It was all we could do to afford the trip and rings. I had on a nice lace off white dress, my daughter and her husband (her boyfriend at the time) flew in from Louisiana, my mother and a life long friend (with her husband) flew in from California and it meant a lot to me that they did. We spent a couple of nights there celebrating and then came home.

Our situation is different I guess. We had met online a year before and in our eyes, this was just a celebration of him having a successful move here and the beginning of a new life for both of us. No songs, no flowers, barely a cake, but a lot of heart!

Meeting people on line back then was laughed at and all of my friends at the time thought I was making the mistake of a lifetime. I caught a lot of guff for it and really didn't want anyone else there. 12 years later, we're still very happy, very much in love and going strong.

Is yone tired of seeing my wedding pic yet? lol

Similar to Polly; right after 9/11- his 2nd; my 3rd- we invited 2 members of the family- his son & wife & she refused to get on the plane; so he stayed home too. We had a few people from the GW rose forum & his sisters friend that lived in FL. We were married at Cypress Gardens in FL; pretty much just the 2 of us. We've both been married before by justice of the peace & wanted to get dressed up to have nice pics & we did. I made most of the bouquet with silk flowers from Walmart. At one point I had too much on my plate & brought it to a local florist who filled it in.

We went to FL so that we didn't have to pick anyone to stand up for us. I had a friend at the time that was mad she wasn't picked for my 1st wedding; so I did for my 2nd & in the end she couldn't be bothered coming shopping with me for flowers or trying on dresses which she didn't have to buy; so I cut her & had another friend stand up who wore a bridesmaid dress I wore to another wedding which worked because it was my favorite shade of mauve. 1st wedding was an off white maternity dress; 2nd was a tea length wedding dress from Penney's.

Awe, I've never seen your picture before, you look beautiful Roselvr, what a great picture.

So fun to hear everyone's wedding stories! You do look beautiful roselvr.

My story is pretty mundane but I am not much for ceremony...

Lived together for 10 years and we were ready to start a family so headed to the jp. Funny how I had no problem living with dh but did not want to get pregnant unless I was married. I am a woman of contrasts I guess:)

I wore an emerald green silk dress. Don't remember what dh wore.

We had no one there with us but threw a party at our home a few weeks later for family. Which was a blast.

We have been together 33 years and have a fantastic 21 yr dd.

So far we have all lived happily ever after.....

Lived together for 10 years and we were ready to start a family so headed to the jp. Funny how I had no problem living with dh but did not want to get pregnant unless I was married. I am a woman of contrasts I guess:)

Sounds sensible to me. Marriage is not just a commitment between husband and wife, but to the children, that you are committed to creating a stable family for them.

Just celebrated 25 years....

My sis was my only attendant and she wore an iridescent navy blue satin number, with removable puffy short sleeves.

I carried a bouquet of very long stemmed calla lilies, sis carried a single one.

walked down the aisle to Canon in D, way before anybody was walking down the aisle to anything but "here comes the bride", in fact the guy who was the coordinator at the church was waiting for the music to change, finally he realized it wasn't going to change and they opened the doors for me to "go"

Danced to a Chicago song, "You're the Inspiration"

Roselvr, first time I've seen the pic. You're much younger than I imagined. Isn't it funny how that happens. I was surprised to learn that Shee was only in her 20s. Her posts made her seem so much older.

terriks, it does sound sensible when you say it!

roselvr,
What a nice picture! I love the contrast of the formal clothes but the casual way your DH is leaning against the pillar.

Yes, thanks for sharing the pic, roselvr. You do look lovely and you both look so happy.

I didn't think of asking people to share pics! Wish I would have. Maybe it's not too late. :).

What a fun thread! We got married in September, and so our colors were rich and autumnal--apple green, terracotta and touches of cranberry. Bridesmaids in cranberry. Flowers had (I think) terracotta roses with green hypericum. Thank goodness all the details were so lovely, because we were rained out and had to move indoors at the last minute! We ended a months-long drought, which has since become our signature. We can cause rain any time we go on vacation, even in the desert.

xantippe: you can end droughts?!? Vacation here in Santa Fe, New Mexico, very soon then, please!!!
Lynn

We're another couple who got married in a hurry by a judge. We'd been living together for years and really hadn't planned to marry but, his office wanted to transfer him from Montreal to Atlanta. I'd been living in Montreal for 15 years but I was and am an American citizen. His company had an attorney who was going to help DH navigate the path to a green card. I found out that if we were married I could simply go to the consulate and request status for him so it was a no brainer to get married. I mean, it wasn't that we didn't love each other or have a serious commitment, we owned a house together up there for many years and I brought the mortgage papers to the consulate to prove it, it's just that we weren't in any kind of hurry. We might have gotten around to it without the push or we might not have.

What a fun thread!

We were married Labor Day Weekend 2002 in Santa Barbara.

My wedding colors evolved into shades of a "Santa Barbara Sunset": fuschias, oranges, corals reds, pinks and lime green.

My bridesmaids all wore different dresses; I just asked that they be long A-line, with straps in colors of their choice from the palette above. They carried sandalwood fans edged with orchids and had dendrobium orchids in their hair.

My bouquet was a mix of orchids and mini calla lilies in those colors with tuberoses.

Thanks for sharing your pics, binsd. You look beautiful! I really like your bridesmaid's dresses idea- turned out great. And I love the fans!

I got married in 74, I wore a flowing cotton mexican wedding dress, carried a bouquet of daisies, dh wore a beige suit and a brown bow tie, my cake was decorated with lily of the valley.. Our apt had many macrame holders with hanging plants, that was the era.

Love that, mitch. I was married in the 70's too. My dress was kind of hippie or post-hippieish too. I didn't want a "real" wedding dress so I had a long, lacy Gunne Sax dress with a high collar and leg of mutton sleeves. And I wore a rose in my hair.

Natal wrote: "Another JP for the second. We went to his house and got married in his back yard. Never had a honeymoon. Spent a month in Mexico City a few months before we got married, so we counted that. Lived together for a year. 32nd anniversary in November."

We're too much alike. We got married by a Judge in his chambers, and a month or so later my parents took us to Mexico City and we considered that our honeymoon also.

Our's was done between semesters over Christmas. A friend had a party for us and guess who was there?

Vince Gill! This was before he was famous and played in the band Mountain Smoke before he went solo.

But we had a great time that day. Been married since 1974!