Name one "WOW" factor about the best wedding you've ever been to.

@ Shannon - Awesome post!

We have spent quite a bit on our upcoming wedding, but with that said i DIY a lot of stuff, budget dress and my dad is paying for our ceremony! ALL of the money went to the reception - food, DJ, Space, Favors, ETC. I am expecting 250+ guests and I told the DJ that I expect that the dance floor is busy the whole time I love to dance and I know that is where I will be. I am also going to keep our "staged stuff (cake, dances,etc) to a minimum to allow more time for dancing and fun!

The best wedding I have been to was my uncles and they had a BBQ (best food ever) reception with plenty of dancing - different types of music and made sure to visit each person.

Good weddings are made by a fun couple, who has a fun crowd, plenty of booze, and a good dj.

*blushes*

Seriously - brides, if you give in to resenting your guests and focus mostly on how you're going to look? Your wedding is going to SUCK.

I guess this will reveal my priorities, but a beautiful location, whether for a local or destination wedding (I love going new places) does it for me. A few years ago, I went to my first wedding where the bride and her brother (got the rest of her family involved too) did a choreographed dance to a Michael Jackson song. They were REALLY good - I was so impressed. Finally, at my college bf's wedding in Ireland, we were treated to her relatives' musical talents from about 11-3 a.m. (after the videographer left - doh!). I was STUNNED. You can't pay to see that in NYC or anywhere else.

Am i the only one who's family/friends don't really like to dance? FH and i like to ballroom, but the only people i can think of that are coming to my wedding that like to "club' dance is my sister and her friends.....

The best weddings I've ever been to where great because of the friends i had there with me. i'm a social person that likes to be with friends.

I hate to brag, but I think my wedding was pretty darn good. At least that is what my guests said. A lot of things I think helped. Transportaion to and from the hotels, Ceremony short and sweet, less than 20 mins. Food was everywhere, open bar and I even had bloody marys and mimossas passed during the cocktail hour so it could ease the line at the bar a bit. Get the booze in their hands. The DJ was rockin. I had an afternoon wedding and followed it with an after party at a local bar (with transportation) and had more food.

The best weddings, always had good music, food and booze! Like people are saying thinking of the guests!

If you don't want a "blah" wedding... buy Peter Merry's "The Best Wedding Reception....EVER!

It is filled with TONS of great information on making your wedding memorable and different ways to create a stand-out wedding without necessarily spending a lot of money.

I'll say, some of the suggestions are not for everyone... but the most important thing is to make it fun, unique and personal... that's what makes a wedding memorable for you and your guests.

I'm going to also have to say mine was the best i've ever been to *blushes*

I think the biggest thing that made it awesome was the fact that 55 of the 70 people who came were on Maui the whole week prior to the wedding drinking and sightseeing so became friends before the wedding day! Here are the main parts that made it the best wedding I've ever been to

Location/Venue - Maui on the ocean - amazing!

10 min ceremony (that was totally personal and us - everyone was laughing and crying at the same time)

AWESOME food - everyone is still raving about it!

Open bar with a really great bartender - she remembered names and drinks people were having, constantly refreshed my drink...everybody loved her and her assistants!

Great DJ - other than the older folks (who totally danced some) everyone was on the dance floor for a solid 3 hours!!!

FIREDANCER!! We surprised everyone with a fire dancer at the end of the night

Speeches - kept them short!

Gorgeous sunset!!!

Well, I've only been to three weddings so far... but my favourite memory is from FH's Best Man's wedding. He and his wife decided to save the money and just have a dry simple snack type meal directly after the wedding. Did all the little staged things... and then when the mom's and dad's and aunties and uncles went home?

Headed out into the woods where there was a lot of cleared land owned by one of the goomsmen.... where there were FIVE coolers stuffed with booze and a 6 feet wide by ten feet long by SEVEN feet HIGH.... BONFIRE!!! Once it was lit up and the music was going and the booze was flowing they broke out the BBQs and we had a blast! The flames were well over 25 feet high, it was awesome.

(Two of the guests were off-duty firemen and their station was warned ahead of time in case it got out of control and they needed to show up quickly. The firemen did an amazing job clearing the surrounding area and cutting back all the trees though, so not even a little spark got away)

This is a great thread!!

We're having delicious food, but since there will be lots of kids there, including our own liittle girl, what to do about booze? I want to have SOME, but I don't want drunk folks tripping on children and hurting them...Maybe free wine and beer, plus a cash bar?

As far as music--I'm less than 100 days out and still don't have a DJ!! We have a cellist for the ceremony though. I'm way stoked.

Also I've decided I'm DIYing a photo booth with props. I'm really excited. I hope everyone gets really into it!

Ours was truly fabulous and perfect in every aspect, I received a ton of compliments on it, still to this day, almost 1 year later!

BUT my cousin got married about 4 years ago, and at the time his brother was having fun going to vegas for poker tournaments and met a chick who was into the same except she was a vet to the celebs! My cousin (the brother) had her record her celeb friends sending marriage wishes to the couple! It was playing on a laptop before you entered the reception. Some of the people on the video

1) Rain Mayda (from Oour Lady Peace)

2) Justin Tumberlake

3) Pamela Anderson

And those are only a few!

It was so cool, I was completely flaberghasted I stood there and watched the thing twice!

I guess I can go into detail about how ours rocked!

1) The decor was FABULOUS! Thanks to a super crafty mom of mine! She made the napkin rings, vintage/rustic signs, cake stands, etc.

2) Our ceremony was short and sweet. It inculded a reading of what my nieces and nephews thought love was (TOTALLY adorable btw)

3) Everything really flowed well with each other, from decor, timing, music, etc. You name it.

4) I never saw one pouty person there, everyone was having a great time and telling me so!

5) ALL of the food was 100% homemade. Buns, desert, salads, pickles etc. The pickles were made by me and my mom the previous year, my grandma made the buns, me and my BM made the desserts.

6) Our DJ was KICK ASS. And I mean it. The dance floor was never, ever, ever empty. HE has one of those voices when you hear it, you listen and obey! If he said all the ladies onteh dance floor, they were there! He was worth every penny!

7) The surpirse slideshow that the moms had made. CONT

And it made me tear up, seeing pictures of our grandparents who couldn't be there, but watching over us in heaven, and laughing that my mom had photos of my sister in there, thinking they were me (yes, we are 4 years apart and look that much a like, have been asked if we were twins)

Hey carol I thought of you when a good friend of mine decided to do her vows. The you part was that everyone on there bikes makes the isle and when the ceremony is done and they are walking back down, everyone revs up their bikes in honor of them.

Well, if we're bragging about our weddings, here's the stuff guests loved about ours:

1. Ceremony was short and not self-indulgent (6 minutes!)

2. No receiving line (those are slow death). Instead, guests hopped on shuttle buses from the hotel (also ceremony site) to the reception, which was less than a mile away.

3. When they arrived, food and drink were ready to go and guests were welcome to chow down and get their drink on. And the reception was a pub with great food - which we did for budget reasons, but the guests loved it because it was something different.

4. We kept the photo session brief, and only missed about 30 minutes of the reception.

5. The reception was very informal and not overly "programmed" - no speeches aside from our introduction, no bouquet or garter toss (let's face it, they're annoying), and just our first dance. Guests felt like participants, not spectators at the party.

6. Open bar, good music, lots of food. (more)

7. An after party at the hotel bar, and when that closed, an after-after party with bourbon, fried chicken and donuts in my sister's room.

8. Since there were only 90 of us, we got to see and party with everyone, and thank people for coming.

As one of the guests described it, it was, "Do you? Do you? Awesome, let's party!"

OH! And our party lasted from 4pm to 2:30-3:00 AM! I very much dislike going to weddings were everything shuts down at midnight. 10 pm is when everything gets wound up!

I LOVE it when weddings have midnight buffets - it really helps cure a hangover the next day and I don't know about the rest of you, but I tend to get a bit munchie after dancing the night away!

Kelly - we had both midnight snacks (fried chicken, and donuts) and the in-laws hosted a hangover breakfast at the hotel the next morning.

Shannon - that sounds delicious!!! nom nom nom

Great idea for the hangover breakfast