Shotgun wedding??

I am having a ceremony outside on a cliff and then a family only restaurant reception and you can bet your ass I'm wearing the hell out of a ball gown cause that is what I love and what i want to wear. You can wear whatever you want, and you can get wedding dresses off the rack at a lot of places.

ETA: why do you think you can't wear a wedding dress to a restaurant?

Wear your wedding dress to the restaurant

ETA: Assuming you're going to make reservations at a decent restaurant, not just like, show up at an Applebee's.

Why not wear your wedding dress to the restaurant? I would.

Okay thanks ladies! Wedding dress it is.

Wear whatever you wore to the ceremony.

People have restaurant receptions all the time. Its fine to wear your wedding dress.

Call me. Book a restaurant. Invite 20 people and a musician and photographer.

Ta dah!!!

If you rent a private room in a restaurant I would just wear the wedding dress. They are expensive spend as much time as you can in it!

I think if you want to cater your own food go for it! Let's be real not everybody has a lot of money to throw away on their wedding day so if it is close family & friends, there's nothing wrong with that. It's your day so whatever you really want to do!!

Dont listen to Rachel....

Rachel, then you better believe I won't have money to throw away on your wedding gift after I spend all my money on pepto.

You can still wear your wedding dress! I went to a wedding last November and they did a very small dinner at a restaurant, like 30 people, and she wore her wedding dress. It was a private room, and absolutely lovely.

@Rachel, If you read the whole thread you would see that OP was very receptive to people's concerns with self catering. I think the attitude of "its only close family and friends so it doesn't matter" is sad. Why wouldn't you want to treat your close family and friends like VIP instead of serving them self catered food that could be potential dangerous?

No a wedding is about you and your FH that's it! If you don't understand that than maybe rethink why you're getting married. Let her do whatever she wants it's her day!

Rachel, that's an elopement that you're describing.

Sure, then dont involve any innocent bystanders. Cook you and DH some steaks on the grill in your wedding dress and call it a day.

Rachel how is feeding your guests "throwing away money"? You're hosting them. Feeding is a part of that.

My parents paid for all the big parts of my wedding but if i was paying for it myself I would have: bought a dress and got husband and our kids attire, hired a photographer, gone to the courthouse, only invited immediate family plus grandparents, taken them out to a decent restaurant for dinner and drink, boom, done.

Let me do a little soapbox moment here.

Being pregnant or getting married quickly or having a small wedding does not make it any lesser than any other wedding. You can absolutely wear your wedding dress to your wedding reception, whether that happens at a banquet hall or a restaurant or a park. You can have your hair and makeup done, hire a photographer, carry an awesome bouquet, have a bachelorette party if someone offers you one, etc. You can invite your loved ones to witness your ceremony and celebrate with you at your reception, whether that is 2 people or 200. If you arrive unmarried and leave married, it is a wedding and you are a bride.

Different soapbox: please don't get married just because you are pregnant. It's fine if you were already a serious, committed couple and this event is what caused you to make it official. But pregnancy and the impending birth of a child doesn't make an imperfect coupling perfect, and entering into a marriage under those circumstances would be a mistake. I'm not saying this applies to you, but since you called it a shotgun wedding I thought it was worth typing out.

@Rachel. Just stop. Please.

Please elope and don't kill your family with your homemade food so you could save some money.

Weddings are not a right. Marriage is a right, and that is about YOU. As soon as you have a single guest witnessing your MARRIAGE, you must treat them right and serve them SAFE food, at the very very very freaking least.