What are non-traditional things you're doing for your wedding?

I come from a Hispanic family where it is tradition to do the money dance. I wont be doing that. I dont Like the idea of it.

No bridal party at all. I won’t be walking down the aisle. We will already be standing there holding hands and guests will be sitting in a circle around us. We’re shy, we didn’t want a big traditional ceremony.

No bouquet toss, garter toss or speeches.

No DJ(that’s the norm around here) we’re having a celtic band perform for us.

Our first dance is a folk dance(definetely not to norm here)

I also hate the bouquet and garter toss.
Don't get up under my dress! I'm not even prudish, I'm wearing shapewear down to my knees, and I still hate the idea. And have you seen the price of bouquets?? I am not tossing it!!
I'd be alseep for a slideshow, we're thinking of having our moms do speeches because they hate people and would keep it short 🤣

We are an Italian American groom and a Chinese Filipino bride. We are both product/app designers and we played by our own rules. We tossed things aside and shook them up. Before we were engaged we talked about brunch weddings, and he even proposed to me over making breakfast at home like we do every day in our apartment.
We had an adults only boozy brunch wedding dance party midday (11:30am) on a Sunday. We had all our our wedding photos done before the wedding happened with extended family. Our wedding party included only my best lady and his best man/brother. At 11:30am on the dot we began our wedding as the reception. People were handed mimosas and could pick from 4 signature cocktails and had food right as they arrived. No assigned seating, it was held at one of the cities best restaurants and bars since food and drink was one of the top priorities. We had barely any decor with exception of a cardboard cutout of us welcoming our beloved guests, Jenga guest book, and programs and sparse signage. Florals were the main decor and instead of typical bridal or formal florals it was a mix of tropical and textured wildflowers.

Motown and 50s music played throughout stationed brunch. My husband and I were able to spend all our time with our guests making our rounds and having a very laid back and enjoyable time.
A couple hours in, the table at the center of the room with stationed brunch made an exit and it's it's place under a suspended palette with florals and greenery was a custom stage my husband's Uncle/godfather made us. My dad, his mom, our bests, and us went to a room as the 2001: Space oddyssey song came on. Everyone stood around the platform clapping as we entered and met our officiant. Our officiant welcomed our friends and family, our best man made his toast, my best lady made hers, then we exchanged our own vows. Right as we kissed and we're pronounced married the music dropped and the dance party instantly began.

We had parent dances followed by our dance and then we started calling out groups of friends from school / met in NYC/ siblings/ cousins aunts and uncles/ all family/ all girls/ all guys/ everybody. We selected snippets of songs for each group and by the end everyone was on the floor partying and the dancing didn't stop until the end of the evening. We had pastries and baked goods for dessert, in addition to homemade Italian cookies and homemade Filipino treats, with Chinese roll cake.

Truly a collaboration by my husband and myself and though it was a lot to pull off for a seamless party with no interruptions and was easy from the beginning. Best day every and we were completely in the moment every step of the day.

We ditched the order of events, formality, mailed invitations, lots of registry items, no kids, no flower girl or ring bearer, small wedding party and our family was an extension of our party, no cocktail hour with the bride and groom missing, never being pulled away for photos, no bouquet toss now garter toss. No send off, no other events.

We are skipping the garter toss also! I also don't want the officiant to ask who is giving me away. It's more common now to skip this part, but it's still common where I live.

First look, one of my best friends is a guy and he is standing on my side. so that is non-traditional. no garter toss

Definitely skipping the bouquet and garter tosses. Super awkward and we don’t have many single people there.

Right before we're declared man and wife and the recessional...we're walking around and quickly greeting the wedding party and parents then we're walking down the aisles and very quickly greeting the guests at the end of the pews. If there are guests sitting in the middle we can reach over and quickly give them a hug or handshake as well. We figure this will take about 5 minutes max to do.

Flower girl is either going to give our some flowers to guests or she'll be carrying a wand.

Ring bearer is carrying a ring box instead of a pillow.

I'm not doing a Bouquet toss. Instead, i'm doing a cake pull where the girls come up and pull charms from the cake before I cut the cake.

No garter toss.

I don't plan on doing traditional toasts. Instead i'm going to have one person just say "to the bride and groom" and have everyone raise their glasses.

Mother/Daughter dance will be at the end before I leave for the night.

We are not having a bouquet or garter toss. No flower girl or ring bearer. Small wedding party (1 MOH, 1 bridesmaid, 1 best man, 1 groomsman). My godparents will be involved, but he doesn't have any. No registering for China, because I will NOT use it.

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Exactly. who still registers for China? haha and I don't think anyone uses it to be honest

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I love the idea of greeting the wedding party and parents before going down the aisle - and the guests! That's great!

I may take that flower girl idea with giving out flowers That is adorable!! I just need to decide when I would do that. We're doing petals (FH prefers it. Hmph!) and then for the recessional, we would give them a mini bouquet.

That cake pull is genius!

I'm excited for your guests at your wedding! I love how you personalized it

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Thanks for sharing! I didn't even think about that!

I don't like the "giving away" thing either. Now that you mention it, I think I will omit the "speak now or forever hold your peace" bc my FH has some narcissistic and toxic family members who would smirk or pretend to do it. Heck, I wouldn't be surprised if his sister said something. SMH

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Your wedding sounds like a dream! I'm sure it was beautiful! I'm a Filipino bride but born and raised in good 'ol 'murica. I feel like people expect this wedding to be one of those lavish Filipino weddings with 300+ people with 50+ Godparents when in reality, I just want a simple, classic wedding that is "us" with some Filipino traditions and some Catholic traditions.

Can I take your jenga and 2001 space odyssey ideas? Those are AMAZING ideas!

I think what we plan to do is meet with our guests during cocktail hour and take pictures with them then. That way we're able to really talk and thank them for coming. They also get a picture vs. (like you said) being pulled away to take pictures with us.

Thank you for sharing! That was a delight to read! I would've loved to be a guest at your wedding! Do you have pictures on your profile?

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Ugh, some people just don't know how to act in public!

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You're so lucky that your moms would keep their speeches short! Ours are such attention seekers and dramatic haha

I agree with you with the garter toss Yuck! Bouquets are so expensive, it's insane. I think I'm just going to make my fortune bouquet with fake flowers, i won't feel so bad and it's cheaper haha

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That sounds wonderful! I also noticed that your wedding is in September too! Hope your planning is going well!

PS: I loooooove that you guys are doing a folk dance with a celtic band!

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Let's hope moms, dad, tias, and tios won't be offended. Then again, it's your wedding And looking back, you'll be so happy you opted out of the money dance. We have the money dance too and I'm thinking of cutting it as well. Takes too much time haha

View Quoted Comment Fingers crossed 🤞 lol

View Quoted Comment Thank you!!! Yes we opted for a 100 guest wedding and was a bit tough to let my mom know of our plans but it played out beautifully. Pics in my "real wedding" that should be linked on my profile 🙃

View Quoted Comment Yeah, I can relate. I told my mom we wanted 150 and my parents freaked out. I’m happy to hear it played out nicely.

Your wedding pictures are beautiful! WOW! It looks like one of those ad campaigns where they TRY to capture those beautiful, perfect weddings! That must have been a lot of planning for you to do but it looked like so much fun! As I’m getting closer to the wedding date, I have a deeper appreciation for the weddings that have their own identities- that’s what makes them special and something that couples can look back on with fondness. Thanks so much again for sharing!! 💕💕💕💕💕