What are "normal" weddings like where you're from?

This is so funny. All of my future parents in law and mom were just talking about this last night!!

I'm from western Pennsylvania. Here weddings are very family oriented. Not necessarily kid friendly but you are expected to invite all blood relatives..at least up to great aunts and uncles..and first cousins and their kids. There will be many aunts making dozens of cookies each for the cookie table. The venues around here know this and most have it in the contract to plate your cookies. The bar is always open. There is dancing. Dollar dance, bouquet and garter toss..mine might be the first wedding I've been to without it. Slow dancing to see which couple has been together the longest. But the cookie table and the open bar are the biggest must haves here.

Midwest girl here (southeast Iowa)! Pretty much every wedding I have been to for the past few years in this area has been at either a barn or winery. The ceremony is always outdoors (typically in a pergola or under an archway of some sort), then the reception is inside the barn/winery building. No one ever does a truly open bar – typically it is just beer and wine (which, to be fair, is pretty much all anyone in this area ever drinks – the boys do beer and the girls do wine), you pay for any other alcohol. Decor is basically what Pinterest nightmares are made of - rustic, greenery, white flowers, wood & burlap. Lots of DIY. Food is always buffet. More times than not barbecue. Traditions are almost always observed- father daughter dance, cutting of the cake, throwing the garter, speeches. A huge amount of people leave after eating dinner (usually the older folks and people with young kids). Those that stay are usually younger, drink way too much, get way too rowdy, and make fools of themselves on the dancefloor 😂
I, on the other hand, am doing the complete opposite for our wedding. We are doing a destination wedding. Nothing rustic or DIY to be seen. Dark color palette. Seated plated dinner, a truly open bar. No white dress and no children!!

View Quoted Comment What's your dress look like?

Jersey Girl, here!
I would push back on you... but, GAH, yep! In my experience, RD is for BP only, and brunches are usually invite-only.
Most of my recent weddings have been in NYC, so they've gotten a lot smaller, but they still are dance oriented, generally open bar, and take over your Saturday. (...Including mine.)

We got as close as we could to an outdoor ceremony in NYC without using a park - on the water, with open walls/windows. (I'm also very sunburn prone, so we wanted a roof. ...Still got sunburned where I faced the sun! Oops!)

View Quoted Comment

Hey I'm in Nashville now too! The grooms cake not being a staple everywhere was news to me. I just thought everyone did that. Your 'cocktail hour' sounds fun. I love when weddings have games set up like cornhole or jenga.

View Quoted Comment I haven’t made my final decision yet! I have a black lace dress and a a whimsical gold dress in the running, but may end up having one made!

View Quoted Comment Let me know when you do! I love my lavender dress

I’m from NE Ohio, and I’ve been to a ton of different types of weddings. Always on a Saturday. BBQ seems to be popular although I did go to two weddings without it. I’ve seen church weddings, backyard, golf courses, and ballrooms. I have never seen a next day brunch! I didn’t know that was a thing until I started wedding planning. All of the weddings I’ve been to had an open bar of some sort. Dollar dances are pretty popular. It seems to be a good mix of everything!