What makes a wedding formal!?

First of all, your venue is super cute! I LOVE all the string lights everywhere. Second, your wedding should be as casual or formal as you and your future spouse want it to be. If you want pizza, have pizza! Whether or not your wedding is a black-tie event or a casual backyard barbecue, nothing is going to take away from how special the day is. That being said, I would say that having pizza would put your wedding a little more on the casual side, but there's absolutely nothing wrong with that. As long as YOU love your plans for the wedding, that's all that matters!

A wedding doesn't have to be formal! Your wedding should be whatever you want!

Your venue is pretty causal. Lots of wood/natural elements is more causal than say a ballroom. Pizza by nature is causal because you eat it with you hands. Anything you eat with your hands isn't formal because it is messier.

Attire is also related to formality. It would be weird to have a black-tie wedding and then serve pizza.

Your venue is cute but your food does say that it would be more casual. Some people can try to make pizza more elegant but at the end of the day it’s more of a casual food. However pizza any day and any where is awesome aha

Totally agree with PP and as they said, love your venue! You do you!! If it works for the budget and you both enjoy it, do it!! We're having bbq. Is it cheap, yes. It it delicious, yes!! The choice is yours. Tbh, FH and I were just at a wedding a few months ago. Super formal. Plated dinner. The works. They put so much into it and honestly, I think most of the crowd would of preferred something more simple. So it could also be a know your crowd type of situation. For example, our crowd knows what we're having and they love it. We actually went to a fancy cheese and wine market to sample authentic cheeses from different countries for cocktail hour. After sampling, we decided it wasn't our style nor would it be a hit for our crowd. Saved us a ton of money! Looks like Colby Jack and cheddar it is! Hahah

Do you! I honestly would never want to have a casual wedding, but I love attending super casual weddings. It’s always big fun.

You're asking "what makes a wedding formal?", but do you really mean, "Does my wedding have to be formal?"? As for the first question, it's pretty much what makes any event formal: a formal location (mansion, ballroom, etc.), attire (gowns and tuxedoes), level of hosting (amenities offered), food (elegant appetizers and a sit down dinner) and drink (full bar), and all the details.

Nothing about your venue or what you are planning is formal. This isn't a criticism; there is absolutely nothing wrong with NOT having a formal wedding.

So for your second question (if that's what you were asking), no, your wedding doesn't have to be formal, no matter what your mom is saying. Weddings can and should be tailored to the tastes of the people getting married and the people hosting the event. So unless your mom is paying for it, she doesn't really get a say.

First off, pizza is amazing. I would love to go to a wedding that served pizza since most catered wedding food isn’t all that great.


Second, I would say your wedding is probably more casual than formal. However, that doesn’t mean casual is any less beautiful than a formal wedding. We served a sit down dinner service with filet mignon, open premium/top shelf liquor bar, had a electric violinist playing during dinner, provided transportation from our hotel to the venue (for all our guests staying there — over 100 out of 170), spent over $100k+ on our wedding, and it was still considered “casual”.
We had ours outdoors at the San Diego Safari Park. We just wanted for our guests to have fun and feel comfortable so we didn’t require formal attire (we just asked guests not to wear jeans, flip flops or tank tops.). Many of our guests said it was one of the most beautiful weddings they have ever attended.
There’s nothing wrong with having a casual vibe to your wedding. It doesn’t make it any less nice or beautiful. Also, your venue is gorgeous! I can just imagine how gorgeous it’ll be with all the lights and florals!

You could up the food a bit - a taco/fajita bar, mashed potato bar, different food stations - and make it more of a formal type event.