My sister is getting married but doesnt want the traditional day do , night do type thing.

Anyone been to any alternative type affairs where the church isnt followed by the tedium of sit down lunch, afternoon spetacle, evening disco?

Any ideas greatfully received!

Church?!? Bin that tradition for starters….

Naked sky-diving?

Scuba-diving?

Hoek van Holland ferry and brawl?

Yurt?

We had ours in a railway museum. It was a small local one so we had the whole site. Did the ceremony there. They had a steam train running for rides. Lots there for the kids to do so the parents could relax a bit. Free bar probably helped, too.

Best wedding I ever went to was here . Marriage ceremony was at the venue, most of the guests stayed there and lots of options for walking / fresh air . https://polhawnfort.com

We just had a ceremonay at the registry office then did the big old bus thing to take everyone to a village hall where we had a big barbecue and piss up, so it wasn’t so much in sepereat sections.

We also put on a free bar* so every one enjoyed it!!

*we bought all the beer and wine in and had a some one serve rather than just paying an actual all ready stocked bar. bought wine and bubbly from trips to France and beer when it was on special deals in supermarkets, wifes dad paid for a keg of ale, and we said if any one wants spirits bring a bottle!

We did a registry office minimalist official bit and then had a separate party at a local community owned pub on a separate day. Had exclusive use of their covered outdoor area for the afternoon, did a little bit of speech and musical interlude type stuff, and then just had anyone we knew that wanted to come along for an afternoon of chat. The pub let us do our own food, we bought everyone a first drink. Totally chilled. Decorated it with flowers and asked everyone to wear a flower to give it a bit more of a wedding feel.

We did registry office then hog roast in our garden. Few kegs of ale, wine and prosecco. Very relaxing, no formalities other than registry office and a plentiful supply of different desserts 😀.

We had me, her, my mum and dad and her mum and dad at the registry office, then we all went for a very posh lunch*. That was it.

*where my mum, after a few glasses of champagne, told a rather startling story relating to the circumstances of my conception

Best wedding I ever went to was here . Marriage ceremony was at the venue, most of the guests stayed there and lots of options for walking / fresh air . https://polhawnfort.com

My sister got married there, although went to the local church for the actual ceremony, was an ace wedding. She booked it for the whole weekend.

I got married at Portavadie, just the 2 of us. Perfect 👌🏻

If she gets married in Scotland she can choose anywhere.

My sister hired a field which had a barn suitable for wedding ceremonies. After the wedding ceremony we had a few drinks and then walked across the field to an open sided marquee where we had a hog roast and bbq. No seating plan or top table, just long tables and benches for guests to sit wherever. She had a few outdoor games to keep the kids amused and friends played music on thier instruments and sang. In the evening we walked back across the field to the barn where she had a pre recorded ‘mix tape’ and we had a dance. This was in the summer and thankfully it was a warm dry day. I did the photography (I’m not a pro) and apart from one photo of the whole crowd she didn’t want any formal photos. It was one of the best and most chilled weddings I’ve been to.

We got married outdoors up a small hill a short walk from a posh hotel where we went back for lunch. Some elderly relatives limited the distance. Laws were different between Scotland and England, maybe still are.

We were lucky with the weather as there was no plan B!

Me and MrsRNP got married in St Margarets chapel in Edinburgh castle. We had both sets of parents and my brother & her sister, clarsach player and minister doing the ceremony.

Stayed at the Glasshouse in Edinburgh, are at Ducks restaurant (before it moved). We basically spent all our money looking after and feeding our close family. It was brilliant – wouldn’t change a thing.

Niece officially got married in registry office, then had her outdoors “wedding” & guests on another day, had a magician perform the ceremony, hay bales to sit on & marquee for music & dancing, food was provided by a fish & chip van – all at a local village hall.

The nicest wedding I’ve been to was at a village hall, guests all brought food and drink instead of wedding presents.

Friends did registry office, TGI Fridays, pub crawl, curry, ambulance, A&E (for the groom and one of the witnesses).

We had a civil ceremony with just immediate family + closest of close friends present, then had a marquee in the in-laws garden which we invited loads of people to. We had a bouncy castle (for the kids, honest 😉 ) as well as a children’s entertainer (which was for the kids – we were at that age where loads of friends had younger kids) so all the mums and dads could relax a bit.

We just had a ceremonay at the registry office then did the big old bus thing to take everyone to a village hall where we had a big barbecue and piss up, so it wasn’t so much in sepereat sections.

Some variation on this is all you need.

Mine was at a golf club function room, but any nice and non-wedding-specific venue would work.

The only essential is the cheesy disco IMO.

My mum and dad went to the wedding of their friends’ son. Immediate family at registry office then lunch in a local Italian, then back to the cricket club for bar and disco. The bride’s uncle had a fish and chip van, so he just parked that in the car park and that was the evening food sorted.

The nicest wedding I’ve been to was at a village hall, guests all brought food and drink instead of wedding presents.

This has a lot to recommend it

+1 for Scotland where you can get married outdoors. In Peebles. And go mountain biking. Although for us the mountain biking wasn’t until the day after – once we’d consumed our body weight in food and chatted to all our friends and family that could make it.

We got married in the church in my wife’s parents village (about an hour away from our house) – the old priest had been there since her and her brothers were kids. We had an ice cream van on the in-laws drive way afterwards and then everyone travelled over to our house for the reception. We had a large marquee in the garden, toilets on the driveway and a hog roast set up under the car port. I turned my workshop/bike store into the bar for the day, had a couple of kegs from a local brewery, stubbies, wine and sparkling wine from a booze cruise to France a few weeks prior.

We had a ceilidh band (who my wife used to play with) and then setup a spotify playlist of guests requests for the rest of the time.

Went down so well that my brother in law had a carbon copy for his wedding three years later (in our garden too)

Me and Mrs 100th getting married

Has anyone else got Billy Idol stuck in their head after ready the title of this?

Went to one where there’d been a messy parental divorce (or two – I can’t remember) so the wedding breakfast was a stand-up meal. Two speeches only. It was refreshing.

The best ones were the fun ones. Relaxed bride and groom, kinda getting on with their own ideas.

The worst ones were the ones where it was obviously a case of parents’ wishes.

Once there was a plan for the bride to get to the wedding by walking onto the Gosport ferry in full bridal frock. Overruled by MIL I think. She spent about 1.5 hours in a car being driven round the motorway instead. 😔

Oh, and one where there was basically no booze until after the dinner. I mean – just why?

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Been to lots of fun weddings. Best ones are where there is some activity or attraction to bring all the disparate groups together. We had a Ceilidh band at ours and it’s a great way of actually getting all ages up to dance together.

For a more alternative one, friends held a blessing ( after private registery office ceremony) at YHA Bryn Gwynant. Complete with circus performers to perform an evening show and spend the afternoon teaching people simple tricks and games. Worked well for a young crowd with lots of small children and the more senior adults had a great time watching. Best but was no WiFi or mobile signal and ability to swim I the lake to cure the hangover the next day

OP  username “john dough” – funding shouldn’t be an issue?

I got married in the main hall of a Castle large manor house near Welsh borders*. Venue had minstrels gallery. Staff did ‘Ghost Tours’ after the ceremony. Drinks on the lawn in the sun. Garden had a maze. Got a local caterer in who did an 8 (!) course meal. Salsa band in the evening. We were one of the first weddings after they got licensed, as such the venue was a complete steal. Believe it or not, total budget was around £3k. Self organised. It was all far lower key than it sounds, we kept the guest numbers down to around 60. Happy days.

Another brilliant one was a work mate, their local church, straight to local village hall, got a curry buffet for the meal, cheesy disco, great fun, low key.

Another standout, different workmate, tent with hay bales in a field, ‘repeat vows’ (they did the civil ceremony a couple of days prior) done by a mate of his, bunch of the family turned up dressed as the wurzels with a collection of dogs in tow, catering was pork roast, bar was a few barrels of ice with bottles of beer/wine/soft drinks, guests camped in the same field, great stuff.

* Hellens. They want £7k to hire the place nowadays!

I have an old mate who found out you can become an ordained priest by sending $20 to the internet so we hired him as the priest, rented a restaurant we knew that did decent food, then went out afterwards to a bar where we knew the owner and got shitfaced. A BBQ on the lawn and get shitfaced would work just as well IMO. I can sell you a copy of the ordainment certificate for 14.99 if you want a friend to cosplay as the priest.

She wants a non-traditional wedding in a church?  I don’t think she’s thought this through.

When I got married, I only really bought into the idea when I realised I could screw with the format.  I gave secret missions to the guests.  The ‘readings’ were passages from the likes of Douglas Adams. In my vows I promised that I was never going to give her up, never going to let her down, by the time I’d got to “run around” I was inaudible because the entire room was in hysterics including the Registrar.  On the table layouts I put people together who I thought already knew or would like each other rather than this bullshit of scattering people to the four winds so they can “get to know each other.”  The background music was sci-fi/fantasy/geeky theme tunes, I had a quiz running for who could name the most.  The cake topper was Lego minifigs of the then-happy couple, the cake maker had a pocketful of different Lego hair so she could quickly match what I did with my flowing locks on the day.  Etc etc and things of this nature.  I went a bit giddy, truth be told.

She wants something quirky, I heartily recommend that she sees how far she can **** about with it and get away with it.  My marriage ultimately failed, but the wedding was an absolute blast.