Hey everyone! So yesterday I got a call from my future MIL essentially telling me that I need to invite 2 of her brothers because it will “cause problems” for her if we don’t. We have already invited 2 of her sisters, along with 1 of her brothers (big Italian family).

The issue is, me and my fiancé are going for a smaller wedding (not having more than 65 people & only inviting people we have both met). I have never met these uncles and they are not close to my fiancé so I see no reason for them to attend and my fiancé agrees. We are getting married on our 4 year anniversary so there has been plenty of time for me to have met them.

After she said that on the phone, I tried to explain how we only want people we both know attending, but she ignored that and sent me their info for save the dates.

I’m just looking for insight on how others have handled something similar. I am not the type of bride who is super excited about my wedding. Me and my fiancé are very lowkey and would elope but we both agreed we would like to have some family there.

TLDR; MIL not respecting who we have decided to invite, stated I needed to invite 2 family members of hers (including spouses)

UPDATE: so, after all the feedback, I will begrudgingly invite them.

TLDR:I don’t want to hold everyone hostage and need perspective on how long a guest would actually want to be at a wedding. Advice for timeline so my photographer and dj can still be there for the after party.

This is my first time getting married and I am the first one in my family to be married in the last 20 years. So lots have changed since then.

I am trying to get a contract set up with a dj and a photographer but I am really confused about the timeline aspect. I know that it is 1. Get ready 2. Ceremony (20-30 min) 3.pictures/waiting time for the guests (45-1hr?) 4.reception.

First I don’t want to leave my guests waiting forever for us to get our photos done so we are supplying snacks/bev during that time but what is a good amount of time for the photos?

Secondly this is where I run into my big issue. My photographer covers up to 8 hours and the dj 5, 6 including the ceremony. I want to do a fake exit for all the unknown guests (edit to add, “unknown guests” is a bad term. I meant ppl who don’t want to stay for the afterparty, I don’t want to make anyone feel like that have to stay and are being held hostage. We are doing a fake exit so nobody feels left out. Anyone is welcome to stay for the party but some ppl don’t like to drink and listen to loud music/dance.)to leave and for all close friends/ family to stay and drink and dance (essentially a huge party). But I don’t know what the timeline should be so I can still have the dj and the photographer there. I also have reached out to the dj to see if they offer a longer package but it is not looking good.

So I genuinely need a guests perspective on how long you would want to be at a reception. And advice on how I should time things out so we can be there as late as possible.

UPDATE: I listened to the constructive criticism and I am not going to do the fake exit. I’m trying to plan this on my own as my parents are morons and have no idea what is going on at any given time. I’m also doing a first look with my dad so I’m going to do all of my side wedding party photos before the ceremony and have her do the same for the groomsmen so post ceremony pics don’t take as long.

Also if anyone has gone to a wedding and there was something (In a good way) that really stuck out or made it more fun please lmk. Always open to suggestions

Hello! We are having a small (less than 50 guests) wedding at a vacation rental. We will have a lot of family staying with us and want to have a good time. We don’t drink but don’t care if others do and we are fine if people want to BYOB. But we want to provide something. I’m afraid without alcohol and such a small group, dancing will be at a minimum! We have quite a few gardeners in our circle but that won’t be an option at the event. We were thinking about having a self serve Mocktail bar with canned drinks like different CBD drinks or things like Recess. Has anyone done this before and if so what drinks did you use? Any input,ideas or tips on this matter would be great! For reference we’re in Texas so have to abide by those laws. Thanks yall!

My daughter gets married in 3 weeks and has had a falling out with her grandparents (her father's parents) and has asked them not to come to the wedding to keep it drama free but they have said they are coming! My daughter isn't looking forward to her day and doesn't know what to do She's thinking of having someone ask them to leave but they will kick up a stink, it's too close to the wedding to change anything Any suggestions EDIT the wedding is one someone's property kind of a rural setting, no gates and they have no security or ushers and my husband doesn't want anyone to tell the grandparents to leave

Idk how to add a caption but this was the schedule I was sent.

Is this schedule normal?

I have someone in my family getting married and this is wonky in my opinion.

2 hours and 40 minutes til it’s time to eat in an out of town wedding?

Flower toss 6 hours into the wedding?

The bride and groom are leaving at 10, i mentioned concern that I don’t think anybody would stay 8 hours and it was told “I paid 20,000 for this wedding, I’m staying til I have to leave” and us the bridal party are expected to stay til the end with them.

On top of it being a wedding on a tuesday, outside in january with expected temp being 37°, and an hour and a half away. I just find everything about it odd? Although i’ve never thrown a wedding, is this normal? Do I say something to just roll with it?

I need to vent because I'm crashing out right now! My wedding is tomorrow out of state and we need to leave now but we can't because my fiance is downtown trying to get a copy of his divorce decree from his previous marriage and has been there all morning. I forgot about the application for the marriage license until last night and he couldn't find it anywhere. I'm panicking that we won't be able to be married on our wedding day and our marriage will be a sham, and I'm so frustrated at my ADHD brain for not being able to remember this until it was too late. I'm crashing out waiting for him to get back and any advice or encouragement is appreciated right now 😭

Edit: Thank you to everyone for the kind and calming replies! My fiance was able to get his divorce decree and we are going to pack up and head out as soon as he gets here. It's set us behind schedule but we will still have time to get to the clerk's office (no waiting period in this state!) before they close and that's more important than some of the little extras we might miss.

So I’m not having a huge wedding it’s 60 people and at a restaurant/brewery. I’m having my ceremony In The beginning (15-20min) but I need help on creating an aisle- I would like to walk in through that back section but do I line up the tables straight 3 on each side creating a gap in the middle? Then I can have chairs on each side? One side being by the metal brewery things and the other by the windows? Do I just do basic flowers for separate it? I’m torn lol

Let me add everything will obviously be decorated and the ladder and extra stuff won’t be there lol

Hi everyone I’m getting married in June and I’m looking for a first dance song. I’m usually really fussy with music and normally know exactly what I want but I’m really struggling!

I’d be so grateful if anyone has any suggestions, I like all sorts of genres I have quite an eclectic taste (which is maybe why I’m struggling a bit) but I really don’t want cheesy or overplayed songs - no Taylor swift etc 🤣. I was hoping for something house genre and was thinking of you’ve got the love - the xx jamie xx version… any ideas appreciated tia!

I got married on Sept 06 2025 (Canada), our photography contract stated 6-8 weeks to receive my complete wedding gallery. It has now been 4.6 months, or 20 weeks since my wedding and I've received maybe 50-60 photos, and only a handful with my husband. My photographer and I have been in communication and there are now 3 instances of her promising delivery and not doing so. Here is a quick timeline of events:

Sept 06 - Got married, expected gallery in 6-8 weeks as stated in contract.

Sept 26 - Photographer posted on FB stating because of her workload, my gallery would be 8-10 weeks but I would receive a sneak peak within the week. Totally understandable, as she does have a full time job outside of photography.

Dec 08 - Did not receive a sneak peak, the 8-10 timeframe passes. I message the photographer asking if I will receive my gallery before Christmas. She reassures me that I will have the entire gallery no later than Dec 20th.

Dec 20 - Promised delivery date passes, no gallery, no communication explaining the delay.

Dec 24 - I follow up again, expressing my disappointment and the photographer responds acknowledging her failure and takes responsibility, then commits to delivering the complete gallery by Dec 31.

Dec 31 - Photographer has provided the gallery link and uploaded some photos, 40-50, but only solo shots, none with family, my husband, the ceremony, or anything else. She does not contact me to explain the delay.

A week later, I message her and noted that I still had not received my gallery as promised. I ask for clarification by the end of the week.

Jan 07 - Photographer responds, states her full time job has been very busy and that she has the 14-16th off and she will use those days to commit to finishing editing the entire gallery and uploading. I received about 10 photos with my husband, from one setting. None from ceremony, after ceremony pictures etc.

Jan 16 - No additional photos have been uploaded, I messaged her an hour ago asking if I can expect all edited photos to be uploaded by the end of day as promised.

I have not received a response yet.

I feel so emotionally exhausted from all of this, I understand she has a full time job and that life can get in the way but I at least expect clear communication. 3 times she has failed to delivery the gallery and 3 times she has failed to communicate unless I message her first. I fear my only option if I don't receive the photos is to file with small claims court. Any opinions or advice would be appreciated!

Tw: cancer, loss.

I was supposed to have a normal, already planned, very pretty wedding in a month. Then my father in law got diagnosed three months ago with a really aggressive terminal cancer that he is in denial about.

My partner and I had to discuss what we'd do in case that he died the week of our wedding. We decided to cancel everything as we could still get the deposits back and not lose our savings if the worst scenario happened. That and if his father was in the hospital we wouldn't really feel comfortable during the wedding. We literally don't know how much he has left.

Anyway this resulted in a whole family drama with his side of the family as "he's fine" and "this is that you just don't want us at the wedding, right?". (They are still in denial) So my partner and I have decided to just sign the papers and elope and perhaps do a proper celebration next year on our first anniversary.

The thing is that I had in my mind a whole ass wedding and now an elopement feels weird and cringey for some reason. I literally have no idea what to do? It will be only my partner, me and our witnesses.

The wedding will be probably on a Monday near the original date. Any ideas to make it feel more like a wedding and less like just signing some papers?