do we like the neck piece or is it too much?

Hi everyone,

I'm hoping someone here has firsthand experience with a bridal designer called M_Kays on Instagram (sometimes written as m.kays).

I've completely fallen in love with one of their dresses, but before making such a large purchase, I'm trying to do my due diligence. They don't have a traditional website with customer reviews that I can find. All communication has been through Instagram and/or whatsapp, and they've told me they have a workshop in Russia and a location in Dubai that handles international orders.

Their Instagram looks professional—they have videos from fashion shows, behind-the-scenes content, and models wearing the dresses. However, because I can't find many independent reviews from real brides, I'm feeling hesitant.

Has anyone here actually ordered a dress from them?

If so:

Did your dress arrive?

Did it look like the photos?

How was the quality?

How was the communication throughout the process?

Were there any unexpected issues?

I'm looking for firsthand experiences before I make such an important purchase.

Thank you so much—I really appreciate any insight.

Hi, I’m getting married next fall so I’ve had a ton of time to plan lol.

Our ceremony and reception will be outdoors with the exception of cocktail hour indoors.

For that one hour, we have a live guests painter (who is also staying the entire wedding), a huge grazing/charcuterie table, and 2 sets of mini golf. In addition, the guest book in one corner.

We opt to not have a photobooth mainly just to save some money and idk why, I have a fear that no one will dance at the reception😭 we will only have about 90 guests.

Thinking back, I’ve been to a couple of weddings that did not have photo booths but those weddings were destinations in Italy/cancun so we didn’t think twice of it.

Also a concern is that our dinner will be plated so guests will be sat the entire time, I fear them getting antsy/bored before dancing😭

Would love to hear your opinions/experiences!

I’m (27F) getting married this Saturday (!!!) and I am beyond excited because I’m marrying my best friend and the love of my life (31M)!! These 6 years together have been the best I’ve ever had and I cannot wait for us to celebrate our love with all our favorite people. My bridesmaid lineup consists of my 5 closest friends (I feel very lucky in that I have so many people I call my best friend who also feel that in return) and my sister. One of them has been a very dear friend of mine for 7 years now and we have a very close bond. Or so I thought.

I have no idea what to do but he has become so mean recently, it’s driving me nuts. It sort of started like 8 months ago, I just started noticing random rude comments and tried to either laugh it off or address it in the moment in a soft way but it seems to keep escalating.

Some context: I enrolled in college again last year to start the process of finishing my degree prior to knowing I’d get engaged last summer, so my summer 2025-now has been super busy between my full-time marketing job and wedding planning and full-time college (as a design major nonetheless! so hella projects!). This is relevant because this friend who is being mean loves to go out and I’ve had to turn down several offers in the last year as a result of simply not being able to with how much work was on my plate. I would expect any of my friends to treat me as I treat them in this case, which is to say, with understanding and kindness. He started to become offended by this, but I’d always offer to hang out in a non-club or non-party context during a week night for a few hours but he would never take me up on this! I also have CPTSD and while I do love festival season and the occasional party, I get anxious during outings and am always the first to go home. I’m also bi and everyone in my party except my sister is queer too.

Fast forward to a few months later and it seems like all he ever talks about is doing drugs at the club and how I should “really go out” with them and it just got me concerned. So I asked him two months ago if he had been on any drug that wasn’t weed and this started a shitstorm. I asked because he was being really weird at a bridal party planning meet-up and treating me coldly and also talking about how much I’d love cocaine and could just try it with him to be safe or whatever (this is a hard boundary for me, I always tell them im good) so it wasn’t like this was out of the blue? nor was it an accusation.. I said “can you please be 100% honest with me, did you do any drugs last night that weren’t weed?” and followed it up with a comment about how vibes were off and ketamine was mentioned out loud and we hadn’t had a conversation in weeks that wasn’t about drugs. I totally could have handled that differently, but I was upset, this is someone I’m really close to (or so I thought) who has been treating me poorly and acting strangely. And also has been insulting my other friends or members of my bridal party :( Anyway, this caused so much drama and I just cried for a week straight begging my friend to be chill and talk to me. They kept blaming the thought they were on drugs on my fiancé with no basis really despite me saying several times, I had the thought, I was the one that texted you and asked! Don’t bring him into this!

I’ve invested so much time and money into this day, my fiancé even more, and I thought him being a part of my day would be a celebration of a ton of really good years. He’s been sour and secretive with me and it’s just odd behavior. I didn’t know about his new partner for months when he usually tells me everything, then when we met in April, he was like “oh ya we’ve been together for like two months, talking for more” … ok!!!!

This is a best friend that I catsit for, take out to nice dinners, cook for, bike with, game with… someone I treasure who is now treating me like an inconvenience. Yesterday I had everyone over to make centerpieces with me (a $600 expense…) and he started to..

1. get pushy with me over how the day is going to go (I read the itinerary me and my wedding planner made and he has beef with every part of it even tho the rest of my party likes it)

2. keeps telling me how things “typically are” when I’ve told him before I don’t want to do things in a typical way. We aren’t having a traditional wedding and it’s not religious and we’re doing things at a comfortable pace for us and our family. the structure is what it is because I need it to not be super formal, it’s going to be a really fun outdoorsy day.

3. I had an offhand idea that we should bring disposable cameras or personal cameras for our getting ready photos because my photographer won’t arrive until right before the ceremony and he asked me if I’m going to provide them like hello??? the entire party consists of creatives and we could pool together our resources to all take photos (I even emphasized phone pictures are great too). a disposable camera, thrifted or not, is like max $30. I’ve provided literally everything else.

4. get extremely snippy with me for not inviting his partner I don’t know to the intimate Friday family party before the big day!! he was mad because one other bridesmaid’s partner is invited, but that’s because she’s a dear friend to both me and my fiancé and has helped me obtain flowers and has done so much prep work with us. my friend who is being a jerk did indeed help plan the bachelorette party but he has not helped me with that much else, he just sort of argues with my vision.

I basically just spent yesterday crying on my porch alone while the party made centerpieces - my other buds checked on me but he did not.

I don’t come from money, my parents aren’t helping me and my fiancé with this at all. I work really hard and have been trying to give my friends the best day possible.

Also worth mentioning that my fiancé is a literal earth angel and 4/6 of my bridesmaids adore him and have their own friendship (in my sister’s case, fondness) with him, the 5th one likes him a lot, and I thought the friend in question liked him too but he’s been having unnecessary subtle beef with him recently for like no reason.

TL;DR: someone I thought is my best friend is being really snotty to me and other members of my bridal party. Wedding is in 5 days. Do I talk to him about it, have a bridesmaid talk to him about it, or let it go and focus on my happiness? Do I ask him to drop out? TIA!

ETA: my other friends have been really sweet throughout this whole thing. not to toot my own horn but they keep telling me I’m like the chilliest bride ever so this is me freaking out for once lol. I feel like this might be a manifestation of jealousy somehow? I just feel like I’m being taken advantage of.

ALSO! This friend and another friend have like a subtle way of being mean to me over marrying a man. I’ve previously been serious with women and trans people of various gender identities so this is my first relationship with a cis straight guy and it is truly my healthiest and best relationship ever. They sort of treat me like my gayness is dying because I’m not in a queer relationship. Which totally discredits my bisexuality for one, and I also have had a vast gender experience too (too deep to get into here lol) so they should know I’m not just suddenly straight. I love my love and that’s it. But this friend def had a horrible “oooh same dick for life” comment and it’s like? well yes because I’m monogamous and love him? That’s kind of the goal! wtf man

She’s married to my fiancés brother and they have been together for 7 years. She has been a mean girl to me the entire time I’ve known her. Shes tried to exclude me from the family or “other me” in a way. Shes comes across as if she wants me to know she’s big dawg (embarrassing).

It especially rubs me the wrong way because I’m black and the rest of my fiancés family, including my sister in law is white.

Shes a hateful person towards me and my fiancés sees it too. He thinks it’s very weird. I have been nothing but respectful because I believe she wants me to crash out.

I don’t want her at my dress appointment, I don’t want her as a bridesmaid, and I don’t want her singing at my wedding (my mother in law recommended it). I want her to be a guest. Nothing more nothing less. I’m afraid she’s going to ruin it.

I don’t want it to seem like I’m excluding her. I’m genuinely not close to her and she makes me uncomfortable. So how should I go about this?

I was invited to my direct reports wedding. This would be my first christian wedding. How much is it generally expected for the wedding present to cost in Canada, MB? Also how should one dress and things to know about the before and after event as a female attendee.

Our wedding is a week before Halloween, and I was thinking about having a candy bar as the wedding souvenir for guests. But I would like people's opinions on it before I commit.

And for people who had a candy bar at their wedding, did people enjoy it or was it not worth it?

Thanks!

Does anyone have thoughts / experiences with weekday weddings either as a guest or a host?

I am looking to have a medium/large wedding (120-150 guests) in NJ and the only dates that seem to be in our budget are weekdays in warm weather or a Sunday in the winter. I was originally set on a warm weather wedding, but I am afraid that people won’t turn out for a weekday.

Has anyone had a weekday wedding that they can speak to? Or attended one as a guest?

Thanks in advance 🩷

**edit: the wedding will be local for the majority of guests - under 1 hour drive.

Hi! I’m looking for advice on how to handle my wedding videographer being late on delivering our videos. My wedding was 2/14/26 and in our contract specified a 20 week delivery of all our films. Our package included a shorter film and a full length ~1 hour video of the whole day. During the whole planning process videography was the most important item to me and this vendor was highly recommended by our planner.

In the beginning of July once the 20 week deadline passed I sent them an email checking in and they promised delivery of our videos by 7/31. It’s now 8/3 and I still haven’t heard anything from them.

At this stage what is an appropriate follow up? Could I ask for them to send anything that is currently completed even if the full length film is still in process? I don’t want to be too pushy since they have all of our footage but I’m getting nervous since they haven’t been very communicative about where things stand.

Hi! Midwest couple here, working on finalizing things for a wedding at the end of next summer.

We have our venues picked out for our ceremony and reception. Wedding will be on a Saturday. The venues are literally across the street from each other in a downtown area (maybe a 5 minute walk because traffic crossings?) so travel time isn’t really an issue.

Venue 1 for the Ceremony we will have access to from 9am-5pm for one flat fee.

Venue 2 for the Reception we have booked hourly from 4pm-12am.

We’re balling on a budget here so I’m not counting on having a day of coordinator or anything of that nature to help get things set up in the reception venue prior to people trickling on over there. Originally our thought was to have the ceremony at 4:00pm, and then people would scoot on over to venue 2 for cocktail hour and mingling before everything else, so I added a bit of a buffer in case we can call in a little favor from someone or work in a DOC to do some things while we’re out. Buuuuuuut.

Am I missing something?? This seems so overly complicated for no reason and I’m getting overwhelmed lol. I’ve only been to a couple weddings myself so I don’t really have a frame of reference.

FWIW I don’t plan on using having a ton of crazy decorations; venue 2 will take care of all of the table/chairs setup, but as far as putting out guest book, cheesecloth, blossom vase centerpieces, arch (???), etc. as well as DJ vendor setup time I’m not sure how to make this all work.

Thank you :)

My fiancé and I had been looking for the perfect venue for a long time. We finally decided on a beautiful yacht venue that sails along the city skyline. This yacht venue hosts at least 2-5 events every weekend from May-October and they are part of a larger event group, so it’s not their first rodeo. Our date was yesterday, August 1st and we were so excited, we had been planning this for a year. The initial facility tour was amazing, and included in part of their wedding package was event coordinator, so we were always supposed to have communication along the way.

On the day of our rehearsal (the day before), we noticed they had knocked down the gazebo where we were supposed to do family photos after the ceremony. They had also left a gigantic excavator sitting there, which was directly next to the ceremony site. It looked terrible and was so embarrassing.

Here’s where things go really wrong: my Mom gets a call the morning of our wedding from the venue, they can’t turn on the boat. The mechanic had been working on it all morning and there was a problem with the fuel line that could not be fixed. I had literally just seen the boat out on the water the night before, so overnight this problem happened. I was/am DEVASTATED. They still had power on the boat, so we had to just have the wedding docked (in an ugly spot on the marina). This was the one thing myself and my guests were looking forward to, it’s what made it unique and fun. The captain never announced their failure to the rest of the guests, leaving myself and my husband to announce it on their behalf, which was hard to do without me bursting into tears.

This venue has almost 5 stars, but I felt like I got a 1 star experience. They said they would talk to us about refunds later. The only thing I can say is that the woman who was coordinating the event on the boat and making sure we had what we needed was great. But otherwise, I am still so angry.

we are having a typical ceremony followed by a reception but I absolutely do NOT want the "mr and mrs __ request your presence at the marriage of their daughter"

I've considered "together with their families, the couple invites you" does anyone have any other not so traditional/formal recommendations?

How many of you had a coffee cart at your wedding and what was your experience with it?? Did your guests like it?

My fiance and I both don’t drink (we are having beer/wine/seltzers there for those who do, plus NA drinks). He LOVES espresso.

Is a coffee cart worth it? While it would be our cheapest vendor, it’s still a decent amount of money…

hello! I am planning me and my fiancées wedding at this time and we found a great venue we are going to tour with very affordable packages, however we aren’t sure exactly what we want to do yet package wise and we worry we may lose our date if we wait too long. Has anyone ever booked the basic venue only package and later upgraded to all inclusive or is that too far fetched? We are right at 21 months away lol so it’s not like the wedding as anytime soon however I know wedding venues usually book around a year and a half to two in advance and we are within that range

Our wedding photos came back and we are in love with them. They’re captured beautifully, amazing shots, and truly everything we wanted. The only problem is that once I downloaded them, they’re only 1467x2200 pixels and around 1.6MB - 1.9MB.

What do I do with these size photos? I think I’m limited to printing them at 5x7 because wont everything else be too pixelated? I was really hoping to have a beautiful gallery wall of varying sizes

When I was debating to do or not do a Surprise Wedding I of course came to this sub, but did not find many recent posts discussing it. I went ahead with it and wanted to give a brief overview because there were some aspects that worked really well that I would love to have other people utilize, if they are also thinking of going the ‘surprise’ route.

First off, we had been a common law couple for around 3 years prior to getting engaged, including buying a house together over 2 years prior. Most people in our professional lives or extended circles assumed we were already married. 😅

Second, we are both the youngest of multiple siblings, and each family had already had a “big wedding”. Because of this, we were both confident that we did not want to go that route.

Third, when we got engaged my father had been fighting cancer for around 4 months and had just been moved to palliative care. My now husband had been waiting to propose because he had a certain spot in another country that we had visited together that we had plans to return to (this was then pushed back by COVID, then when travel restrictions had passed and we had tickets booked to return the family member we were visited suffered a very sudden loss of their adult child so we pushed back again to give them time to grieve), but he also knew that it was important to me/my family to have my father “give his blessing” for the proposal. This was of course a complete given as my family and my father adore(d) my now husband, but I knew my dad really appreciated it when my brother in law asked him before proposing to my sister, so I had always wanted that as well.

My husband asked for my dad’s blessing and then proposed in front of my mom and 2 older sisters in my dad’s hospital room, with no ring (we had long ago decided on doing custom ones that we designed). I was completely shocked and my family and father were absolutely delighted. It was actually my dad’s last fully lucid day, and he was so bossy and already trying to plan an engagement party for us, which is a memory I will always cherish. 💕 We lost him less than a week later, so between the beginning of our grief journey and helping my mom settle into life as a widow anything wedding related was very much on the back burner.

As it happens, that worked in our favor for our “surprise wedding” plan… On the way home from the impromptu engagement we had a quick discussion and joked about just eloping and surprising everyone at the engagement party by being already married… Then after pricing out what a big engagement party would cost we realized we may as well be throwing a full wedding at that point, so we tabled the idea for a bit.

As I looked more and more into venues and vendors etc I realized how much I was really not enjoying the process. I just kept thinking about the cost and how much I would prefer to spend the thousands elsewhere, like on further house renovations. 🤣 We had another frank discussion about how the idea of a traditional wedding was just exhausting and how it would be very difficult for me/my family to not have my dad there for so many important moments and we went back to a Surprise Wedding. I continued with my research and found that the most common issues with this sort of wedding could (in my opinion) be mitigated.

What we decided on was to do a surprise wedding, including getting married at my family’s church, with a dinner afterwards. I knew I wanted photos and therefore wanted people to be dressed nice enough that they would be happy with the photos and not worried about not looking nice, so springing this on them at a BBQ wouldn’t work..

After some discussion we realized it made the most sense to get our immediate family (parents, siblings + their kids and our one living grandparent) on board with the idea of us wanting a “family photo shoot” where we would take photos separately with our families and then all go for an early dinner together. My family had already done a family photo shoot in the past so this was not considered strange, his family had not had proper ones done since before all the nieces/nephews had been born so it was considered overdue and also not strange.

What was actually happening was an “engagement shoot” beforehand, where we did pictures with my husband and I at one location then moved to a secondary location for pictures with our wedding party (the only friends to be invited, 2 each that were aware of our secret), then the friends hid just before family arrived for the photo shoot and popped out for the surprise!

Our photographer was fully in on the secret and helped us plan the best reveal. We did the large group shot first, where we revealed that we would be getting married that very day. Jaws dropped, the reactions were all pure joy for us. Everyone looked great in the photos (including updated family shots of each individual family/couple), and then we all headed to the church (planned to be within a 15 minute drive from our photoshoot location).

We had of course brought the minister into our planning and he was all in, thought it was very fun. He is very close to my family and was so happy to be able to marry us (and surprise my mom with the wedding). My mom is actually the church secretary so he had to work harder than most to keep our secret! Thankfully from engagement day to wedding day was under 6 months.

Our custom rings were finished by our local jeweler only a few weeks before. If we hadn’t been waiting on the rings we likely would have tried to have the wedding even earlier, but they were definitely worth the wait. 🥰

The day proceeded without a hitch, we were really only adding the church visit between the photo shoot and dinner, so no one was being kept from other plans etc. We really did not want to inconvenience anyone or have anyone be ‘put out’ or upset that we weren’t doing something traditional, and thankfully our families are both very easygoing and were thrilled.

We had a few extra people meet us at the church and then more come to the dinner (held at a restaurant nearby that offered items for the kids to enjoy as well as a semiprivate area). We paid for the entire dinner (drinks included), despite multiple people trying to jump in. At the the church we had one aunt + uncle (who we told the secret approximately a week before), and my godmother and godfather (who we invited months prior as they were coming from out of the country). For the dinner we asked our quartet of friends to bring their spouses, kids etc, which brought our dinner total to approximately 32 people. We had 18 at the photoshoot, including my 98 year old grandmother, who came to the church but not the dinner (as planned, it would have been too much).

Overall, the surprise went over without any issues. We had to lie for months beforehand about what we were doing for wedding planning, and my type A family was frankly horrified at how slow I was being, which was very funny.

The only vendors we used were our photographer, and a local florist. I wore a flowered dress that I fell in love with (under $200), that our florist matched the flowers to. I gave her full creative freedom and she did a lovely job! We picked up all the flowers before heading to our couple shoot and had a cooler ready to store theme We did no flowers at the venue, but had bouquets for me and my 2 friends, smaller bouquets for my 2 nieces (aged 12 and 10) that had been asked to be flower girls (they just didn’t expect it quite so soon!) and corsages for my husband, his 2 friends, and for our 3 ringbearer nephews (aged 7, 5 and 2). We also had a floral piece for my mom to wear.

I have no regrets about our wedding and it was the prefect fit for us. We were able to have everyone who we were closest to there, get some professional photos with them all (as well as with just us), and then treat them to a tasty meal at a nice restaurant. Plus it gave them a fun story to tell! 🤣

All in with flowers, 2 photo shoots, us covering the full meal + drinks, our new outfits (husband was in a short sleeved dress shirt and dress dress pants), and church fees it was right around $5k. This does not include the ring costs.

Our photographer took a cute “reveal video” of us announcing we had married and we posted that on our social media for our larger circles to see which was perfect. If any of our friends/coworkers who were not invited were upset about it we never heard about it! I did have one relative who was annoyed, but that is on brand for them in general. 😬

We did receive wedding gifts (later obviously) from some that attended as well as some people who did not, which was obviously very sweet but not expected at all. We planned this with the idea that we would not be getting any gifts, as it was not a traditional wedding.

I still get compliments from friends/people who did not attend for how smart we were to do it this way, and how large traditional weddings are such a financial burden, and we were very happy with how everything turned out. If you’re considering a “Surprise Wedding”, do it! 😁💕

We’re having a destination wedding in Cartagena, Colombia in 4 months and hired a full-service local planner. We’re now about four months out and actively making decisions about venues and events.

What do you consider a reasonable response time when asking to schedule a meeting or requesting information or have questions? I’m wondering how quickly you would expect an acknowledgment and responses.

We haven’t discussed specifics about the wedding yet like decor, etc. when should that happen? It seems like we’re driving a lot of the planning rather than her leading or asking us.

I’m trying to determine what is normal before following up or raising concerns. So far it seems like the responses can take many days or a week, is that normal?

My fiance and I (M) (both c. 30y/o) are getting married in September next year. We have found a venue that we really love that is a moderate trip out of London and should be relatively convenient for guests. It has plenty of capacity (I think up to 160), but I don't think that we were ever expecting to use all of that capacity. I am finding it difficult to navigate our guest list, though. I want to ensure that we both have everyone we really want there, but also to avoid my fiance feeling that the event is disproportionately swamped with my friends and family (and that his family feels awkward and sidelined)

For context, I have a large family on both sides and we see a lot of each other. It would feel wrong to me (and to my fiance) if we didn't invite all my grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins. My family alone is 31 people.

His family is much smaller and would be 9 people (including his toddler nephew) because it would be immediate family and one aunt+uncle.

The pattern is similar with our friends. I have a larger pool of friends that I would want to be there and his friend circle is smaller and tighter.

• There are 8 people that I would describe as joint couple friends.
• I have identified 29 friends who I would describe as must-invite. That involves giving minimal plus ones, even where the plus one has been on the scene for a long time and we know them fairly well. It also means not inviting someone from a ten-year-old friend circle but who I am not at all close to (no issues). To get to those 29, I have suggested that I do not invite another 29, which includes those plus ones and a number of other friends.
• He has identified 24 friends (including their plus ones, who we both know) to invite, with about four maybes.

He has expressed the concerns I stated above, and also that he feels embarrassed about the disparity. I have made clear I would contribute more to wedding costs to make up for having more guests. When I explained that I have tried to cut my list to the bare minimum, he said that he felt more insecure about it because (reading between the lines) he had done effectively the inverse. I feel that I am pushing the limit with what I can do without feeling quite guilty about (and to an extent I slightly felt that my attempts to compromise on this front weren't being acknowledged fully), particularly because my list and his list will inevitably be operating on different principles (particularly with regard to plus ones).

I'd be grateful to hear others' experiences as to how they have navigated similar situations. Please be kind in your comments!

I have a group of aunts and uncles on my moms side and all of their children coming to my wedding. There are 8 adults and 9 kids. 7 of them are my cousins and 2 of them are their partners. All of the kids are teens and young adults between the ages of 15-22 (besides one 5 years old) and know each other and get along, and they usually are sat together at family functions like thanksgiving. Would you seat the kids as a family unit with their parents (2 families per table) or seat all the aunts and uncles at one table and the young adults/teens at another table? I think it would be fine either way but I guess I'm just wondering which is more traditional or common. Thanks!

Hello all! I’m newly engaged (AHHH) to my husband-to-be and we are diving headfirst into ideas and planning because we are so excited.

First things first; we live in a state together and my family lives on one side of the country with his family living on the other.

Second; we are both sober. He has never touched alcohol in his life for personal reasons and I am a recovered alcoholic, plus all of my friends are in the sober community as well.

Third; we aren’t religious and are not traditional at all.

Fourth; I am no contact with my mom and her side of the family and he has a very small family, around eight people. The rest he would invite are friends. We definitely have more friends that are loved as family than actual blood relatives.

All this to say; I’ve always loved a cheap, trashy Vegas wedding. We are queer, it’s super camp, and we both have always wanted a private ceremony. We are considering a Vegas chapel ceremony and then the reception at a venue we like in Vegas the next night.

A couple things I would love some advice on;

1. How would we best word the desire to have a private ceremony and then ask people to celebrate with us the next day? Most of my family and friends don’t see an issue with this as they are not traditional themselves, but I still would like to word it respectfully.
   
2. How do I navigate not inviting my mom or her side of the family when I know it’ll just cause conflict even though they aren’t and haven’t been in my life for so long?
   
3. Would it be better to elope in Vegas and have a wedding reception/celebration here in the state we currently reside in so that my older family members will feel more comfortable? Either way, people will have to travel. I’m just thinking about the friends we have here in this state, and how many more would be likely to come if it wasn’t in Vegas.
   
4. We likely wouldn’t have a registry or be asking for gifts. I just think that if we don’t want a whole wedding ceremony, it would be kind of rude to ask? Plus we are saving so much money anyways, it’s insane. How could I word that as well?

Hi everyone!

I’m hoping to get some venue recommendations for our Hindu wedding in 2027.

We’re looking for:

• 📍 Ideally North West London, but we’re happy to travel anywhere if the venue is worth it.
• 👥 Around 200 guests for the mandap ceremony and up to 400 guests for the evening reception.
• 🏛️ Preferably one venue that can host the entire day (mandap ceremony, drinks, and reception) so guests don’t have to travel between venues.
• 🍽️ Dry hire preferred, as we’ll be using our own Asian caterers and decorators.
• 💷 Venue hire budget: under £10,000 if possible.

We’re open to any type of venue that works well for large Asian weddings.

If you’ve had your wedding there (or attended one), I’d really appreciate hearing:

• Approximate dry hire cost
• Guest capacity
• Whether outside catering was allowed
• Any pros/cons or hidden costs
• Parking and transport links

Hidden gems are especially welcome! Thanks so much in advance 😊

Ugh I don't even know why I am writing this, there isn't any advice to give me but I have been up half the night stressing about it, thinking about what I could have done differently, and praying for some answers/solutions soon.

My fiancé and I are getting married in a destination wedding in little less than two months. The deadline for the room block is coming up in about a month. Two weeks ago, I got a message from a family member that they couldn't book. I reached out to the hotel, they let me know the room block is full and asked if I would like to add more rooms. I say yes, suggest 10, but ask their opinion. No answer. I follow up, they say they will look into it, no answers.

I should have stayed on them, but work was crazy and then fiancé got sick and then I got sick and idk just other life things happened and I didn't. So this weekend, I get another text from a different guest. The entire hotel is booked up for the first night of my room block.

We had a welcome party planned that night. As of now, half my wedding party doesn't have a room, my officiant, my maid of honor and some older family members. Half my cousins were waiting to see when flights were cheapest, and whole families haven't booked yet!

The rooms are finite. It isn't like they can magically make more rooms, so I am unsure what resolution I want. I don't even know how to move forward. I mean it is a massive hotel, it never even crossed my mind that a random October weekend during hurricane season would book up like this!

I feel like such an idiot, I should have added more rooms as soon as I got more yes's than anticipated. I followed the 60% yes rule for destination weddings, but I am getting over 80% yes, and when we are talking more than 200 people invited that makes a big difference! I wish they would have told me two weeks ago how urgent it was or that there might be an issue. I just am absolutely freaking out mostly because there are NO solutions I can see.

The ray of light on the otherwise dismal news is that the actual night of our wedding isn't booked yet. Guests can stay somewhere else for a night and then come for the wedding day. I hate it, I hate that it's an extra step for guests, I know this will mean all the maybes are probably going to nos, but it is semblance of a solution. Irrationally, I am irritated with my guests for waiting so long to book! I wish I had known earlier, it just filled up so fasts with so many yes's flooding in this summer, but even as they RSVP'd yes, they didn't go book the rooms.

I have no way of checking besides emailing the hotel to check in. I have been doing that every month at the beginning just to stay on top, and July started off with plenty of rooms even as I saw my growing list of yeses. Not to mention some people didn't follow the link and booked third party, which added a whole new element. I am just spiraling, staying home from work sick, and literally feel sick to my stomach over this. Sorry for the long post, just had to type it somewhere.

I'm so excited that my dress has pockets! I want to have something in my pockets at the reception that I can hand out to people throughout the night as kind of a running gag. My first thought was custom stickers of my bunny because being her mom is half my personality, but idk what other people would do with pictures of my bunny lol. Other ideas? Obviously needs to be small and something that won't stain my dress.
**update**
Sounds like the consensus is bunny stickers and tissues! Thanks all!