Traditions, who needs em?

We are getting married next May and our wedding sounds a little similar. We have no bridesmaids or groomsmen at all, however my 4 closest friends will be getting ready with me the morning of and I want some pictures taken with them. These girls could not be happier they aren’t bridesmaids, they’ve all done it and are over it haha. I just told them all after I got engaged we weren’t having a wedding party but I would love them to be with me the morning of. We are doing a first look so we can take pictures before the wedding. Our ceremony is at 5 and we are rolling straight into cocktail hour from there. We only invited 30 people to the ceremony and supper. Once supper is finished, (We are planning a taco bar!) we are opening up our wedding to everyone else (over 100) to come celebrate with drinks. We originally just wanted a small wedding but our families were disappointed so this is how we compromised. We plan to have games at our reception too. No garter or bouquet toss for us. We’ve had some comments and odd looks about our non traditional elements that are planned but people are coming around. Traditional is wonderful but it’s not for everyone, as long as you enjoy your wedding that’s all that matters anyway.


I do recommend if you are close to your mom, and are able, to go wedding dress shopping with her. It has by far been the best experience since we started planning this wedding. She was beyond excited to watch me try on wedding dresses and I didn’t realize how important or special that was to her until we were doing it.

Honestly its your wedding do it your way! we dont have to stick to all these traditions and things people do just because everyone has done them. my fiance is wearing indian clothes loll he finds them comfy hahaha were skipping a bunch of boring stuff like bouquet toss, mother son dance, father daughter dance etc, shoe game. theyre all so routine and boring!

Your guests will enjoy being at a wedding that makes YOU happy! It’s a celebration of you and your FH so make it all about what you both want

I have seen some beautiful weddings with non-traditional bride & wedding party outfits, late night weddings (even without a dinner!) are definitely a thing, and as for games - thats totally awesome!! I’ve been to backyard weddings where we played games on the lawn and had fun all evening and it was a blast!

Your wedding is going to be as much fun as you make it, so give yourself every opportunity to enjoy it by having things you and FH love

So excited for you!!!

I am open minded for mixed wedding plan! As long as you think about your guests!

We too...will start our wedding ceremony late...I think at 5pm. But we will have cocktail hour and so on! But which is not obligation! If you go immediately to dining part!

To have a pizza for wedding, as a main meal...is definitely unusual for me, but I know, my partner would enjoy that at someones wedding. He loves pizza.

And maybe...that will be wedding, what people will remember for long! Since it was not traditional!

I also do things, what is not traditional! I will not have any bridesmaids and my husband will not have any as well.

We dont have that thing in mu country! I think it is more American, Canadian thing! Only witnesses is what usually you need!

We will arrive together with my husband at wedding. I will go to Ceremony arch with my mother ( my father has passed away ).

And we will have very small wedding...only the closest people. abut 30 people.

I dont plan to spend too much money on wedding dress...because in the end..after wedding it will stay forever in the closet. I dont think that I would sell it after! It will be something nice to keep forever, but you never no. I will buy it only next year. I am not ready to go to wedding store I am trying to find some beautiful dress not in wedding stores.

I think the more easy going you will be...the better it will go!

The concept of non traditional can be taken from tradition with a twist.

Wedding dress becomes simple and a long gown with embroidered design even if its a belt or skirt. Remove it before Reception so its more simplier and just easy to move around.

Ideas of colours can be taken from the flowers you choose for bridesmaid dresses they own or choose to buy. This way it stands out from your guests wearing black.

Decor can be mason jars with few flowers as centerpieces. String lights can bring lots of brightness in the evening for guests to still take pictures.

View quoted message Here’s a few that might give you an idea. We’re still waiting for the photos from the photographer so we don’t have many of all 6 of us yet - will share more when I get them!

This one is missing the best man, but I still think it looks great!

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Do you have any pictures? I would love to see how it all looked with them wearing what they wanted!

Our wedding didn't have many traditions either, and to me it was perfect!

Our wedding part was a male and female on both sides and they chose what to wear. We had no wedding cake, no garter or bouquet toss, we stayed together the night before the wedding (although he still didn't see me all dressed up and ready until I walked down the aisle).

Your plans sound wonderful - I love that weddings are far more personal now and less about what it expected or traditional!

We did some things traditional and some things not.

Like you our ceremony and reception were at the same place.. Ceremony at 5, reception started at 7. We did all our pictures, plus a first look before the ceremony. We got comments from a couple people " Thats not the way its supposed to be", well guess what, our day, we did what we wanted.

We didn't do a bouquet toss, or garter toss, not enough single people to make it worth it.

We also didn't do a cake cutting, just a picture with our cake.

There were a ton of comments, but at the end of the day, we got married and thats the most improtant

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OH MY GOD.

I am in love with your reception idea. My FH and I are VERY big into board games and this would be so us, you have me questioning things now lmao.

I was already thinking about having some board games/video games available for people who don't want to dance, but now I might look into the "catering" option for more.

I would still want a bit of a dance as I would like to partake myself a bit, but the idea of the reception being more "pubstyle" with the option to dance, not have such loud music and then games is totally my style.

Three cheers for "non-traditional" weddings! Ours has some elements of both, but we did terf a far amount of the traditions or gave them our own quirky twists.
I think regardless of how traditional or not a wedding is there is always going to be someone saying how things "should be done" or "who should be invited".

I found checking into one of my favourite non-traditional wedding websites/blog helped remind and recenter me to ignore those voices. (It's Offbeat Bride or A Practical Wedding...In case you were wondering/wanted to take a peak! ...They are very do what is you and not what is unnecessary for everyone else in their feel)

My FH and I are ditching the traditional/popular reception entertainment of a dance and instead hired the local board game cafe to "cater" the event with board games for everyone. We're also going to do a couple big projector screens (our venue can add the project and screen rental in for like $25 bucks) and getting some group video games going too.

We are terfing several smaller things like the garter toss too.

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Lol go for it!!

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Im stealing that line for when people start questioning things!

I really like that cake idea! gives you a private moment to yourselves!

I think the idea of getting them more involved other ways will work well. I guess I don't have to call them brides maids to be in photos and get ready with me.

The only real reason is my fiance has just a best man, it didn't really make sense for me to have 3 brides maid and a maid of honor when he only has one.

We stuck to a lot of traditions for our wedding, but definitely tossed a few - like the bouquet and garter tosses!

I love the idea for having your ceremony and going straight to dinner/party! Having the tables and guests already seated is a real cool idea.

Like Kelsie said, more and more brides (and grooms!) are doing away with traditions - as long as you sign the license, it's a wedding!

I think non-traditional weddings can be not only fun, but are also becoming more popular - brides are doing away with the veils, a church ceremony, even a traditional wedding dress. I think some wedding traditions 1) aren't appealing in this day in age, and 2) just don't "need" to be done.

Our wedding is fairly traditional I'd say. Not sure if there's many things we aren't doing. We aren't sharing our wedding cake with guests. That's probably one thing. We are going to cut it privately as the dancing is going on.

With respect to the bridesmaids, I probably wouldn't have them as "bridesmaids" if they weren't going to stand with me at the altar, I think that's a really special moment for the bridal party to stand with the bride and groom. Although, I know for example, in traditional religious ceremonies the bridal party usually sits in the pews of the church, rather than up with the bride and groom. I didn't like this personally, I would want my crew standing with me.

I only have my sister as my Maid of Honour and brother in law as the Best Man. We have other important/close friends and family helping us with the wedding for the dinner prayer, church readings, receiving line and a fun little game we'll play at the reception. This is also an option as well to get people involved in the day, without committing them to a bridal party role.

I think your party might get offended for not standing with you but if you have a reason and you want to share it with them, definitely do so. I'm sure close friends/family will be understanding and want to go with your vision!