Weddingbee boards

I am at a wedding right now, the reception was supposed to start (no cocktail hour) right after the wedding which is two blocks away in a really small town. That was two and a half hours ago. The bridal party is out drinking at the bars and I guess forgot they had guests waiting for them. The kids are getting bored, no food, and too much alcohol. They are not getting photos done as the photographer is here waiting like the rest of us. Even the closest family members are getting ticked. I just can't believe 2 and a half hours - this is a little ridiculous.

Sorry, just had to vent, beside I am really bored.

Right now she's standing there for all to see while they bustle her dress while trying to keep her standing. We are not long for this reception. Lord grant me the strenght....

Omg that's just awful. I remember someone else posting about a wedding like that a couple months back. That's so disrespectful to your guests. I'm with Kaitlin, I would have left and taken my gift with me. Or maybe taken the card out, but left the envelope with a note "Sorry, we waited around for you for two hours, but you didn't come. We needed the money for dinner and a taxi ride home."

Update please! I want to know how this gong show turned out! LOL!

@LittlestBirds: It's certainly not common here! I mean, the break for photos, sure, but the break to bar hop?! Never!

*UPDATE* - If it were not family, we would have left.  The groom is a really close relative and the family would have been upset and we did get to see them all together, which doesn't happen very often.

They finally showed up, drunk, two and a half hours later.  There were more than several guests that had left.  They came straight into the reception and I guess they were introduced (half the guests were outside smoking and already drunk) I was downstairs in the bar trying to track down a cup of coffee (I was the DD).  They then lined up for food.  My FH and I waited for them to get their food, and we lined up.  Now, I love a good buffet, but this was not one of them.  They had BBQ sandwiches and sides, which the brides family served.  All the plates and cups were all styrofoam. 

I have to say that I do not mind BBQ and styrofoam, but from everything I have been told about the wedding, I was under the assumption that it was a more formal wedding.  It would have been totally fine if it had been good BBQ, but it was terrible.  The potatoes were good though.

The wedding party went to the head table to eat and do the toasts.  The toasts were done with plastic keg glasses, they were white, but they were keg glasses.   After the toasts, there would be a break then they would start the first dances.  Everyone had already waited hours to get to the dancing, WTF.  The kids were running wild and bored, adults were drunk and bored, and the rest were just bored.

The couple then went to do the cake cutting, which no one saw as they didn't announce it.  I love that part to.  ( I never got any cake, and Cake is my favorite food group)

After the first dances, which were really sweet, I don't think I saw the groom again that night until the very end.  The bride was out dancing all night long, but most of the men were in the back room watching the (crappy) Nebraska Game (stupid refs were so out to get the Huskers, but I digress). 

I have to say, at the end of the night, we had a good time with the family and it was really important to be there for the family.  I did learn alot of things about what not to do and for my FH it really showed him a few things about why I have been doing some of the things for ours.  He did say at the end of the night that he really can't wait for our wedding and he really appriciates all the work I am doing for ours.  He now comprehends why I have be a stickler for etiquette (there were a ton of comments about things here and there) and why I have been (he thought) over thinking things like timelines and programs.

The only negative to come out of the wedding is - I am totally scared that his family (which I love and adore) will think I am a premadona, there were a ton of comments about how upitty the bride is (She is a really sweet girl next door type) because of the wedding.  I thought the wedding was really low scale, not really any decorations, I already mentioned the food and dishes, tons of people in jeans and work coats, and it was at a basic inexpensive hall.  Ours is a semi-formal evening event with alot of upgrades, in a formal ballroom, great food with waiters, full top shelf bar, and the whole chabang.  If they thought that wedding was upitty, how in the world are they going to see ours.  All the comments installed a small bit of panic about it (FH did tell me not to worry about it, he really doesn't care what they think, it's about us and that is all that matters - yeah he's good.)

Our guest will not be waiting at all.  We are doing both the ceremony and the reception in one venue with only a few pictures in the park right outside.  We are doing most of them before the wedding.  We had considered a family tradition of the bridal kidnapping, but after last night, I called my brother and talked to him a told him it was not a great idea.  He completely agreed.

@jazziberry - it is an old German custom that members of the bridal party or brides family "kidnap" the bride and take her to a local pub until the groom comes to find them and pays the "ransom" which is usually the bar tab.  We had considered incorporating it into our cocktail hour and making it kind of a game, but now, we both just want to do our few pictures and get back to the reception.