How was your wedding?
One ceremony - we had a formal but civil ceremony at the Canterbury Chapel at the Excalibur Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas
What was involved? Brief details...
We were engaged for almost 2 years. As soon as we were engaged we looked at each other and said "Vegas". My family is mostly Baptist or AME (ya know the sistahs in the Amen corner type). His mother is Pentecostal. I am pretty much agnostic and he is atheist (his mother is still in denial about that).
We did NOT want a religious ceremony.
My family was in VA and other parts of the East Coast, and his were spread out in British Columbia and Quebec. In Vegas, we didn't have to worry about keeping folx entertained. In January 2001, we went to Vegas to pick out the wedding chapel. The Excalibur was last on my list because I wasn't crazy about the hotel...too many kids running around. But I learned not to judge a book by its cover. We saw the chapel and it blew us away...it kinda looked like an Old English Church. We did one additional trip before the wedding to nail down the planning. I pretty much did everything myself (Mr. 1228 was travelling on business a lot)
Everything else was taken care of by "professionals" (cake, flowers, etc...) We had a buffet/family style dinner/reception at one of the oldest Italian Restaurants in Las Vegas
Did you do anything special? How was your wedding special to you? If at all?
Well, it was special because it was my wedding. Our wedding favors were personalized playing cards (which were a big hit). Folx loved our Save the Date letters. I had a friend make us a broom to jump (more on that later)
How crazy did your folks drive you?
Not too bad because I didn't let them. If my mom had her way, it woulda been 300 guests and a huge church. (my parents have been divorced for AGES) I wasn't having that. Besides, if you ain't putting dime one into the wedding, you can't say jack!
Mother in law was cool, she was just glad that we were getting hitched. (His father died in 1976). Mr. 1228 was previously married and has a kid from his previous marriage. The kid didn't take it too well at first but he got over it pretty quick. (He was 10 at the time). My sister couldn't come because of work (I was fine with that because she wasn't gonna be in my wedding party anyway).
This is the tough part, cause one of the things my "sperm donor" (who I now refer to him as) did was the straw that broke the camel's back.
Long story short:
3 months earlier, I chatted with the SD and he said he was looking forward to it and to find him a good rate. (I wanted both parents to walk me down the aisle)
I called him a week later and I got Mr. Attitude, who made up a whole bunch of excuses and finally said:
"You and I haven't had the best relationship. I will let you know by the first of October"
That was 9/01 and I ain't heard from his ass since. He was not at my wedding and to add insult to injury, Mr. "I don't like to travel" drove 6 hours south to stay with my 37 year old sister (who didn't want to be alone while my mom and brother were in Vegas). I didn't get a call, card, nothing from him.
I haven't spoken to him since and don't intend to.
(that was the short story...I can tell you the long one via PM)
Overall, how much did your wedding cost? Who finally paid for it?
Our wedding was under 10K including everything except the rings and we didn't have a honeymoon
That also included flight, hotel and reception, dresses and all that
SNAFUs:
I left the rings in the hotel room safe of the previous hotel we stayed in (we got them the next day) but had to use my e-ring for the ceremony
My bouquet fell apart in the pix before the ceremony. I called the flower shop and got medieval on their ass...they refunded me
I forgot the broom so we didn't jump the broom
Other than that, everything was wonderful