Anyone else needing to "rein themselves in" over entertainment?

[JessiTaylor]

I think i'm getting a little overexcited about my Mexican wedding. I started off looking at basic packages, keeping things simple and then i'll see something on the internet or this forum and i'll start to want it

 

Like jazz bands or special music instead of the standard DJ

fire dancers

Fire works

A parrot to deliver the wedding rings (that was a brief temptation but still...i wouldn't have considered it had i not been infected by wedding fever)

releasing butterflies etc etc (not going to do it as not sure if cruel or not, but thought about it)

Unusual flower arrangements or centrepieces (but thats not entertainment related obviously)

 

The list goes on. Ok nothing completely insane or unusal (well the parrot thing is a bit odd) but I just feel like i have to keep telling myself "step back, the idea is not to blow the equivalent of a small country's GDP on this one day, you don't need [X Y or Z] for a special day"

 

I've never even been remotely interested in weddings (until i got engaged!) and have always wanted simple, basic and intimate. but because im planning this alone (fiance is very relaxed about arrangements and my family live in a different country) i feel myself starting to complicate the whole thing and getting tempted to make it grander and grander! I think i need a level headed person to plan this with!

 

Anyone else in a similar position!?

[LCBride2007]

i can totally see this happen!  you can get great ideas from this forum, which is both a good and bad thing!  lol  

 

we did have fire dancers at the end of our reception, and i'm glad we did.  but i didn't want our wedding to turn into a circus show, ya know?  so i think keeping it simple is best, and then maybe throw in a special touch that would be really cool to you and your guests.  but remember that getting married on the beach is cool by itself!

[JessiTaylor]

 

You're right, it's better to keep it simple! Im not going to go overboard...simple ceremony, good food and good music! As nice as fireworks might be, I am not going to pay $8,000 for the privilege! Its good to start to come back down to earth

[jello]

Oh my goodness.  I feel you.  I've never been a "girly girl" either, but there is just something about planning a wedding that brings out the crazy.

 

The idea of having a parrot deliver rings made me bust out laughing, but don't worry — I've been there too.  I heard about a friend of a friend's Indian wedding where the groom rode in on an elephant, and suddenly I really wanted that, even though I'm not remotely Indian, just because elephant = awesome. 

 

I think for most of us, this is the first time we've gotten to plan a party with a budget in the multiple thousands of dollars, a guest list in the dozens, and insanely high expectations all around.  I know the biggest party I've ever planned before this was a potluck dinner for 20 people, on which I spent a couple hundred dollars.  We're in such foreign territory that suddenly that everything seems possible — parrots! elephants! fireworks!  Whoo-hoo!

 

I just remind myself that at the end of the day, guests aren't coming to see Cirque du Soleil.  They're coming to see us get married, to get a little tipsy and to have a great time hanging out with each other.  That's all they want.

[JessiTaylor]

 

oh you totally seem to get where im coming from!
 

an elephant would be incredible hahaha. i remember that a woman in the newbie thread got her wedding planner to find her a monkey (i cant remember what for - rings, or general monkey presence?). i would LOVE to see the expression on a wedding planners face if i asked for an elephant though. it could be great! well except i already stressed her out with all my questions, we had a particularly busy day where i managed to ask over 30 questions over various emails in less than one hour. she has the patience of a saint!!

 

in terms of planning - im the same, the biggest thing i ever planned was buying food and drink for a bbq for about 15 people. and even then, it was supposed to be 4 and i got carried away and invited lots of people who were more than happy to come (and had to run straight back to the supermarket as clearly 15 people need more food than 4!) and now i feel like im planning an imaginery/fantasy event because its so much money...i mean ive never even really made any expensive purchases.

 

despite all my attempts to be sensible...your mention of cirque de soleil had me imagining having trapeze artists flying above the guests heads and crazy performers. so clearly im not there yet!
 

Originally Posted by jello 

Oh my goodness.  I feel you.  I've never been a "girly girl" either, but there is just something about planning a wedding that brings out the crazy.

 

The idea of having a parrot deliver rings made me bust out laughing, but don't worry — I've been there too.  I heard about a friend of a friend's Indian wedding where the groom rode in on an elephant, and suddenly I really wanted that, even though I'm not remotely Indian, just because elephant = awesome. 

 

I think for most of us, this is the first time we've gotten to plan a party with a budget in the multiple thousands of dollars, a guest list in the dozens, and insanely high expectations all around.  I know the biggest party I've ever planned before this was a potluck dinner for 20 people, on which I spent a couple hundred dollars.  We're in such foreign territory that suddenly that everything seems possible — parrots! elephants! fireworks!  Whoo-hoo!

 

I just remind myself that at the end of the day, guests aren't coming to see Cirque du Soleil.  They're coming to see us get married, to get a little tipsy and to have a great time hanging out with each other.  That's all they want.

 

[cherany]

 

Originally Posted by JessiTaylor 

despite all my attempts to be sensible...your mention of cirque de soleil had me imagining having trapeze artists flying above the guests heads and crazy performers. so clearly im not there yet!

 

LOL! I totally feel where you are coming from!  While I did have a lot of ideas about weddings before I got engaged (colors, dress ideas, etc.), I did not have in mind fire dancers or other forms of wild entertainment.  Soon as I saw other people with it, though, I thought, "Wow, that's so cool!  I want that!"  If we had an unlimited budget, I'm sure we'd have already booked a live mariachi band, fire dancers, and fireworks.  Maybe even a donkey at the reception, because I saw that once and thought it was the funniest thing ever!

 

However, budget is a huge concern, because we're basically cutting every corner we can, in order to splurge on our top few categories.  We do want to entertain our guests, but based on our friends' excitement when we told them we were having a beach wedding in Mexico, the wedding itself is the entertainment they're excited about!

 

I also try to remind myself that the average guest has never given any of this any thought, and they have no pre-conceived notions about wedding entertainment, other than a preference for live music or DJ.  They would consider fire dancers the craziest wedding entertainment ever!  Things we start to consider common or expected, because we're so immersed in the land of wedding planning, most guests have never heard of.  I think often of a beach bride who said somewhere on these boards that nearly all her guests raved about what a unique and amazing idea putting out flip-flops for dancing was!  Of course, most of us consider this idea done to death, even if we plan to do it ourselves (I do!), so that really puts things into perspective!

[jello]

Cherany, that is so right!

 

I also wanted to share this: http://apracticalwedding.com/2010/01/your-wedding-is-not-show/

 

"Because this is what no one tells you: no matter what you provide for your guests to do (we provided dancing) many, many, many of them will want nothing more than to sit back, to talk, to laugh, to reminisce."

[cherany]

 

Originally Posted by jello 

Cherany, that is so right!

 

I also wanted to share this: http://apracticalwedding.com/2010/01/your-wedding-is-not-show/

 

"Because this is what no one tells you: no matter what you provide for your guests to do (we provided dancing) many, many, many of them will want nothing more than to sit back, to talk, to laugh, to reminisce."

 

Great article from a great blog!  I love flashy, over the top fun, but at the end of the day, I want my wedding to remembered as the day Amy & I got married on a beautiful beach in Mexico, not the day people saw some crazy form of entertainment for the first/only time! 

[cindy2013]

 

Originally Posted by JessiTaylor 

 

oh you totally seem to get where im coming from!
 

an elephant would be incredible hahaha. i remember that a woman in the newbie thread got her wedding planner to find her a monkey (i cant remember what for - rings, or general monkey presence?). i would LOVE to see the expression on a wedding planners face if i asked for an elephant though. it could be great! well except i already stressed her out with all my questions, we had a particularly busy day where i managed to ask over 30 questions over various emails in less than one hour. she has the patience of a saint!!

 

in terms of planning - im the same, the biggest thing i ever planned was buying food and drink for a bbq for about 15 people. and even then, it was supposed to be 4 and i got carried away and invited lots of people who were more than happy to come (and had to run straight back to the supermarket as clearly 15 people need more food than 4!) and now i feel like im planning an imaginery/fantasy event because its so much money...i mean ive never even really made any expensive purchases.

 

despite all my attempts to be sensible...your mention of cirque de soleil had me imagining having trapeze artists flying above the guests heads and crazy performers. so clearly im not there yet!
 

 

Hahaha Im getting a good laugh from reading this thread!  I agree, it's not a show, but man is it fun to dream!  I got a little carried away with my wedding party dinner but it was soooo fun!  (Just lots of wine, champagne, apps, and a full dinner! =)

 

[Bride2b15]

I am definitely going down the same path as you.  You start seeing what other people have done and think Hmm yeh I like that idea.  Need to control myself!!