My favorite non-traditional wedding ever was "just" a Halloween party, thrown by the couple who ended up being the bride and groom.  That's what the guests were invited to, the invite said to come in costume, and that food and drink would be provided.  Only the bride and groom's immediate families knew what was really happening - none of the guests had a clue.  About an hour after the party started, there was a "can we have everyone's attention please?" kind of announcement.  The bride and groom had managed to sneak away to change into vintage, more formal attire, and the wedding ceremony took place.  During the initial few minutes of "wait, did that just happen?" confusion, the bride's brothers started passing out Champagne, and then it sunk in.  It was a total hoot!  No "wedding planning" mess, no fuss, no stress - just a big, celebrational party on the couple's favorite holiday!

I don’t know if this was intentional or on your radar, but your merch is very inclusive for queer folks. As a nonbinary person I’m neither a bride nor a groom, and it’s really hard to find wedding things that aren’t aggressively gendered in wording and/or aesthetics. I’m really glad to see more things like this that allow more engaged people to celebrate themselves and their relationships. If you make more in the future, I highly recommend collaborating with a queer artist if you haven’t already! I’d love to see what that collaboration brings.

It’s expensive, but my longstanding best wedding memory is from a couple who wanted a more child-free reception but knew that most of their guests had kids that would need to be cared for somehow to allow the adults to come. They hired a kids entertainer and essentially stuck the kids in a tent down the other end of a field. We (the kids) had a great time, cos it was a long party just for us. The adults had a good time because we weren’t under their feet, but were being looked after at no expense to the guests

On the one about a small intimate wedding- my sister and herhusband wanted a very small ceremony. But my parents were floating the bill on the reception. So they made a compromise- the ceremony was only immediate family and inner circle friends. But the reception was open to all. It meant that the most intimate parts were small for the bride and groom, but then everyone who wanted to celebrate got to. They ended up loving it that way and it is how I would like to do mine one day.

I’m super single, but I think I will be the “bubblegum pink bride” if I ever get married. I’m not remotely offended.

i was a "non traditional" bride.  My venue was an Air Craft Carrier,  there was no wedding party, our friend officiated, there was no florist, photographer, DJ or band.  I organized the whole wedding online, including my dress. the only "traditional" thing I did was a father/daughter dance.  It was the best wedding any of our friends had ever been to.  there were tours of the ship, there was a virtual ride, it was a museum ship so there were WW2 to current airplanes that were restored on the deck of the ship. we got married on the fan tail at sunset overlooking the bay bridge. it has been 18years and we still have friends talking about how much fun they had.

THANK YOU. It is inhumane to expect an infant under 6 months to be separated from their mothers. They don't even know where their body ends and their mother's begins. I  appreciate that being said. I was put in a situation when my nursing newborn wasn't invited to a wedding so I stayed home. I could not have left him behind, it would have broke me. I get it was not my wedding or my call but I felt the couple had no grace for my situation. I think he was only 11 weeks old!

Don't separate the mother-infant dyad. Otherwise, I'm all for child free weddings.

We just had a VERY awkward experience yet to be fully resolved. Our niece has a toddler aged autistic child that screams incessantly. We’re talking about bloodcurdling screams and yelling at top decibels without any breaks. She is getting help and has improved to a certain degree, which is very encouraging. However, at a recent family event, a baptism, the child sadly was very loud and distracting to the service. Our daughter is getting married soon and she asked her father after the baptism to speak to the parents about removing (distracting) this child if she gets too boisterous. She didn’t ask me to do this because I’m not to most diplomatic and am a very no nonsense sort of person. So, her father had that conversation. Now the ceremony is if weather permits to be outside. So distracting this toddler away from the ceremony we thought would be easy. The next thing we know the father of the child is no longer attending and just the mother and their eldest will be there. It’s come to our attention that emotions are beginning to reveal a certain amount of animosity toward us. Just to be clear, we asked the same of other family members with young children so as not to single out any one child in order to avoid big feelings. Also I should say that the parents did not remove their child all throughout the baptism service even though there were several other families there with their babies being baptized. This was the impetus to having the conversation.

Hi Jamie !
As a future bride getting married in 10 days, I would like to thank you for all your great advice that has really helped along the way 🙂
We are French and getting married in our own country according to our national traditions, so our wedding will differ a lot from American weddings, but most ideas and principles still remain valid.

As for the subject of this video, when we started planning 9 months ago, we did exactly what you've said here : we listed all the things in a wedding day and decided what items we wanted to do or not and how we wanted to do them. The result is a very personal wedding that suits us perfectly.

I am going to add one original idea for brides who don't want to do a bouquet toss : as I don't either, I have requested our florist to make a 2-in-1 wedding bouquet, so that I can untie the outer ribbon and offer the two separate bouquets to my mother and my mother-in-law. 🙂

As a bride planning a non trad wedding celebration, this was exactly what I needed to hear. Its my day, my budget and my choice! I get promoted to Mrs in 2 months and couldn't be happier

As a parent, I would want my kids to listen - but, I would also respect their ultimate decision.  I just want them to take a little time to consider and not reject my thoughts right away.

One thing you didn't address re: no MOH is you have to pick someone to witness your marriage license - usually done by BM and MOH.

OK, I know this video was posted over a year ago, but I just checked out her merch and oh my goodness I instantly bought one of her shirts! These are so flipping cute thank you so much Jamie you did such a great job!❤❤❤❤

I think a gift is a gift and the gifter doesn't get a say in how it's used. If someone gives you money for your birthday they don't get to tell you how to use it. Yes parents may have the expectation that their gift means they get a say, but then it's not a gift and if they didn't discuss out loud their expectations that's on them.

I like non-traditional weddings. Make it your own, it's your day. I've stated before that I'm not a fan of kids during the ceremony, but fine during the reception. Sometimes depending on who is catering they can put together children's plates and they will charge you less. So if you say 60 guess, but 10 are children they'll discount the 10 plates.

Already married for two years but obsessed with my til death do us part tee from your line!!!

Love this. We’re definitely doing non traditional wedding and our theme is actually Til Death. Everything is black and moody except my dress although my first pick was a black dress.

This is both our second marriage and not the general traditional marriage. We are having a military wedding. My son will "give" me away. We will have the traditional first dance but the bridal party dance we will line dance. I feel it prevents the awkwardness of pairing with someone they dont know. This way we're all together in one dance.
Invitations will have a 🇨🇦 and 🇺🇲 flag in tbe background with a nice font for wording. The military has its own regulations when in uniform. We'll also be in a museum so glitz is not an option which is fine with me. Im not the young princess getting married for the first time. Already did that. Having said that these young first time weddings can be absolutely stunning.

Omg I love this merch

Does anyone have experience with the groom having a best man (or two) and the bride having no one? Especially for the civil ceremony at the town hall, where the best man and maid of honour need to sign, I don't want to feel lonely. On the other hand, I really want to respect the wish of my partner to have a best man.