The following wedding story is shared by one of my favorite Brides. Samantha and Matt’s very intimate “Surprise Wedding” was quite a hit with their guests who thought they were coming over for a casual BBQ! This wedding was planned by the Bride and Groom in two weeks and is a wonderful memory for all who had the honor to witness the beginning of a magnificent marriage.
The most amazing day with the most amazing man…..
By Samantha Lewis
After Matt had asked my two children, Nathan, age 12 and Katie, age 10, for their permission to marry me and had received enthusiastic reactions, wedding plans began. Discussions ran from a quick trip to Lake Tahoe in Nevada with the children for a small lakeside wedding to a more formalized affair with 150 of our closest friends. In creating a guest list, it occurred to us that our families alone accounted for two dozen attendees….
Since I had experienced a traditional wedding, my priorities shifted to my future husband’s ideal wedding. He had made it clear that gift registries and seating charts were not in his future wedding plans and when asked what he wanted, he jokingly answered, “just you, the kids and our families.” We immediately began planning our surprise wedding to take place in less than two weeks at our family’s “Engagement Celebration Barbecue.” The only other people who knew of our secret wedding plans were my children, our minister and my dear friend, Leslie, who took the photographs.
When people talk about a wedding taking 12 months or 18 months to plan…. well, all I can say is that ours was done in less than two weeks and it was amazing! Matt and I raced off to the florist and bakery and placed orders. While Matt and Nathan were fitted for tuxedos, my daughter and I found perfect dresses – off the rack! My dear friend agreed to photograph our wedding and since Matt is an audiophile, music was no problem. We live near the ocean and it was instantly agreed that our backdrop would be the local harbor. We met with our minister, wrote our vows, double swore the children to secrecy and invited our families to a casual backyard Barbecue- “to celebrate our engagement”.
Family began arriving, some driving as many as 2-1/2 hours…. all dressed in shorts and summer dresses for the casual barbecue. My mother, who was quite psychic, asked my son upon entering the front door, “Are we attending a wedding today?” to which my son replied, “No way, Mimi!” After a couple of hours of chatting and hors d’oeuvres in the backyard, Matt and Nathan disappeared upstairs for a quick change into tuxedos while my daughter and I retreated upstairs to put on gowns. Matt and Nathan reappeared downstairs and inquired, “Who wants to go to a wedding?” to which there were enthusiastic shouts and screams of delight. Matt herded everyone into cars to caravan to the harbor while my three sisters and Matt’s two sisters raced upstairs to congratulate, hug and apply the typical last minute girly-touches to make-up, hair and dresses. We then proceeded to the harbor.
The day was amazing….. clear, light breezes and warm sun – the sounds of sailboat lines clanging against the posts were like our own wind chime orchestra. Vows were said to one another and to the children, photographs were taken and everyone returned back to our home for a wonderful backyard Barbecue of Shish Kabobs! I wouldn’t do one single thing differently.
BKB: Isn’t that a great story? Do you have another Surprise Wedding to share with us? Please do!
Tags: Backyard Weddings, Bride, brides know best, Budget Weddings, Casual Weddings, Creative Wedding Ideas, DIY Weddings, dozen attendees, Family Weddings, Harbor Weddings, Lake Tahoe, Personalized Weddings, Second Weddings, Stress free Weddings, surprise wedding, Surprise Weddings, wedding, Wedding Stories
I so love reading about another Surprise Wedding!
Last year we invited everyone to a New Years Eve Party and told them it would be the “party of the century” so do not miss! We made sure that everyone that we absolutely needed to attend would be there by booking them a room at the hotel (guilt works- they couldn’t say no after we did that right???)
Everyone came, we had a great dinner, the best band and loads of dancing. Around 11 I went to change in a traditional wedding dress and then I reappeared at 11:45 right after my then fiance, got on the microphone and said that he wanted to make the next year his favorite yet by beginning the year surrounded by those that meant the most to him and by marrying his soul mate at her “earliest convenience” (he is British!). He then said “Trina will you join me on the stage?” and I came out with my wedding dress on and the minister following me up to the stage. It was a HUGE surprise to all our guests. The minister timed everything so perfectly that he announced us husband and wife exactly at midnight – we kissed and everyone kissed!!!
It was perfect!
The catering staff brought out our wedding cake – we did all the traditional dances and our family and friends said that we were absolutely right – it was the party of the century!
I think surprise weddings are great because you plan them without the interference of everyone else’s opinion on what you should or shouldn’t do and in our case it really was a team effort between my husband and I. I think too often it is the bride planning with her mother or her maid of honor or her bridesmaids and suddenly the groom is not part of the planning.
Our surprise wedding was completely planned just by me and my husband – and I think that actually brought us even closer together! I agree with Samantha – I wouldn’t change a thing!
We invited everyone to my “30th Birthday Party” (wink wink) at our favorite Chinese Restaurant. No one expected this Irish Girl to be married at “China Wall!”
The owners of the restaurant escorted all our guests to the banquet room. When they got near the banquet room doors they were handed a fortune cookie to open. When they opened the cookie it said “Surprise! This is not Cathleen’s Birthday Party – this is Jeremy and Cathleen’s Wedding! Enter and Have lots of fun!” We had all the usual trimmings and traditions of a beautiful wedding without the stress of the “Preliminary Planning Rituals”
And we had two cakes – a beautiful wedding cake and a Birthday cake for me (my husband surprised me with the later!)
I think this was a big relief for my parents who felt guilty they couldn’t pay for a wedding for us – so this way they didn’t have to worry and just let themselves have a great time!
And for me I was happy to not have to choose Bridesmaids! I have 15 first cousins and there was no way I could afford 15 Bridesmaid bouquets! We had our parents just stand beside us – no bouquets – just big smiles on their faces.
My husband said he will never forget my Birthday or our Anniversary this way! And every year, we’ll plan on going back to China Wall for our Anniversary.
By the way – Chinese Restaurants are generally much much cheaper than traditional wedding venues! Our wedding cost about half of what it would have cost if we had it at our local Marriott.
Oh this is a fun post! This Irish girl chose a Mexican Restaurant for her and her Scottish Boy’s Wedding! And just like Cathleen, no one expected me to get married at a Mexican Restaurant!
We gathered the clan together by telling them that we had a huge announcement to make and wanted everyone there to celebrate with us.
My grandparents were not going to come so I finally told them what was really going to happen and swore them to secrecy. They loved that they were the only ones who knew!
We made a huge sign that said “Our Announcement is: We are getting married tonight!” and it was placed in front of the restaurant. When people walked in they were just crazy happy.
We had loads of fun and the price of the food was ridiculously cheap and so delicious!! A Mariachi Band played people into the restaurant and everyone was handed a margarita as they walked into the section of the restaurant that we took over. We had a solo flamenco guitarist play for the ceremony as well as the dinner – it was beautiful. We got the restaurant owners’ rate on all the entertainment which was much cheaper than if we had hired them on our own. This was a great wedding for us because it was short, sweet, and different!
A year later friends of ours had a surprise Brunch Wedding and they had their own room at the restaurant they chose but everyone went to the brunch buffet line (like the rest of the restaurant’s guests). They paid just the price of a regular brunch and the restaurant had their regular strolling entertainers come in for the actual wedding ceremony. The only thing they paid extra for was the cutting of their wedding cake and their tip was a mandatory 18%. It still was about half the price than if they had it at any of our local wedding reception sites.
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Fabulous Surprise Wedding Ideas! what a great alternative wedding – I can see how this would eliminate so much stress.