Well, I meant Crisco or shortening. Grocery store cake frosting is pretty terrible tasting.
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I too call that disgusting grocery store frosting “lard frosting.” It certainly tastes like it’s made from lard! 
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The best thing I did at my wedding was to tell my photographer that I wanted lots of pictures of our guests, and there was a period where anyone who wanted pictures taken with their families could go up to the photographer and get them done. Instead of gifts at the table, I sent everyone some of their pictures. It’s been many years now, and I had seen those pictures displayed at various relatives houses, and also at some of their funerals. It was a good day, and everyone was happy so they looked good. One thing I regret spending money on was the video. I only watched it once. But I saw upthread that someone else was glad they spent money on this, so think about how much you’d really look at it to see if it would be worthwhile to you.
Another comment, is I don’t think you need a venue where you pay for a spectacular view or anything extravagant. You just need to be in a comfortable environment (good temperature, enough bathrooms, soft enough chairs), be able to decorate the room, and have enough room for dancing.
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S and DiL watch their video on their anniversary. They are happy to have it since it shows much of what they didn’t see. DiLs mother was very ill at the wedding (was released from the hospital for a few hours), medicated and in a wheelchair. She recovered, but remembered nothing of the wedding. For her, the video is better than all the pictures because of the audio.
D also had a video made, S told her it was money well spent. She also likes it because she can watch the parts of the day she missed.
I like watching them, too.
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My mom couldn’t attend S1’s wedding, and one of my sisters stayed home to care for her. I sent a big bouquet to Mom on the day of the wedding and told her we wished she could be there. She passed away less than two months later. I was SO glad I did that.
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One thing I loved about our wedding was the photographer - it was a number of years ago so ‘journalistic’ photography wasn’t as popular - but my hub and I were firm we didn’t want a bunch of stiff pix of people in arranged groups or at tables (nothing wrong with those - just not for us). We found a photographer whose work fit the bill. While there were a few family groupings, primarily he captured such beautiful naturalistic moments - including hub and I looking at each other (not knowing photo being taken), my dad right before walking down the aisle - just gorgeous.
We had a very emotional-looking, naturalistic pic of hub and I framed - I would glance at it later during those sometimes stressful years with a baby and it was a day brightener! Worth the cost many times over, lol.
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We married in 1991 and video just wasn’t top of our mind at the time. My cousin took one on his own, and made us a copy. It was wonderful to see us taking our vows, everybody dancing and talking at our reception. We watch in every year on our anniversary.
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And I think any future kids of the couple would love to see their parent’s wedding video and photos!
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- think of the comfort of your guests (especially older folks, out of towners)
- don’t be trendy
- don’t get tripped up on perfection
- enjoy the day!
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@RookieCollegeMom I can’t imagine either of my kids having the least bit of interest in that (unless they were going to be making fun of the 1980 styles!). I can’t even picture H and me watching it.
No wedding video for us or for D (it never even came up). I read something interesting several years ago about a minister who did not allow wedding videos in the marriages he performed. He said something like people remember their wedding as this magic, perfect event but then they watch a video and see the reality and start to realize that they don’t like the way their hair looked, or Aunt Jane was on her phone, or the bridesmaids walked too fast for the music or…whatever.
I think he had a point.
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Video option was new in 1984, and we did not want that. These days I think some of the fun at reception gets caught on guest cellphone videos.
Funny video story - I’ve heard of a kid who swears he was at his parent’s wedding because he had watched the video at a very young age … it seared in his memory.
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I am super glad we have a video of our wedding - so many great things captured that H and I didn’t see in person or would not have remembered. The videographer also went to each table and asked people to share a brief message with us if they wanted. Many of these folks have since passed, including 2 grandparents, 3 of our parents, my SIL and a very close family friend. I love that we have them captured on video sharing their love and good wishes for us, for posterity. Being able to see the sheer joy on my (now deceased) mom’s face throughout the day and the huge smile on my H’s face as we walked back up the aisle is priceless. We do periodically watch the video and have paid to have it converted from VHS to dvd and digital. Our D has enjoyed watching it as well!
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When my kids were little, they enjoyed looking at the photos and video - it was probably just once though 
!
Photos were more important to me, but we did do an inexpensive video as well. We laughed at it at the time! We had the videographer make a 15-20 min version of the day in addition to the full one. I should probably go watch it - it might be nice to see all the grandparents and other family friends who are no longer with us.
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