Navy weddings

[Grant's Mom Ship 9/Div 131]

Hi Ladies,

My daughter-in-law to be and I are planning a wedding.  We are planning a formal military ceremony.  She is wearing a white gown and my son his dress whites.  The bridesmaids are wearing black dresses and groomsmen one is a fellow sailor and the others will be in black tuxes.  (debated on navy blue very torn)

Our questions:  Is the black going to look good with  his uniform and would red look good as accent color.  We would love to get some suggestions from all of you mom's, wives or wive's to be would be great.  

They are planning a outdoor later afternoon evening wedding.  Originally they wanted a beach wedding but have decided to do it in our home town, so family and friends can share in their special day.

Thanks you in advance for all your suggestions, I thought we could chat about this since we all will be in Great Lakes in 12 days!!!!! wooohoooooo....... 

They are planning their big day after A school before he reports to first duty station if he can get leave so we are limited on the time to choose date.  

Thanks to all and God Bless

Trenda

[Grant's Mom Ship 9/Div 131]

Thank you for all your input, I do believe we will go with the dress blues, if I can get him to, which I don't think he will mind.... Also, we are considering the Civil Ceremony, but they want to get married in Florida and thats where he will be for A school. I have talked with a wedding planner already to be on stand by just waiting for date and the go ahead and I think we may have it worked out, otherwise it will be Civil and wedding of their dreams later. One thing I can say all the planning has helped me get through this hard time. Wooohoooooo 8 days and counting!!! Thanks ladies for all your help, see you in Great Lakes. GO NAVY!!!!!

[Grant's Mom Ship 9/Div 131]

Thank you!

[Jenny]

Hello!

I just wanted to put in some imput. My husband and I got married while he was in transition from A school in Pensacola to his duty station in Norfolk. We didn't let the Navy know ahead of time and just decided to go ahead and do it. The Navy did not pay for our move which cost almost $2,000. We luckily knew ahead of time so it wasn't a shock to us at all, but it would have been nice and more convient especially because it took over 3 months for our BAH to kick in. When my husband left Pensacola, he had 2 weeks leave before he had to report to Norfolk. We had a really nice court house wedding and afterwards went to a really nice dinner with our family. I had an ivory dress (this was both our second marriages) and he wore his dress blues. It was the perfect combination for us. I've seen some pictures of the bride wearing a white dress and the groom wearing his dress whites and in my opinion it clashed way too much. I'm a photographer and in my opinion, the dress blues photograph a lot better against a white dress. But that's just my opinion. I'll post some pics from our wedding so you can see how good the dress blues photograph. I'll also post a picture of my garter that my aunt made for me to match my husband's uniform. It's a very nice touch to a military wedding! :)

If your son and daughter in law don't mind paying for the move after they get married, than getting married before he reports to his duty station works great. It worked perfect for us. We got married and got to spend time with each other for almost 2 weeks before he had to leave instead of just getting married and then having to automatically having to leave.

Good luck planning to you and your daughter in law to be! :)

[Jenny]

well we knew ahead of time where he was going before we decided to get married so like i said before it worked for us.

[Grant's Mom Ship 9/Div 131]

Hi Hoppi, Thank you so much for all your help and all the information. I feel much better now knowing what we need to do. I am waiting for my" I'm a sailor call" tomorrow!!! Again thank you for all your help!
Trenda

[Grant's Mom Ship 9/Div 131]

Thank you Jenny for your suggestions on the uniform, I do think you are right about the colors, thank you for the pictures they were pretty. I am glad things worked out for the both of you, but like Hoppi said, we can't take the chance of him getting orders to Japan or something like that so, we are planning a wedding in florida or civil ceremony and then a big wedding once he gets leave. At this point I just want them both to be happy and have what they want so I am good either way I get to be apart of it and that is truly what matters. We have planned everything for there wedding whether it's here or Florida we are ready. You and the other mom's has made our uniform decision easier. Congratulations on your wedding I wish you both all the happiness, God Bless

[Barb]

The garter is awesome Jenny. and you right, everyone has to make up their mind. my sons BAH has not kicked in yet but it hasn't been quite a month yet. they told him by the middle of Aug which will be 1.5 months. thankfully they did well with wedding gifts (lots of money) and her folks and us helped with the uhaul and first months rent.

as for the blues vs whites and I think it's a horse a piece. your pictures look very nice. My son decided on his whites which was a good idea as the church was very warm. the wool blues would have been pretty hot. the pictures looked gorgeous. I posted one above of them with the groomsmen. here is another one.

[Lynne]

Hi I had a formal military wedding years ago. My husband wore his dress whites, I wore a traditional white wedding gown, we had sword bearers as groomsmen and of course, they were all in dress whites as well. My brother and my father were the only civilians on the men's side. Now, I would never have chosen a white tux for any other reason, but in this particualr case, my father and brother wore white and it worked perfectly. ( I suggest you google traditional military weddings to see how each bridal party looks with the blues or with the whites and then make a decision on what YOU like)

But in my opinion, the colors of white, with the accents of the black and gold shoulder boards, the swords, the women with pink formal gowns with traditional diamonds and pearls, and lots of roses, it was a timeless look. I guess, the only he only reason the dress whites would not look good with what the bride wears is if the bride does NOT wear white (yeah, no champagne, or candleight, or ivory, LOL...the gown has to be white, lol. Some may forget this!! just saying!)

[Lynne]

I had no issues with the color of the white uniform with the white gown. I don't know if the white color is different with the enlisted uniform from the officer uniform, but the dress whites my husband wore were just as crisp as the white gown. Oh god, I can't remember now, but I am starting to think that the sword bearers actually wore the dinner dress uniform with the short jacket...I think, isnt that terrible? LOL. my god, I sholud remember these things! lol.

[Barb]

I would love to see a picture you should post one. My son is enlisted and we tried to look into seeing if there was a mnore formal looking whites but I guess with his rank and rate there wasn't but I still like how the whites looked with the brides dress and everything else. I think it was the perfect choice but I agree that each has to make their own decision based on the look they want.

[Anti M]

The dress blue crackerjacks are more form fitting, and look more tailored than the dress white crackerjacks. Personal preference, and if it is hot and humid, he will be far more comfortable in his whites.