Planning a Sims 4 wedding?

Hey. First off I suppose the answer to your question depends if you have "My Wedding Stories" or not.

I honestly don't know...my memory is so terrible, and I haven't gotten any packs since early this year. I will have to check at some point soon, I guess like you said before anyone can really answer my question!

My experience with My Wedding Stories is that the actual wedding ceremony and the reception is a real struggle--and that's with mods to help make it go more smoothly. The wedding ceremonies did succeed to a point, but they were not fun for me to do. After a few tries, I think I've decided to only do private weddings or elopements from now on. But I do like the pre-wedding events. I've had better luck with those. I might do a family get-together or other party (official or nonofficial) and leave it at that. Just hold a wedding arch ceremony for the couple only. Sims can't seem to get with the program! ?

One of my couples (werewolves) had a special proposal party.
https://onedrive.live.com/embed?resid=8307EBD5C2988473%2112312&authkey=%21ANXJxAU4dsa4Cbk&width=1920&height=1080
But the wedding itself was hit and miss. The couple exchanged vows in the aisle instead of under the arch and nobody was watching. At least the guests were in their seats at the time.
https://onedrive.live.com/embed?resid=8307EBD5C2988473%2112333&authkey=%21APmekpgoAyy0hBk&width=1920&height=1080
My last official wedding was chaos--everyone wandered around and chatted.
https://onedrive.live.com/embed?resid=8307EBD5C2988473%2113333&authkey=%21AEz6D91lRoZyoO8&width=1920&height=1080
Thankfully, the ceremony itself was successful.
https://onedrive.live.com/embed?resid=8307EBD5C2988473%2113332&authkey=%21AFmdx0aFzzSkZVs&width=1920&height=1080
But guests pretty much ignored the cake-cutting, toasts, and dancing.
https://onedrive.live.com/embed?resid=8307EBD5C2988473%2113331&authkey=%21AK_QEJXIZOiFHbg&width=1920&height=1080
https://onedrive.live.com/embed?resid=8307EBD5C2988473%2113334&authkey=%21ACaY_rdpzRKUUmo&width=1920&height=1080

Weddings can be beautiful and...difficult, especially with My Wedding Stories. Things will go wrong so don’t expect perfection. For my current couple, I skipped the wedding, took them to Selvadorada and had them elope in their wedding attire then snapped pics. I plan to do a vow renewal in the same fashion just slightly modified to add in a few more details (wedding cake, buffet table, champagne etc). My other save is on hold because I planned a wedding event due to wanting the bride’s grandmother to officiate and I’m stressed just thinking about it.

I've learned with My Wedding Stories that using the guest direction system is really useful. Tell them to take their seats before doing the walk down the aisle and the vows. And then to get them to get out of their seats again, they need to be told to go to some other activity (like cake or food).

I also don't like to put more than one tradition on the ceremony planning menu. I think it's nicer just to put "vows" on the planning menu, and then either do or not do other activities at the event depending on what seems like fun at the time, without it being a checklist to get through.

So far I have not done the whole suite of events... bach party, engagement dinner, etc. That seems tedious to me so far, but sometime I might try it if I have THAT couple.

@mightysprite I tried to direct the guests, but much of the time the system just didn't work for me. They start to obey, but then something would cause them to give up and wander off again. And this was with mods that were supposed to help direct guests. Maybe I should take out those wedding mods and see if they're causing conflicts instead of helping. ?‍♀️

I like your idea of keeping the ceremony simple--planning only one or two activities. Less stress. ? I could still do more activities if I wanted, but without worrying about a checklist. ?

@lanlyn You could try that? I don't have any wedding related mods.
I do remember that the guest direction system was one of the many broken things in the pack at first, then it was one of the many things that got fixed some time later. Perhaps people made mods to fix it in between and then the fixes now conflict with each other.
You do have to be careful that there aren't duplicate items on the lot that can confuse the guests, like more than one wedding arch. (yes, even on Maxis-built wedding venue lots that have multiple wedding arches, one needs to be deleted)

@mightysprite Good point about the update fixes. Definitely need to take the wedding mods out. I didn't realize that the game fixes were working ok. And yes, that one wedding I held was on the Maxis lot that has two arches, but I didn't see sims going to the second arch. I guess it could have still caused confusion though. I'll do a renovation and replace that lot in all the saves I have going. Thanks for the suggestions. ?

My last attempt using My Wedding Stories the officiant showed up after they exchanged vows. Another time the Officiant never showed up at all.

"fujicakes1;d-1010869" wrote:
So I always go with "elope immediately" because I just cannot stand the thought of planning a wedding....I don't want to plan one in real life and I don't want to plan one in a game lol. But I do love weddings, I think they're sweet and cute and romantic. What does planning a wedding and...um...I can't think of how to say it. And also...executing a wedding? I guess? entail in the sims? Is is a lot? Is it a little? Should I just keep doing the small elopements and avoid the hassle?

As someone who has weddings nearly every weekend, should a irl sunday fall on a sims sunday or saturday or what have you, I have been having weddings regularly since before TWS came out. I used to use elopements until I figured out this method. May I suggest the destination wedding. Take the two parties family on vacation. There they are trapped so no one can ditch the other. Guess are easier to control because they are in the family. you can alternate control of them.

There are so many great special venues that double as vacation and wedding venue. you dont even have to have a wedding ceremony if ti stresses you out. Just elope by and arch when no one is looking, and have you family cook the meal and wedding cake, or get a buffet table. That food can last your whole vacation time.
Vacation /honeymoon in one!