A flower arch, and five other things that will date your wedding horribly

ALL couples think their wedding is utterly special and unique, but every element they’ve chosen will date it horribly. Like these:

Flower arches

Whether it’s an arch, a wall, or a grossly oversized centrepiece, nobody needs that much nature encroaching on their big day. Your guests will barely be able to see the vows due to the fronds and blooms covering you, and all that incredible floral artistry you spent a fortune on will end up being used for just a single photo.

Quirky photo booths

Nothing says cringe like a cardboard cut-out of a moustache on a stick being half-heartedly held up to the face of an elderly relative who hasn’t got a clue what’s going on. And all you’ll end up with aside from that is 137 close-ups of various groomsmen’s bums and a terrible picture of the bride who went in for a drunken cry after midnight.

Pick-and-mix sweet carts

It looked so cute in the photo you saw on Pinterest, but the reality is that after the guests have spent the day swilling Prosecco you’ll end up with a dance floor so covered in jelly beans and foam shrimps that people will be sticking to it. The only food that needs to be served after the main meal are bacon sandwiches at midnight to soak up the booze.

Calligraphy signs everywhere

Are your guests so mentally deficient that they really need a delicate sign pointing them to the bar, their table, the toilet and the giant Jenga which is the only thing they have to entertain them during the interminable wait while the photos are taken? Every wedding has the same curly font which will look about as stylish as Comic Sans in five years’ time.

Light-up letters

They were cool at first, but now these giant light-up letters are less original than the father of the bride’s speech. Whether they spell out your initials or something utterly banal like ‘Love’, your wedding will look like a cross between a carnival and a lightbulb showroom, and your guests won’t be impressed, even though they cost a f**king fortune to hire.

Tables with stupid names

Do you really want your once-in-a-lifetime event to be permanently connected to whatever TV show or niche interest you were into at the time? Your grandpa doesn’t appreciate being sat at table ‘Succession’ and naming the bridesmaids’ table after Cersei Lannister won’t endear them to you. Numbers have worked fine for thousands of years for a reason.

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Children's birthday parties: Five times when it's okay to drink before midday

BOOZING before midday is an activity that separates the merely convivial from the genuinely alcoholic. Except on these occasions:

At airports

The novelty of being able to drink a pint at 5am combined with the excitement of going on holiday and a long wait in departures means that you’re shitfaced by the time you board the plane. You know full well this will result in an unpleasant hangover by the time you get on the hot, smelly transfer coach at your destination and yet it never stops you.

Weekend brunch

Bottomless brunches are wildly popular nowadays, mostly because you can tip unlimited alcohol down your throat for two hours on a Saturday morning. You have no choice but to carry on for the rest of the day, which completely writes off your weekend, but what else are they for, if not being completely trolleyed?

In Wetherspoons

You tell yourself you’ve come into Wetherspoons early for a cheap but hearty English breakfast. Oh, you can have a pint with that, can you? For £2.99? Well, it would be rude not to in that case. Just avoid seating yourself near the derelict regulars or you’ll feel like you’re seeing a premonition of your own future.

Your birthday, or your partner’s

It’s important to celebrate the momentous day you or your partner were born, even if it’s a boring, non-noteworthy age, like 37. Crack open the Prosecco at 8am to kick off the day in style. If it’s a work day, add some orange juice so you feel less like you’re teetering on the brink of alcoholism. And make sure you brush your teeth before the morning meeting.

Children’s birthday parties

Though theoretically about celebrating the birthday boy or girl, kids’ parties are actually an excuse for their parents to get out of the house, talk to some other adults and neck as much booze as possible in the time it takes for 23 children to get bored of a bouncy castle. Top tip: bring a box of wine and drink from an opaque beaker so nobody knows exactly how many litres you have imbibed.