well so much for my mod light playthrough /cough. Here a list of mods I’m using, the modders have been absolutely awesome at getting their mods converted, there are still a couple I’m waiting/hoping for, hopefully soon 🙂 I’m using mostly Nexus for mod management, but a couple of mods only seem to be currently available from bethesda.net.
Almost essential:
– Unofficial Skyrim SE Patch (fixes any bugs)
– Sky UI (not available for SE yet)
– Vampires Suck (stops npcs who can give side quests from dying in vamp attacks… if you like quests, it’s essential ;))
character
– Ethereal Elven Overhaul (makes the elves look less… horrible)
– Total Character Overhaul (not my favourite character overhaul but it’s far better than vanilla!)
– Immersive Armours (adds a ton of fairly lore abiding armour styles)
– KS Hairdos Lite (adds some more hairstyles)
more immersion:
– Darker Nights (makes the nights darker (variable settings – mine is on darkest!)
– iNeed Food / Water / Sleep (you just need to eat, drink and sleep every so often) **
– Longer Days (just makes time go slower… sadly only in game, I lost about 2 hours of real life time earlier 😉 )
– Lampposts of Skyrim (adds lamp posts near habited areas)
– Wearable Lanterns (not available yet handy with Darker Nights)
– Wet and Cold (adds weather effects, e.g. frosty clothes and NPC effects)
– Campfire (adds extra camping type skills and tents)
– Frostfall (adds the danger of exposure) **
– Book Covers Skyrim (gives the books a more varied appearance)
– Northborn Fur Hoods (compatible with Frostfall)
– Relationship Dialogue Overhaul
** if you want more challenge
additional:
– Ordinator Perks of Skyrim (changes up the perk trees)
– Alternate Start (I’ve been through the normal start too many times now, this makes a very nice change)- Dragonborn Bodyguards (adds more male followers)
– Tentapalooza (adds more tent styles)
– Unread Book Covers Glow
– Immersive Amazing Follower Tweaks
– Lore Based Loading Screens
– Book Covers Skyrim – Lost Library
StarShadow 
I keep wanting to give a try to the Skyrim Special Edition but then I remember how painful it is to play without some mods *coughs*SkyUI*coughs* so I end up putting it off…
Anyway, I didn’t know some of these had already been ported to the new edition. Good to know!
I have to admit that I’ve not been finding it too bad without SkyUI, the most annoying thing is choosing the wrong dialogue or tabbing out of menus by accident and obviously some of the mod functionality is missing. but overall, I’m managing 😉
the mods are almost appearing by the hour! every time I look, something new has turned up! I know they are working on SKSE, so hopefully even moar mods soon 🙂
The power of the mod side is strong and hard to resist… 🙂
I’m kind of waiting for more mod support then I’m switching over.
I’m maybe the only one but I’m happy skse is not out now. I would like the mods to not have to use it. And yes i thought I could play without mods… Its not possible for me xD I love the new skyrim though!