Wedding Trends That Take The Cake

The perfect time for the new adventure that your marriage will bring might just be springtime! Spring is considered a time of rebirth and renewal, and isn’t that just what your wedding signifies? Also, spring is not the most popular time for a wedding  (summer and fall are), so you may have an easier time getting top-notch vendors and venues. You may even get discounted rates! Use these tips to help you plan your spring wedding:

Think. What are your favorite parts of the season? Do you love the flowers? Do you want an early wedding so that you can enjoy the whole summer with your new hubby? List what you love most about the season…even if it’s just the fact that it may be easier on your budget…so that you’ll have a clear picture of your wants and needs while planning your wedding.

Indoors or outdoors? If you live in a warmer climate, you may consider holding your wedding outside. If your weather is kind of “iffy” in the springtime, you may want to keep it indoors. Also, keep in mind that spring brings rain, so any time spent outdoors may require an umbrella or an awning.

Timing is everything. As mentioned before, since springtime isn’t the most popular time to have a wedding ceremony, you may find that vendors and venues are more available. Still, you’ll want to pick your date, venue and vendors in a timely manner. Also, keep in mind that proms are held in the spring, so limos and tuxedos may be rented early. Plan for this.

Choose your colors. When choosing colors for your spring wedding, keep in mind that you may want to stay away from the bright colors of summer and winter. Consider pale, muted colors instead to reflect the season.

What to wear? When deciding on wedding attire, keep in mind that the weather can be sketchy. One day it’s warm, the next it’s cold. Some days are dry and some are wet. For this reason, you may want to avoid satin shoes (rain) and pick dresses that are versatile. If you choose sleeveless dresses, give your bridesmaids wraps as their bridesmaid gift to keep them warm, if necessary.

Consider a hint of color. Even if you want a white wedding gown, you may want to add a sash in a pastel color. Or how about a hint of all-over color? Embroidery in a light color would work well for this.

Think spring when decorating! What could be more festive than using the colors of spring to decorate your wedding reception? Pale greens, lavenders, pinks, roses and blues would all work well.

Accent tables with gingham fabrics, ribbons or even polka dots. Fill white baskets with an abundance of spring flowers for a fabulous centerpiece, or why not use an inexpensive terracotta pot with a moss or ivy-covered Styrofoam ball inside of it? Rose petals spread around the tables would be the perfect touch too.

Pick your flowers. Spring flowers include roses, peonies, irises, tulips, hyacinth, lilies and Gerber daisies. Choose a variety of these blooms to make the perfect spring bouquet!

Have fun with your wedding stationary! Save the Dates, affordable wedding invitations, place cards and announcements can all be quite whimsical and colorful. Use a matching theme and consider using some fun font styles to accent the whimsy of the season.

Favors should be fun! Keeping with the theme of whimsical fun, some good options for guest favors might include personalized seed packets or bulbs. Individual flower bud vases, personalized with your names and wedding date, might be nice too.

Lisa Bakewell

In Wedding Traditions from Around the World, Part 1, we discussed how wedding traditions and customs vary from one country and culture to another, and that each one is special and celebrates the marriage bond of the newlyweds. Here are some other traditions from around the world:

ENGLAND

• Tossing the bouquet is a tradition stemming from England. Women used to try to rip pieces of the bride’s dress and flowers to obtain good luck, so to escape from the crowd, the bride would toss her bouquet and run away.

• Anglo-Saxon Englishmen often had to defend their brides, so the bride would stand to the left of her groom allowing his sword arm to be free.

• The bridal party was originally established to fool evil spirits. The bride’s friends dressed similarly in order to confuse them and to ward off bad luck.

FINLAND

• The bride walks from house to house with a pillowcase to collect her wedding presents while a married man walks beside her with an umbrella, which symbolizes protection and shelter.

• The bride wears a golden crown during the reception and is blindfolded. She’s then spun around, while unmarried girls dance around her. The one she crowns is thought to be the next one who will get married.

FRANCE

• The wedding couple drinks from the traditional two-handled wedding cup called the “coup de marriage” denoting togetherness.

• On the wedding night, pots and pans are banged together as a way of disturbing the newlyweds.  The groom invites the jokesters in for refreshments.

GERMANY

• To make the wedding night as difficult as possible, friends of the couple do lots of funny or sometimes cruel things. They might fill up the room with balloons, take the bed apart or hide lots of alarm clocks in,

• Friends sometimes kidnap the bride, and the groom has to find her.

• The Polterabend is an informal party held the evening before the wedding. Plates and dishes are smashed, and the broken pieces are thought to bring good luck to the bride.

GREECE

• The mother of the bride spends years collecting various household items for her daughter’s dowry. Once the dowry has been presented to the couple, friends volunteer to set up and decorate the newlyweds’ home.

• The bride and groom are honored as queen and king for the day. They wear crowns made of either gold or orange blossoms connected with ribbons, which signify the couple’s union.

• Once the wedding is over, the bride and groom walk around the altar three times symbolizing the trinity.

ITALY

• The bride does not wear any gold. It is considered bad luck.

• Sunday weddings are believed to be the luckiest.

• To ward off envious people, the groom carries a piece of iron.

• At the reception, the men are supposed to kiss the bride for good luck…and to make the groom jealous.

• To start the festivities, strong drinks are served to toast the couple with “Per Cent’anni” which means “for 100 years.”

JAPAN

• Brides wear purple dresses. Purple is considered the color of love.

• The bridal couple takes nine sips of sake. They sit across the table from each other, looking directly into the eyes of the other, taking a sip at the same moment and being very careful to set the cup down on the table at the same time.  It is believed that this will keep one from dying before the other.

KOREA

• The groom’s family welcomes the bride in a private ceremony.

• The bride wears a multicolored silk dress with white sleeves and a black silk crown.

• The bride is made up with red points on her cheeks to scare away bad spirits.

• One important part of the wedding ceremony is the sharing of a special white wine (jung jong), which is poured from cups made from two halves of a gourd made by the bride’s mom.

NORWAY

• Friends and neighbors plant small pine trees on either side of the bride and groom, which symbolize fertility.

• The bride wears a silver crown and silver charms. The music created by the charms is supposed to ward off evil spirits.

• The wedding cake (Brudlaupskling) is made of flour and a mixture of cheese, and cream and syrup are added to it.

PHILIPPINES

• The groom throws a spear onto the front step of his bride’s house to let everyone know about the intended marriage.

• The bride’s gown is often custom made, and it is bad luck for her to try it on before the wedding.

• Pearl jewelry is considered a bad omen.

• The groom presents his bride with 13 gold pieces as a pledge of his dedication to his wife and the welfare of his children.

• Knives and other sharp objects are not given as gifts because it is believed that they will lead to a broken marriage.

• Raindrops are considered lucky because they bring prosperity and happiness. Rice, when thrown after the wedding represents rain.

• It is considered bad luck if the groom does not arrive before the bride.

RUSSIA

• Russian law does not recognize church weddings, so couples wishing to marry must have a civil wedding ceremony.

• After the civil ceremony, the couple takes a tour of the city visiting memorials of those who have died.

• The traditional wedding in Russia lasts two days.

• The bride and groom usually tie a doll to the wedding car if they wish their first child to be a girl and a teddy bear if they want a boy.

SCOTLAND

• Grooms carry a large basket filled with stones (on his back) from one end of the village to the other till the bride comes out and kisses him.

• Bagpipes are played during the parade.

• The groom wears his traditional kilt.

• When the wedding vows are completed, the groom pins a strip of his clan’s tartan color to the bride’s dress…signifying that she has become a member of his tribe.

SWEDEN

• The mother of the bride places a gold coin in the bride’s right shoe, and her father places a silver coin in her left shoe. This ensures that their daughter will never be poor.

• The groom presents his bride with three gold rings…an engagement ring, a wedding ring and a motherhood ring.

• Imaginary trolls were once thought to bring misfortune to the wedding couple, so they were kept away by the bride and her bridesmaids by carrying bouquets of pungent herbs and stinking weeds.

Photo Invitations are a great way to show the world how you and your man feel about each other. They make great keepsakes too!

Lisa Bakewell

Wedding traditions and customs vary from one country and culture to another. Each one is special and celebrates the marriage bond of the newlyweds.

AFRICA

• Young girls are trained to become good wives at an early age.
• Soon-to-be brides are sometimes taught a secret language allowing them to communicate with other married women…without their husbands understanding.
• In Somalia, a girl might be engaged even before she is born.
• In Sudan, the groom must pay his wife’s family in cattle for the loss of their daughter’s labor.
• The bride’s veil is made of plaited hair, representing reserve, and the wedding guests wear traditional regional costumes.
• Wine is poured on the land as a dedication to the gods.

ARABIA

• Often, the bride and groom meet for the first time on their wedding day.
• Arabian law permits a man to have four wives, but today, since expenses can be very high, men are generally sticking to a single wife.
• The bride wears an elaborate veil and has her hands and feet decorated with elaborate drawings created with henna.
• During the wedding reception, men and women are separated.

BULGARIA

• The bride tosses a dish filled with wheat, coins and raw eggs over her head, and if the dish breaks, it will bring her good luck.
• It is considered good luck for the bride and the groom to each step into the church with their right foot first.
• Once the official wedding papers are signed, another wedding custom, stepping, occurs.  Whoever steps on the other’s foot first will be dominate and will provide for the new family.

BERMUDA

• The bride and groom walk under a moon gate after the ceremony to bring them good luck.
• The bride and groom have separate wedding cakes.
• The bride’s cake is a tiered fruitcake covered in silver leaf. On top is a small cedar sapling, which will be planted after the ceremony to symbolize the growth of the couple’s love.
• The groom’s cake is covered in gold leaf to represent prosperity.

CHINA

• Firecrackers greet the bride when she arrives at the wedding ceremony to ward off evil spirits.
• Chinese wedding dresses are red adorned with gold for good luck.
• Decorations and gift-wrappings are red and gold to symbolize happiness and wealth.
• Peanuts are associated with virility and are a lucky gift for a new bride and groom. The most traditional type of wedding sweet is a hard peanut and sesame candy, and it is said to bring the bride and groom a large family.

CZECHOSLOVAKIA

• An infant is laid on the wedding bed to symbolize fertility.
• The bride and the groom break plates into as many pieces as possible. The number of pieces is proportionate to the success of the marriage. The more pieces, the more successful the marriage.
• Brides often plant a tree in their yard and decorate it with ribbons and painted eggshells. It is their hope that they’ll live as long as the tree.

DENMARK

• Arches of pine branches are built in front of the bride’s home, which symbolises fertility.
• During the reception, when the groom disappears to the restroom, or wherever, all the unmarried young men run over to kiss the bride. When the bride disappears, all the single young girls run over to kiss the groom.
• After the wedding waltz, the male guests lift up the groom and cut the tips of his socks to symbolize that he should no longer walk in the footsteps of other women.

Look for Part 2 of Wedding Traditions from Around the World next week.

Check out Pocket Wedding Invitations from Best Little Wedding Shop…one of their most popular styles! Each invitation offers unique pocket folds to tuck away your invite and display it to your guests in bold colors and unique styles. Check them out!

Lisa Bakewell

You want your guests to have a great time at your wedding reception, so you’ve spent some time thinking about the music that you’d like to have your band or DJ play. And it’s a good idea. After all, you want to have the perfect songs for your First Dance, your Daddy and Daughter dance and your Last Dance. 

But…have you given any thought to songs that you DON’T want played at your reception? No? Well, you may want to consider adding these songs to your  “DO NOT PLAY” list:

YMCA, the Macarena, the Hokey Pokey and the Chicken Dance…Sure your guests all know the moves, but these dances are not the most flattering for guests dressed for elegance. Do you really want to see your relatives swiveling their hips and flappin’ their arms?

Locomotion, Cha Cha Slide and Limbo Rock…Again, these songs bring out the teenage dancer in all of us, but, again, some of your guests are a tad further from their teen years than others. People could get hurt!

Mony Mony (Billy Idol) and Total Eclipse of the Heart (Bonnie Tyler)…These songs are ones that everyone loves to try to sing. They also love making up their own…objectionable lyrics…to them too. Do you really want Aunt Bertha subjected to that?

Stayin’ Alive…This Bee Gees classic brings back memories of John Travolta’s classic hustle moves, but there aren’t too many of your guests that will know more than one dance move to this song…Yep, that’s the one!

Who Let the Dogs Out? (Baha Men) and Everybody Have Fun Tonight (Wang Chung) …Yikes! I’m not sure how these songs ever became popular in the first place!

My Humps (Black Eyed Peas)…Again, this song may be objectionable to some of your guests. Think teens and twenty-somethings dancing to this song in front of grandma! Not a pretty thought, huh?

Every Breath You Take (The Police)…A little stalkerish, don’t you think?

Lips of an Angel (Hinder) and Jesse’s Girl (Rick Springfield)…These songs are about cheating and lusting after your friend’s girl. A bit inappropriate for a wedding, don’t you think?

Tears in Heaven (Eric Clapton)…Sure it’s a beautiful song, but a bit of a downer for a wedding reception.

White Wedding (Billy Idol)…This song is about Idol’s hate for his sister’s fiance. Other hate songs you might want to skip include Love Stinks, I F**king Hate You, You Gave Love a Bad Name and Tainted Love.

For a great selection of Save the Dates, visit Best Little Wedding Shop.

Lisa Bakewell