Wedding Ideas

By: Tom Tsatsos

In ancient times, brides were thought to be particularly vulnerable to evil spirits, so in order to protect the bride, her friends were richly dressed in costumes similar to the bride’s and acted as decoys to confuse the evil spirits.

It was once common for the bride and groom, as well as their friends, to walk to the church on the morning of the wedding. Afraid that a spurned suitor would try to place a curse on the bride and groom, their friends would garb themselves similar to the bride and groom in order to trick the evil wishers.

Today, the function of the bridesmaid is to be a support to the bride as well as her confidant and friend.

Have you ever wondered about the purpose of groomsmen? Legend has it that this came about during ancient times when women were in short supply and a man had to literally kidnap his bride from her village, clan or tribe. The groom-to-be would bring along his ‘best men’ to help fight off angry family members or from competing suitors.

The best man of days-gone-by was responsible for more than the wedding ring. Since there remained a threat of the bride’s family attempting to forcibly gain her return, the best man stayed by the groom’s side throughout the marriage ceremony, protecting the bride and groom from any threats. He also served as a sentry outside the newlyweds’ home.

It is believed to bring good luck to the groom if the best man arranges for the groom to carry a good luck charm in his pocket on his wedding day. It is also considered good luck for the best man to pay the officiant’s fee in an odd sum.

Nowadays, the role of the groomsmen and best man has been confined to the honorary positions.

Halloween Wedding

K.A. Laity’s report on their halloween wedding. Check it out.

Ye Ha” Western weddings are brilliant. You can`t beat a good beer, a Barbecue and a good old camp song. I hope this lot is some use to you.

Location
See if you can get or rent a barn that will allow to have open fires out doors, it would make a nice backdrop. Think barn dance and check out movies that have those scenes in them, for ideas.

Decor
Bales of hay, rope, gingham and calico, old boots, mason jars, jugs, bunting and swags, washtubs, wire, livestock, garlands of greenery and arrangements of fruit. Tree trunks are ideal for sitting on the outside. Set the wedding cake on a cool bird bath or pedestal wash basin stand. The bride’s dad could carry a prop shotgun for a real shotgun wedding effect!

Invites
Look for heavy rustic papers and for your invitations.

Flowers
Use soft rope to hand tie the bouquets and add wild weeds and hay. Wildflower bouquets are all a cow girl needs. Fill old, odd containers with flowers at the tables. I.e. paint cans, tins, baskets, mason jars, use coils of rope to hide the vases. It should look simple and hand done. You can easily make all the decorations you need just using hay, weeds and herbs.

Brides attire
Look around for old western wedding dresses. Or wear a long flared ankle length skirt with a white shirt. Or a long denim skirt with tassels on and a white or denim shirt. Or you dress casual denim jeans and a shirt. Wear boots and put a bandana on your head if you are wearing any of the latter 3. If you are wearing a traditional western wedding dress wear wild flowers in your hair.

Grooms attire
Find out if you can get cowboy tuxedos. “I`ve heard of them but I think you might have to send away for it from America”. He could wear a denim shirt with tassels on, jeans or vest and blue jeans.

Food
Cowboy`s love their Barbecues so cook as much as you can outside. There are people that have rolling pits that can come to your site and cater barbecue. Don`t you do any of the cooking. Eat on picnic tables and benches and have extra bales to sit on. Drink from tins to give it the real western feeling. Have the cake made to look like bales of hay with plastic rifles on the top joining in the middle.

Transport
Ride to the wedding and the reception on a horse or horse carriage or hay wagon if possible.

Music
Find a band that can do at least one square dance number for mood if nothing else. Violins, banjos and guitar. Look for music to set the mood you are after. Take a long a few tapes with all your favorite music on and a battery operated cassette player.

Favours
Give dead bullets away in tin cans.

Robin Williams
www.nuptialparadise.com

Robin Williams is the author of the online magazine, www.nuptialparadise.com.
Reprint is allowed as long as the URL weddingheaven.com is left in place

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Asian-themed weddings are on the rise, and at first this might come as a surprise. After all, nothing could seem further from the Laura Ashley vision we get when thinking of a wedding.

And in fact, that’s one of the forces behind the rising popularity of the Asian-themed wedding: how it turns things upside-down. In fact, in a Chinese-style wedding, white is bad (it’s the color of death) and red and black are good (they’re the colors of luck and prosperity).

You might wonder whether brides that plan Asian-themed weddings are Asian (or marrying someone who is). The answer is, sometimes. Surprisingly often, they aren’t, and the choice is purely aesthetic.

Today’s trends break down into two main types of Asian-themed weddings: the Japanese or “Zen” style, which values simplicity and nature, and the more riotous Chinese style, which bristles with bright colors and shiny fabrics.

Although either choice may surprise some older guests, the bride may find her personal values deeply expressed in the Asian-themed wedding. After all, the usual wedding is a certain kind of pageant: the couple pretends to be royalty for a day, and lavishly entertain a large party - seemingly without a care, though they rack up huge debt to do so.

Brides drawn to the Zen-style ceremony often want to avoid the “royalty pageant” and simplify the ceremony (ironically, this can result in greater elegance for the price tag). This type of bride might read “voluntary simplicity” books, care about the environment, enjoy an uncluttered house or apartment with a handful of Japanese accents (Shoji lanterns and screens, for example) and find herself attracted to natural materials. She may feel freed by a simpler wedding gown, and carry an unfussy bouquet of calla lilies. Her centerpieces might be lanterns surrounded by black and white stones. For favors, she might give out fortune cookies placed in take-out boxes and topped off with chopsticks.

Other brides find aspects of tradition stifling, so they mix up their ceremony with Chinese-style zest. This bride might dress her bridesmaids in glowing red (or slinky black!) Cheongsams, dresses with high collars and slit sides. She’ll hand them parasols instead of nosegays, and pass out chopsticks for their hair. Her own gown might be of gorgeous brocade in red, orange or gold. Perhaps she’ll wrap up the ceremony with a butterfly release and hand out lucky bamboo stalks as wedding favors. This bride doesn’t mind charting her own course in social affairs, and she loves the Chinese devotion to parents and children.

In either case, the Asian-themed wedding is a great way to tie your ceremony to your personal values. Perhaps the thought of such a wedding crossed your mind, but you thought you had to be Asian? The fact is, Asian traditions and trends have been shaping Americans deeply since the 1960s. Maybe it’s time to ask yourself this: which type of Asian-themed bride are you?

Blake Kritzberg is the proprietor of http://www.just-wedding-favors.com. Visit the site for easy, elegant, unusual, and affordable wedding favor ideas, wedding favor FAQ, and free wedding screensaver. This article may be freely reprinted so long as this resource box and URL are preserved.

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The Polterabend is a (German) tradition normally held the night before the wedding or a few days earlier. It is basically a large (informal) get together where the guests bring old dishes along to smash into little bitty pieces for the couple to clean up. The party also serves to celebrate with people that could not be invited to the reception.

In the olden days legend said that the noise of the breaking dishes drove evil spirits away, hence the word Polter as in Poltergeist “Polter” actually describes the noise you hear from smashing the dishes.

The smaller the pieces of porcelain, china etc. the more luck the couple is said to have. This might be comparable to the Jewish wedding tradition where the groom must smash a glass with his heel in one go for good luck. In the German tradition glass brings bad luck, so people only bring china and porcelain.

Sometimes guests might show up with a Mack truck full of dishes (luck or not)! Also the couple should make sure to hide the pieces that have been collected, as the guest might try to spread it all out again.

The broken pieces can be used to decorate a vase afterwards and create a nice keep-sake.

In between clean ups there should be time for mingling, food and a bit of bubbly!