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.

Much is written about etiquette for the bride and groom, but little is said about the responsibilities of the wedding guests. This article addresses those things that wedding guests can do to make the wedding a more pleasant event for everyone.
Much is written about etiquette for the bride and groom, but little is mentioned about etiquette for wedding guests, yet the conduct of guests can create unnecessary stress before the wedding and on the wedding day. Following are things for wedding guests to consider that will make the wedding experience more pleasant for everyone involved.

Return response cards in a timely manner even if you do not plan to attend. Couples must give their caterer an accurate guest count and they need the response cards to do so. Do not assume that your children, a date, or visiting relatives are automatically invited if their names do not appear on the invitation. Many venues, not to mention budgets, are not large enough to accommodate unlimited numbers of guests. Dress appropriately. If the ceremony will be held in a church, guests may not be able to wear sundresses, short skirts, shorts, and other revealing or casual attire, including baseball caps. Do not wear a cap, jeans, or shorts to any wedding except a very informal outdoor gathering. Arrive on time. If you are late and the processional or ceremony has already started, take your cue from the wedding coordinator or church coordinator. They will allow you to enter when there is opportunity to do so. If the processional is in progress, dont interrupt. Instead, wait until the wedding party has entered, then quietly slip in a side door and choose a seat in the back. Do not enter down the center aisle unless there is no other option.

Do not take pictures during the ceremony. Many churches do not allow flash pictures and you may disturb the ceremony. The professional photographer is the only one who should be taking pictures and he/she will know the rules of the church or event center.

At most ceremonies, the guests stand when the bride enters. Take your cue from the mother of the bride or from the officiant. Remain standing until the officiant asks you to be seated.

If you are unfamiliar with the rituals of a particular religion, take your cue from those around you. In some denominations, guests stand or kneel at various times during the ceremony. In some churches communion is served to those in good standing in the church. All others should abstain.

When the ceremony ends, remain in your seat until the ushers dismiss you, or if there are no ushers, until the mothers of the bride and groom have been escorted out. Allow family members of the bride and groom, who will be seated near the front, to exit first.

If you bring children, keep them under control. If they become disruptive during the ceremony, take them out. Many churches have a cry room with a window and sound so that you can still observe the ceremony. During the reception, dont allow the children to run wild. Dont expect the photographer, coordinator, or DJ to supervise them for you. If your children cause damage, be prepared to pay for it. Otherwise, the bride and groom will be held responsible and friendships could be ruined.

If a buffet is served at the reception, dont pile your plate full unless you are at the end of the line. Be courteous of those who have yet to eat.

Dont drink too much. You are there to celebrate with the newly weds, not embarrass yourself and them.

The wedding day is the bride and grooms special day and they should be able to enjoy it. If each guest displays courtesy and thoughtfulness, the wedding day will be a smooth and enjoyable experience for everyone in attendance.

About the Author

Glenna Tooman is the owner of Memory Makers Event Planning, LLC. She specializes in planning unique and personal events while keeping the client’s budget in mind. Glenna is an internationally recognized authority on wedding and event planning. She is also the author of a regional wedding guide “The Commonsense Guide to Planning Your Wedding.”

Here is an easy project you can make in just a few minutes for the bride. Our garter can be made up in the wedding party colors if you wish.
Is there a wedding in your spring or summer schedule. If so, then a million small details need to be looked after. The bride’s gown is always one of the first things to be decided upon. Fabric, lace, notions, a veil, fittings etc. It is enough to make you dizzy. Once the dress is decided upon, there is usually enough fabric left over to make a nice little ringbearer pillow, garter and maybe scrunchies for the attendants hair. The bride’s garter is easily made from left over fabric and lace. Here is a super simple version.

1. Measure the bride’s thigh and cut elastic 2″ - 3″ shorter.

2. Cut a strip of bridal fabric about 3 times longer than the elastic and about 4″ wide.

3. Fold strip in half and press with warm iron. 4. Lay fabric strip flat, stitch lace using press mark as your guide. I did this with contrasting lace and thread so you can see.

5. Serge two long edges or turn raw edges under 1/4″ and press. 6. Stitch two long edges together. 7. Thread elastic thru casing and stitch ends together securely.

About the Author

Mary Wilkins has three grown children and six perfect grandchildren. Completely self taught, she has been sewing, and crafting for over 30 years. Her website http://www.sew-whats-new.com has been recognized in many sewing magazines and newsletters alike.

Details on Western Wedding done very cheap
A Western Wedding Done CHEAP

Can be done at reasonable price, if you have the friends and family to help you out. If not about what you know, but rather who you know, When it comes to cost cutting corners. I’m not going to expect everyone to be able to reproduce what I did, but hopefully it will get you thinking on what people can do for you.

My wedding was simple, yet was able to accommodate my needs.

I wanted a wedding, where everyone who we wanted to attend could.

I didn’t want to worry about Drunk Driving, and worrying about the guests to get home safe.

About 140 adults and about 30 some children showed up to my wedding..

So the brainstorm started. How about an outside wedding. I originally wanted a barn dance wedding, but that was out of the question no one was willing to give me their barn.

So I opted to rent tents. To rent tents cheap, try town halls, or a place in charge of out door activities a lot of the time for fairs, they have these, and with enough time and notice you may get lucky. I paid $300 for the tents. Next Tables and Chairs. I contacted the local high school who had a cafeteria, and got the use of the chairs for the weekend for free. We hauled the chairs and tables with horse trailers.

The ceremony was a Justice of the Peace.

The dress, my mother in law made for me. Cost of material was $150.00. Although a good friend of mine got her wedding dress at the dry cleaners for $75.00. Lots of people take their wedding dress to the cleaners, and can’t afford to take them out, or either that they move, or divorce. My friend had a huge puffy dress, with tons layers and a long train. Simply gorgeous.

Brides maid dresses. I sent them all $25 each toward their dress as their Wedding part gift, and sent them all ( I had 5 ) to the nearest city to buy their dresses. I just told them black sun dresses. They came back looking identical.

Groomsmen wore black jeans, and rented Western tuxedo tops and shirts, and stuff, and wore black shoes of any sort. Instead of boutonnières made of flowers, they wore miniature cowboy hats wrapped around with colored ribbon. None of my groomsmen wore cowboy hats, as none of them were any sort of real farm boys.

Flowers - Didn’t have any. I made fans instead for everyone, including the flower girls. This was a lot of work and still cost approximately $20. 00 a piece. Doing it again, I would have opted for single white roses, for a cheaper and less hassle experience.

Supper was a cold supper, We baked the stuff previous, at different ovens. We did Turkey and Ham, all bought at the previous holiday when it was on sale. Friends of the family donated their time and money and made salads. Friends of the family also served and got the food ready to buffet style. We did purchase plastic plates, cups, spoons etc. For Dessert we did Ice cream and strawberry’s, and the wedding cake. We did Buffet Style, including the bride and groom and wedding party.

The wedding cake, my sister in law made, she had a book on making wedding cakes, and had always did kids cakes, and cakes for special occasions. So she did up a fake one, and a real one, the Real one was plain, and the fake one had the topper.

Decorations. A helium tank that cost $75 and balloons. The Wedding was White, Hunter Green, and Black. so that was the color of the balloons and ribbons. For the wedding center piece I made Wedding books. Which consisted of taking Reader Digest books and gluing the pages down so it made a permanent book fold in the middle, painted the inside white, and sides black then Glued hand made page that Read our names and date, with two little rings in the center. We then hot glued ribbon and roses on the edges, with lace, and made a small loop with ribbon to hang add helium balloons to at each table. cost about $2.00 each and a lot of time doing them. I just had bridal parties, called up the girls, drank wine, and did centerpieces.

Wedding Favors were just mints wrapped in tole and had ribbons tied on them.

Out door weddings, You have to create outdoor bathrooms. My parents house was close, as it was in their back yard, but when you have over 100 people over, you need to accommodate, so we rented one Port A Potty cost was about $75.00

While planning the wedding, Two of my dads friends offered to carry the bridal party, and groom party in their horse and wagons. After the wedding they drove all guests around as well, till the horses got tired.

The bar was believe it not, BYOB- Bring your own Booze. We only bought wine for each table at the wedding, and for the bridal party, and immediate family a Keg of Beer. We had the wedding at my parents farm. Everyone pitched a tent, or brought their holiday camping trailers, etc. Nobody had far to walk. Most people did stay over.

Pictures - I was lucky - I had a cousin who did photography as a hobby, So he was free to use, just had to pay for developing the film.

The dance. No Dj, just a great stereo, and pre-mixed tapes, done ahead of time. Which is easier to do today with current technology. Everyone just danced on the grass.

Midnight supper, was all just leftovers from the supper.

The Gift Opening was done the night of the wedding after the supper and before the dance, to get rid of the dead air space between entertainment, and since a lot of people were leaving the following morning, this way they all got to see what we got for gifts, and gave them some entertainment as well.

Everyone had a great time, and many people re created the same wedding after-wards, in near by towns, after hearing about what a wonderful way to do this type of wedding.

Hopefully this article inspired you on ways to cut costs down on your wedding for your big day, after all its not about the wedding, its about the marriage. Weddings last one day, and your marriage is suppose to last forever.

About the Author

Theresa Bruce is an online business women and has been doing online marketing on the net for over 3 years. She is happily married and has two kids.

What exactly is a theme wedding? Our definition may be different from yours but the basics are the same - a wedding tailored to your dreams.
What is a Theme Wedding?

I got asked this question the other day - what is a theme wedding?

I thought it was obvious but perhaps some clarification is needed on how I see it.

A theme wedding is no different than any other wedding you have been to or seen. The theme is the wedding.

What makes the weddings we present in our book different is that we have categorized different ideas to incorporate one consistent look and feel to your wedding.

This happens in weddings all the time. For example, traditionally, a bride selects her favourite colour and uses this singular colour throughout the whole wedding. From the bridesmaid dresses to the invitations, to the flowers, to the tablecloth’s etc.

This was my wedding. Lavender was our color so we used it everywhere but then how do use color for other things? We had it a golf course so we added a putting event for us to kiss and we were going to Africa for our honeymoon so we named our tables after African countries.

When done with my wedding, I just felt it was all over the place. Being in corporate event planning at that time, I thought why didn’t I do my wedding like I have done countless corporate events and others weddings and tie one subject together instead of having many things that didn’t correlate together.

For example, a client was having a customer conference and their message to their customers was that they had the ability to level the “playing field” between them and their larger competition. I took one part out of their message “the playing field” and ended up doing a football scheme for their conference. Invitations were done on a grass turf football field, prizes were football tickets and all decorations were down incorporating this sport.

The conference’s theme was not about football but we just added this element to tie things together. So, that is where I came about on doing the same for weddings.

My wedding just didn’t make sense, what did Africa have to do with golfing and really after awhile that lavender colour was just making me want to puke.

So, to answer the question- what is a theme wedding? It’s a wedding plain and simple with a unique subject matter tying it together whether that is butterflies, the ocean, country or whatever a heart desires.

About the Author

Kari White is an experienced event and wedding planner that has developed the Unique Theme Wedding planning guide. Helping those with their Theme Wedding through cost cutting and completely unique tips and techniques. Free Newsletter and Tips.

Tips to keep you alert while shopping.
Tis The Season To Shop

While you’re out this month finishing off that Christmas shopping, take a close look at how stores decorate. This can give you quite a few inspirations for your wedding.

Take a close look at color combinations they use. That Christmas tree they have decorated might inspire your complete wedding from an all white twinkling wedding to a deep burgundy gold wedding.

Let’s Share!

We get quite a few emails from brides asking a variety of questions about their weddings and we invite you also to email us any questions! We have decided to share a variety of these questions with our readers, as you never know what might inspire you or answer one of your questions. Email us any questions or comments at: mailto:info@uniquethemeweddings.com

Would it be tacky to serve pizza at our wedding? It’s our favourite and not sure if we want to have the whole sit-down dinner thing. Amy, Arizona

You know very few people don’t enjoy pizza. So, why not! - Try creating a Tuscan/Italian-inspired theme: use earthy colors and scatter rustic cracked ceramic pots throughout the venue filled with an arrangement of roses - Send out Unique Theme Weddings rose invitation - Serve the pizza on some unique platters or even have waiters wander through the crowd serving the pizza - Go away from traditional pizza toppings by exploring different combinations such as sundried tomatoes, ricotta, feta and spinach or smoked chicken, roasted pears and boursin cheese etc. - Serve other Italian foods along with the pizza such as olives, focaccia and other breads with a sampling of different olive oils flavoured with herbs, peppers and garlic -Serve Chianti in big jugs - Send guests home with the cookies in the shape of love knots an Italian Tradition

Any type of food can be incorporated into a wedding. Try letting food guide a theme into your wedding. Here are a few suggestions on picking the perfect food and theme for you:

- First of all, think about the first dinner you had on your first date. What type of food was it? If it was a memorable occasion, you could design your wedding theme around that food such as Mexican or Indian. - What’s your ultimate favourite food? If you were going to go out for a special dinner what type of restaurant would it be? Steak and Lobster or Japanese? - If you were going to take a cooking course, what type of course would you like to enrol in? Would you like to learn how to make pastries, Japanese or Indian?

About the Author

Kari White is an experienced event and wedding planner that has developed the Unique Theme Wedding planning guide. Helping those with their Theme Wedding through cost cutting and completely unique tips and techniques. Free Newsletter and Tips.

a step by step procedure to make sure your wedding is suited to your personalities.
A 14 Step Program to The Wedding of Your Dreams By Kari White http://www.UniqueThemeWeddings.com/

I have come across many couples that want to incorporate a theme into their wedding but just can’t decide or know what type of wedding they would like. Everyone wants their wedding to be unique, original, fun and a complete success. And yet, there are hundreds or thousands of ways you can customize your wedding day to be as you dreamed.

Here are 14 steps you need to go through to help you custom design your wedding day.

1) Where did the two of you meet? Was at a restaurant or work? Can you incorporate your meeting into your wedding? Such as holding your wedding at the place where you met?

2) Ask around! Do you or one of your friends know of a fantastic spot hidden away? You would be amazed at how many people you might find that could have a hidden cottage perfect for your wedding! A great idea for a Christmas or Country Wedding!

3) Do you have a favorite activity the two of you do together? Do you go to the drive-in or ski the mountains? Your activity can easily be incorporated into a theme wedding!

4) Remember when you were a child? Remember the things that you enjoyed and that consumed your days and nights? Write down all the things that you enjoyed as a child - ask your mate also. Which of these passions could you turn into your theme? Perhaps, you enjoyed the beach immensely so a beach theme wedding would be ideal!

5) First of all, think about the first dinner you had on your first date. What type of food was it? If it was a memorable occasion, you could design your wedding theme around that food such as Mexican or Indian.

6) What’s your ultimate favorite food? If you were going to go out for a special dinner - what type of restaurant would it be? Steak and Lobster or Japanese?

7) If you were going to take a cooking course, what type of course would you like to enroll in? Would you like to learn how to make pastries, Japanese or Indian?

9) Let your color guide you! For example here are some colors and a theme wedding that could be incorporated with that color:

- Blue, Yellow - The Cosmo Clambake Wedding or The Seashore Shindig - Fushia, Red, Purple, Pink - The Passage to Passion Wedding - Yellow, Orange, Red - The Rise & Shine Wedding - Green, Yellow, Blue - The Sweet Pea Wedding/The Wild Thing Wedding - Red, Yellow, Green - The Tequila Twilight Wedding - White, Black - The Uptown Affair Wedding - Tans, Black or Brown - The Urban Safari Wedding - Green, Red, Silver - The Winter White Wedding

10) What type of centerpiece do you have on your kitchen or dining room table at home? Do you have fresh flowers? Do you have a basket of fruit? Or a group of candles? Look around your home and see what type of decor you already use. Don’t stray from who you are. Your wedding is all about you and your theme should focus around this!

11) Do you have a collection of some sort? Whether it is snow globes, angels or priceless figurines, these are a glimpse of who you are and can also help you select a theme for your wedding.

12) What makes you unique such as hobbies, talents, preferences, background, or your career? Write down 10 things that make you different based on your uniqueness. Now, ask your fiancé to do the same or write them down for them. Pick one unique characteristic from each list and see how you can incorporate both of these unique characteristics.

13) What things have happened in your life that has not happened to most other people? Perhaps, you are the only one in your circle who has sky-jumped, won $100 on a lottery ticket, went on a safari in Africa or traveled through Europe. How can you incorporate some of these unique things into your wedding?

14) What is your ultimate favorite movie? Why? What makes this movie stand out? Watch the movie again but this time forget about the plot. Look at it differently, what are the characters wearing, where is the majority of the movie being filmed, what food is being served. How can you incorporate some of these movie ideas into your wedding?

Remember, these questions will get you thinking along the lines of YOUR perfect wedding. This day is supposed to be magical, one of a kind, and completely the best day of your life.

Use these tips in your planning and you will be sure you are making the best decisions and choices in your theme.

About the Author

Kari White is an experienced event and wedding planner that has developed the Unique Theme Wedding planning guide. Helping those with their Theme Wedding through cost cutting and completely unique tips and techniques. Free Newsletter and Tips.

You’ve had friends to your home for dinner. Maybe you’ve hosted a Super Bowl party or two. But have you ever planned and coordinated an event for 50-300 guests?

If you haven’t, then welcome to the world of wedding planning.

Caterers, florists, and other wedding-related companies will be banging down your door to get your business. Friends and relatives will offer advice, phone numbers, and web sites for you to check out. How will you juggle the multitudes of research and information from those who want your day to be special? The key to smooth and stress-reducing wedding planning is…

Being Organized

Being organized is the art of having the things you need when you need them whether it is a brochure, a phone number, or a picture of your ultimate bridal bouquet. And no one recognizes the need to be organized more than someone who is planning a wedding. A few organizing techniques you can use to help you plan your wedding are the consistent use of a calendar/PDA and making ‘to-do lists.’ But what about all of those wedding-related papers you’ve accumulated? Estimates from caterers, song sheets from bands, and all of those pictures you tore out of magazines–how are you supposed to keep them all organized?

The Wedding Binder

The top tool for organized wedding planning is a ‘Wedding Binder.’ Besides your future spouse, your ‘Wedding Binder’ will be the closest thing to a best friend you’ll have during your engagement period. The wedding binder is essentially a ‘home’ for all wedding-related information. Each topic will have a specific area in the binder allowing for quick referencing and retrieval.

How should you build your wedding binder to work best for you?

The size of your wedding and how many ‘extras’ you incorporate into your wedding day (ex. ice sculptures, doves) will determine the size of your binder. If you are having a small, simple gathering or you’re not doing much research, you may not need more than a 1″ spine. Large gatherings with many ‘extras’ will probably require a binder with upwards of a 3″ spine.

Besides the binder itself, you will need: three hole punched, two-sided pocket folders extra wide dividers or self adhesive divider tabs for the pocket folders three hole punched, zippered pocket for pen/pencils/paper clips (optional)

One, two-sided pocket folder is usually enough room for the paperwork of one vendor. One side of the pocket folder is for ideas and research and the other side is for estimates and contracts. Keeping these different types of information separate will allow you to locate them and retrieve at a moment’s notice.

Examples of some categories for your pocket folders are… Catering Photography Bridal Gown Transportation Ceremony/Officiant(s) Honeymoon

Assemble the pocket folders in order of importance to you. If you are constantly making calls to your caterer, place that folder towards the front of the binder. Already know what favors you want to give out? Place that folder towards the back.

What other information can be stored in your wedding binder? Guest lists/gift lists E-mail/phone list of bridal party members Seating charts A print-out of your registry

Benefits to using a wedding binder Money-saving benefit: You’re always prepared when a vendor wants to talk about price. If someone quotes you a price in writing and you can’t produce the paper it’s written on, they could try to charge you more money for their services. Time-saving benefit: Since all of your information has a ‘home,’ you won’t be wasting your time printing duplicate information off the internet or repeatedly asking for the addresses of your guests. Sanity-saving benefit: All of your wedding information is in one place. No need to take apart your living room looking for what you need.

Tips for keeping an organized wedding binder: Label the pocket folders clearly Place new papers/information in the correct pocket of your binder as soon as you receive them. Sort and purge your binder once a month. Toss any information that is no longer relevant in the trash or in a folder for a friend or relative who may need it in the future.

Always bring your wedding binder with you when meeting with your vendors. You’ll have all the information you need to compare prices and make educated decisions. You will be organized, prepared and in control of your special day.

About the Author

Stacey Agin Murray, professional organizer and owner of Organized Artistry, LLC, transforms mess into masterpiece with patience, organizing know-how, and a sense of humor. For a free e-list of ‘Top Ten Tips for Organized Living,’ or to order your copy of ‘7 Steps to an Organized Wedding Thank You Note’ visit http://www.organizedartistry.com
stacey@organizedartistry.com

I suppose a typical Christian wedding in the UK can be divided into 4 main sections and these are: The ceremony Pre-meal drinks Wedding breakfast Evening reception

I suppose about half of the weddings I come across have the ceremony in a church so this means that if they do require me to provide live music; it will be during the drinks before the meal and the wedding breakfast. Everyone’s requirements are different so don’t be afraid to discuss any special requirements with whoever your hiring.

As far as the choice of specific pieces of music is concerned - the only part of the wedding that you really have to think about is the wedding ceremony.

A) The ceremony

The church ceremony. I’m not going to go into any detail with the choice of music for a church ceremony – there are so many religious denominations which all have their differences. A church wedding is easier from the music point of view in that you very seldom have to provide someone to perform your choice of music - unlike the civil ceremony. However, you won’t have a problem with a church service - you’ll be able to discuss everything to the finest detail with the relevant cleric and the resident organist if there is one.

The civil ceremony. One thing that has become popular over recent years is the civil wedding ceremony and I think that this is the reason that more and more musicians are booked for weddings each year. At one time you had to go to a registry office to have a civil ceremony. Things have changed as so many hotels and other venues have been able to apply for a licence to hold marriage ceremonies on their own premises. The main advantage to a civil wedding in a hotel is that everything to do with the marriage can be carried out at the same place. That means less travelling and less hassle for everyone. Although you will have to sort out the music for a civil ceremony yourself there is a bonus in that if you choose live music for the service, the musicians can provide music for the pre-meal drinks and for the wedding breakfast itself – thus killing three birds with one stone. Your specific choice of music should be discussed with the musicians well before the event and they should be able to provide you with some ideas. If you don’t want to pick each individual piece of music for the proceedings then just give whoever is involved, an idea of the style of music you would like or maybe a composer. For a civil ceremony you can have any music you want as long as neither the title or the lyric have any reference to religion. Most couples prefer to have music of a classical vein for the ceremony and the have something lighter for the rest of the day.

The civil ceremony has four main part’s as far as a musician is concerned and they are: The gathering of the congregation (sometimes called ‘the prelude’. The Procession The signing of the register(sometimes called ‘the interlude. The recession

1) The gathering of the congregation.

This section doesn’t really have a time span - so when a couple does select music for this part of the ceremony, they must accept that either you won’t be able to have all of your chosen pieces, or more frequently the performer will have to play extra music of his choice.

2) The Procession. The next section is the entrance of the bride and traditionally this is carried out to Verdi’s Bridal March. Although most people stick to the Verdi; you can have any music you like. The one thing you must consider when looking an alternative is that it doesn’t take long for the bride to walk down the aisle. I think that it is wiser to stick to the Bridal March.

3) The signing of the register. There never seems to be a problem with this part. A piece of up to five minutes is usually fine and anything goes really. I suppose that if you did choose something that was too long there would come a point where the musician would have to stop playing – however, the piece would have to be excessively long for this to occur.

4) The recession. This is where everyone leaves the place of the wedding ceremony and traditionally this was always carried out to Mendelssohn’s Wedding March. In this day and age wedding couples seem to request everything but the Wedding March. Anything seems to be appropriate for the recession and there isn’t a problem with the length of the music. As soon as the last person has gone; the musician or musicians finish.

That’s it! The ceremony is over and everyone can start the celebration.

B) Pre Meal Drinks

After the ceremony everyone usually starts making a lot of noise. They have so much to say because they’ve had to keep so quiet throughout all the serious bit. I said earlier that you needn’t concern yourself about the music after the ceremony but it is a good idea to discuss the style of music you are looking for and maybe give them a couple of requests.

C) The Wedding Breakfast

At one time I used to consider it a novelty if a wedding had live music for the wedding breakfast - now you often get jazz pianists, string quartet, harpists or even flamenco guitarists. It’s always nice to have music while everyone is eating and chatting as long as the music isn’t intrusive. Most of the time musicians just go with with the crowd: playing more mellow music if everyone’s quiet and the more lively stuff if everyone starts making more noise. One of the most important thing to be aware of is whether the music is interfering with the conversation of the wedding guests. If it is; then there’s something wrong. For most weddings you need the music to carry on right up to the speeches and that’s where it finishes until the evening reception.

D) The Evening Reception

Most people will opt for a disco at this point but there are other alternatives. In a sense a marriage is the merging of two families and for most of the guests there will be a large number of people at the wedding who are complete strangers. I think that the wedding day should be geared to making things easy for everyone to get to know each other – unfortunately a disco doesn’t always achieve this and as discos are getting more expensive; live music is rapidly becoming a viable option. Very often a couple fail to realise that quite a large percentage of the guests are going to be elderly and probably won’t be into the latest music trends so your choice of music should cater for these people. Also, the term disco seems to be synonymous with high volume levels so this is something else that you ought to take into consideration when you make your final choice.

Whichever way you go; you won’t please everyone. If it is a big wedding you’ll probably have to hire the services of a disco or a function band, but make sure that whichever choice you make; that they can provide music to cover most tastes. If the wedding is a small affair you will be able to be a bit more adventurous as there won’t be the same pressure to have the dance floor packed with their people in their suits and party frocks. You will be able to try something a bit more subtle – maybe something a little bit more specialised. A soul band is a great idea but don’t expect them to be able to play anything – let them stick to what they do best If it is a small wedding there is a better chance of knowing you guests more intimately and maybe you could find something more to their taste. There is a lot of scope in what you choose; here are a few ideas: soul band, jazz quartet, steel band, salsa, ceilidh, reggae etc. One of the best weddings I’ve ever been to had a ceilidh band and they filled the floor for the entire evening. The bizarre thing about having a ceilidh is that hardly anybody likes the music but it’s main advantage is that you don’t need to be able to dance in order to get up and join in. There is usually someone to show you each dance and there’s no need to feel embarrassed. Another plus is that you usually swap partners which helps get people together and helps with the merging of the two families.

I suppose to sum up this last section I would say that that the obvious choice of a disco isn’t necessarily the best. Think about the numerous alternatives and maybe you’ll make your wedding a little bit different from the norm and more memorable in the process.

About the Author

Eugene Portman is a Surrey based jazz pianist who works throughout the UK both as a soloist and as an ensemble player. His blend of cocktail piano and jazz seems to provide a type of music that is intricate, exciting, and yet easy to listen to. He has provided music and entertainment for thousands of weddings, trade shows and other events.
mail@eugeneportman.com