And the Winner is…
Congratulations to Lindsay! Lindsay wins a custom reception packages of 100 place cards, 100 menus and 10 table numbers from the amazing {Lucky Paperie}. Email your contact info to me at {laura_e at swsmag dot com}. Big thanks to the designing diva, Melanie Carter, for partnering with SW on this fun contest. As always, we thank all our readers who entered. If you are in need of some wedding inspiration, read these 54 entries! WOW! We loved all of your ideas and hope each of you sends us pictures after your big day.
If you didn’t win this one, not to worry- we always have a fab contest going on at SW. The {Fuss Jewelry Contest} ends
Friday night at midnight, so get to work designing those inspiration
boards. Until then, we leave you with the super chic Lucky Paperie
images. For more check out Melanie’s {BLOG} and online {STORE}. Happy planning!
On the day my fiance was born, his grandmother gave his mother a six pence coin. She said "give this to GL’s future wife for her to carry on their wedding day". So I am going to carry it on my wedding day when I walk down the aisle.
There are a few "special details" that will be incorporate into my wedding. My fiance and I love the idea of bringing our families pasts into our wedding and are fascinated by the idea of using things in our wedding that were used in the wedding of our ancestors. One of the big things that will be present will be my great-great- great (lots of greats) grandmothers jewelry. Every woman before me has worn a the pair of earrings on their wedding day that I will be wearing on that special day. There is also a pin in my family that my mother wore as a pendant, and the other women in my family have worn as a broche. I will be using it as a hair piece. Our ring bearer pillow is the one that my deceased grandmother made for my mother for her wedding day. My veil was also made by my late grandmother in which my mother and aunt both wore on their wedding day. It must sound like I am going on forever but that last element to our wedding that is going to be a "special detail" and is probably one of the most important to my fiance and me would be the old pictures of our great-grandparents and grandparents weddings. We are fortunate enough to still have them and they will be displayed by our guest book.
what a lovely give-away! i will be using a handkerchief my great-grandmother made in the 1940’s. My grandmother will be stitching in our wedding date, and it will be wrapped around my bouquet. Since my great-grandmother has long passed and my grandmother won’t be able to make it to the actual wedding…this is a great way to have them there with me. :) I have also collected vintage ladies hankies from ebay to use as favors for all the women attending so that they may wipe away their tears of joy. i can’t wait.
On my wedding day I am going to be carrying my grandmother’s handkerchief that she carried on her wedding day made by my great-grandmother. They will be celebrating they’re 50th anniversary the month we get married. I am also going to wear my great grandmother’s earrings, a pair she wore on the day that my Grandparents got married. On my right hand I will be wearing a ring that has been passed down through my family for 4 generations and worn by every bride. I’ve borrowed my brother’s 30th birthday for our wedding and plan to take a moment to wish him happy birthday and play a polish polka in his honor. He’s been teasing me saying we have to have one played; We are polish it wouldn’t be right one wasn’t played. Those are a few ways on how I am going to personalize my wedding day.
My fiance is from Australia, and not very many of his relatives will be able to come to for our wedding on the East Coast next July. So to make him feel a little more at home, and to welcome all of his family that will make it here for the wedding, I’m going to surprise him with his favorite childhood dessert, a "Pavlova," as a groom’s cake at the wedding. A Pavlova is to Australia as apple pie is to the USA – a national dish that people make on special holidays. It’s almost like a souffle, with whipped cream and fruit on top, all drizzled with passion fruit juice. I don’t know where I’ll find a chef who knows how to make it, or where I’ll get the passion fruit, but I know it will be such a special surprise for him – so I’ll make it myself if I have to!! :-)
Incorporating my southern heritage into my wedding is very important. (My fiance is from Massachusetts, so we have to show them what is so great about Virginia!) As a result, we are giving my family’s pickles as a favor. Every year my grandfather has made Jerusalem artichoke pickles, watermelon rind pickles, and ice tomato pickles. My mother and her sister’s learned the tradition, and for the wedding I am attempting to make my own pickles as well! We don’t just make pickles from what we buy at the grocery store, but the tomatoes, watermelon and artichokes are all from our gardens. So not only will the pickles represent tradition and our southern background, but our love and belief in the importance of homegrown food. I am also wearing a brooch my mother, grandmother, and great grandmother wore at their weddings. Its not the prettiest piece of jewelery, but the meaning is what is so important to me! To top it all off, I am wearing my mother’s veil and her hoop that she wore for her wedding 25 years ago. We are also using a flower that is local to our hometown, which is Yorktown, Virginia. You may have heard of the Yorktown Onion. If not, it is a protected flower that grows in the Yorktown Battlefield Historical Park where I spent my summers. That flower has set the tone for the whole wedding because of its bright purple!
My special detail will not only be for the wedding but for every day after as well. My grandmother offered me the platinum from a ring my grandfather had given her many years ago to be remade into my wedding band. They have been happily married for over 50 years and I am so excited to be able to have a token of their wonderful marriage.
My fiance and I are planning a few special things for our wedding day. We wanted it to be a reflection of the things that are really important to us. I will be carrying a locket with a photo of both his grandmother and my grandmother who have passed away in my bouquet. Our favors are going to be home made cookies, courtesy of the lovely women in our families, with recipe cards to take home as well. The groom’s cake is also going to be homemade by my future mother-in-law for his favorite chocolate cake, a recipe that comes from his grandmother. I plan to walk down the isle to an instrumental version of "have I told you lately that I love you" which he and I sing to one another, loudly and off key, all the time. And my favorite part, as a special favor to me, my brother and the best man will be performing the "Sister Act" from the movie White Christmas starring Bing Crosby and Danny Kaye. Watching that movie has been a family tradition since my infancy and my fiance has willingly fallen right in with it. I love having little interesting details that are specific to just the two of us.
Our special detail is a "bow". We have a special bow that a graphic artist designed that we are putting on everything for the invites to the cakes. My dress has a big bow and even the centerpiece bouquets will be tied with a bow. Bows were very special to my grandmother. She always said she preferred when things were "all done and finished, then tied with a bow." It will make our special day that much more special to see all those bows and know that my Grandmothers spirit is all around us, blessing our special day!
Rather than wearing my mother’s wedding dress we took it to the local seamstress and decided to have it cut into a short cocktail dress while keeping the original lace neckline, and funny enough, it fits perfect! I plan to wear it on the night before our wedding for our welcome party. While it was hard for my mom to watch the seamstress take scissors to the dress she is so excited that I want to incorporate it. Also, my father is in the Marine Corps and has served over in Iraq and was awarded a silver medal and bronze star. He is very well respected and has been honored for his bravery many times. I plan to pin his bronze star to the ribbon surrounding the base of my bouquet to honor him and all the other soldiers that have sacrificed so much and let me him know how honored I am. He is often asked to speak on behalf of the military for many circumstances including naval graduations and pentagon briefings. We plan to ask him to officiant the ceremony as he is a tremendous speaker and I think would make it even more special.
my fiance and i are planning some very special details to make our wedding day personal to us. i plan on pinning a diamond and sapphire brooch that my grandmother left me when she passed away to my bouqouet as my "something blue". of course, i’ll have orchids in my bouquet, her favorite flower, as another way to have her there with me. my fiance is from argentina so we’ll give as favors the delicious dulce de leche! also, we’ll have different varieties of argentinean wine at the reception. finally, for some fun details…we plan on having a full size vintage juke box at the after party as life-size cardboard cutouts of ourselves so that our guests can take pictures with "us" that we’ll save and use in our unique guest book.
in korean culture, it is tradition to have ricecake at every wedding. for my brother’s wedding, my mom made all of the ricecake (which is a really hard feat!) and she will be doing it for my wedding as well. every special occasion is adorned with ricecake and it will be so much more personal when my mom’s loving hands have made it all!
There are some great stories here! We are planning to set up my grandfather’s typewriter on an outdoor table so that guests can type us notes and advice during the cocktail hour. The typewriter is black and antique-ey looking, and I think it will look so great in that garden setting. The typewriter means a lot to me because it’s the only thing I have from my grandfather, who died right before I was born. When my grandmother died and my family cleared out the house, my mother gave the typewriter to me. She told me stories about watching her daddy type letters to all the people he loved who were far away, and then when she went away to college and when she was a young newlywed, he typed letters to her too. I think the typewriter had a special significance to my grandfather because he loved words and writing and communicating, and I do too.
My maternal grandmother passed away a few years ago. Before she passed, she gave me a gold and white gold rosary made with beautiful and intricate detail in El Salvador where she is from. I plan to have our florist wrap it along the stem of my bouquet. I think my Mom will really appreciate the gesture and it will be nice to know that in some way my grandmother will be with us on the day.
Because my fiance is a Naval Aviator, and will likely be deployed not long after our wedding, we are incorporating his love of airplanes into the reception! Our tables will be named after vintage airplanes, and our cake topper will be a model of a vintage biplane! One other detail, not necessarily "in" the wedding, but is SO special to me: My mother called me this week to tell me she found in her basement an entire set of china she had bought the year I was born to give me on my wedding day. It took her 6 months to buy all the pieces, and then she packed them away for 24 years and completely forgot until she and my dad started cleaning out some old boxes!
I absolutely love all of the little details of the day that will help me incorporate more personal touches. First off, we’re having my mom’s AMAZING cornbread. No exceptions. And, we’re going to collect a bunch of our favorite recipes from friends and family to make in to a little recipe book that will serve as part of the favor! Other than that, we’re going to have a bonfire because that’s what my family does at every special occasion–more like a fire pit, but we have to improvise a little bit! Then, I’m going to wear my mom’s beautiful irish lace veil that my great-uncle brought back for her. Otherwise, it’s just going to be other little details like fresh squeeze lemonade (my favorite as a kid) and a purple cow ice cream cake for the groom’s cake (his college mascot and common butt of our jokes).
My fiance and I met through a mutual friend, Justin. He was my fiance’s best friend since high school and a boy I grew up with in my hometown. Justin, who would have been one of my fiance’s groomsmen, passed away suddenly a year ago. Since he (physically) can’t be with us at the alter on our special day, I am going to hold a locket with Justin’s picture on one side and my fiance and I’s picture on the other — since he is the angel that brought the two of us together. My fiance and I also met the day after Thanksgiving, so we’re having a big turkey dinner (it’s our favorite meal!) as our reception dinner.
I’ll include blue delphiniums in the flower set, as they were used in my Bat Mitzvah as well.
A tiny iguana on the cake, if only because my fiancee raised iguanas as a kid and once had a birthday cake in the shape of a 6′ long iguana.
My fiance proposed to me by digging a hole and putting the ring inside a really old book named "Together" that he got from a used book store. It was the best surprise for me! I want to incorporate this special detail into the wedding by making it the ring pillow. I think it only makes sense that the wedding bands are presented in the same way the engagement ring was presented. A sure connection from "I will" to "I Do".
Some of the special details we are decided on will be having a custom made picture charm of my mother on her wedding day. She passed away 8 years ago, so every special event in our lives, no matter how joyous, is always somewhat bittersweet as she is not physically there to enjoy it with us.I’m thrilled to also be able to showcase our families (parents, grandparents) wedding pictures at a table at the reception. I even have a picture printed out of my fiancee’s parents cake and we are contemplating using it as the inspiration for our cake. How awesome would that be?
My most special detail that I can’t wait to see at our wedding is actually going to be a surprise to my mom. When she and my dad got married in 1979 they had no money…they were married in a barn and all of their guests sat on hay bails. Their friends played guitar and sang. My mom made all the food, the cake, the flowers…even her dress. The thing she was always proudest of in her stories about her wedding was her cake topper…which she made from clothespins into a little bride and groom. Unfortunately we lost a lot of our things in a fire when I was 9 years old, but I am working on creating an exact replica of this cake topper as a special gift to her. I can’t wait to see her reaction…:)
My fiancé doesn’t have much of a sweet tooth, but he loves cookies! Since the cake is such a big part of wedding traditions we’ll have one of those, but so that he has something he loves there also, I plan on having our moms, aunts and friends bake up a few dozen of their favorite recipes for a cookie bar. It’ll be great way to incorporate some of our favorite family recipes as well as serve as the favor for guests. I hope he loves it!
What a great idea for a contest! So wonderful to read how everyone will incorporate their special touches into their big day. After all, it’s the personal touches and memories that make each of our wedding days so unique. As for my special touch, my mother and soon to be mother-in-law will tuck a piece of lace from their wedding dress into my bridal bouquet. This small token will symbolize our two families joining as one on our wedding day and forever. It’s a tradition I know will continue for many generations.
The first time my fiance came to the northwest with me, he was SHOCKED that blackberries grow wild all around where we live. Everywhere we went, he was far behind the group, picking and eating them, staining his hands and snagging his clothes in the vines. At our Oregon wedding, we’re going to include local berries in between the cake layers…yum!Also, my grandmother, who is a sculptor, is making a cake-topper scupture of us for the table…
I love the touch of having something special of a loved one that is no longer with us. My father passed away at the age of 47 only 6 years ago. So my brother will be giving me away, and will be wearing the hankercheif that our father wore when he married our mother. My wedding date is March 27, 2010 which is my late father’s birthday. I have my mother’s engagement ring that my father gave her and I will be tying that under my gown for my something old and to have a little piece of my father with me that day. Thanks you guys, what a great contest and a great read.
Both my fiance and myself have very special relationships with our mothers. We feel that they are responsible for making us who we are today. We are asking our priest to pause for a moment during the ceremony to allow each of us a moment with the other’s mother. This will be a special time in which we can acknowldge and connect with these very special women in the midst of our happy day.
Coming from a very traditional Italian family, we are incorporating a number of special details into our wedding. The first and most important to me personally is that we are leaving a seat open at the head of one of our family style tables reserved for my grandfather who passed away exactly one year ago on our wedding day. Second, we are seating everyone family style since our families are so important to us; we all wanted to sit together. Thirdly, I have 3 different something "old"s; a rosary that was my grandfathers will be incorporated into my bouquet, my garter was worn by my MIL & her mother, my veil is a reconstructed version of my mother’s veil. The best part of our reception is going to be the father/daughter dance, my father has raised me since I was three, clearly we are very close. We have decided to do a traditional dance and then break into a fun & funky dance. I grew up dancing competitively and my dad is just a crazy guy. I think it will be a hit!
My favorite detail is that my mother is sewing a piece of her gown along with my grandmothers’ gowns inside mine with my new initials monogrammed in blue. It’s very special to me because one of my grandmothers is no longer with us, and it’s something I’d like to frame after the wedding as a memory of all of our weddings. We will also be having a dessert bar as guests leave the reception with some of my family’s signature desserts – my pumpkin chocolate chip cookies, my aunt’s cream puffs, my mom’s cream cheese cookies, and many more!
It starts with my bouquet. I will be carrying sunflowers to honor my late grandfather. He always grew the most amazing, beautiful sunflowers and everytime I see one it takes me back to when I was 5 years old, when I had no care in the world! The bouquet wrap is a piece of blanket that was given to my best friend when he was in the hospital battling Leukemia. He lost that battle 10 years ago but it will be as if he is right there with me on one of the most important days of my life. Included in the bouquet will be my aunt’s wedding ring that she left to me before she passed away a few months ago. But on a lighter note!… we will have a dessert bar including cherry tarts that are my 98 year old grandmother’s specialty. She is so looking forward to making them!! Our favors will be homemade buckeyes as we are from Ohio and getting married in the fall means only one thing… Buckeye football! I will be using broaches from my fiance’s late grandmother to bustle my dress as she collected the most gorgeous broaches. My day-after brunch dress is the dress my mom wore for her wedding when her and my dad were married at the courthouse so long ago. My grandmother was able to transform the dress into a beautiful couture creation!!! I can’t wait!!
Our wedding day will be filled with many distinctive elements that we can’t wait to carry out: Ceremony:My father passed away when I was 14. He was the first best friend I ever had. I will carry a photo of him in a vintage locket that will be visible on my bouquet handle. In his honor, a seat will also be left open for him, next to my mother, where he would have gleamed as he watched me marry a man that is one in two-million. Ceremony and Cocktail Hour:My father loved jazz music. We are hiring a jazz quartet to play some of his favorite songs at our ceremony {one of which I will be walking down the aisle to}. We will also have lively jazz music played during our cocktail hour and during the first part of our multi-ethnic dinner. Reception:In honor of my fiancé’s Nigerian heritage, we will be changing into customary Nigerian outfits made from material that my future mother-in-law handpicked and purchased from abroad. We will also be hiring a Nigerian band to create authentic Nigerian music – that we will dance to while the time-honored “spraying of money” is adorned on us. Cake:Our cake will consist of 3 flavors: White Chocolate Raspberry, Praline, and Red Velvet {we live in the South!}. Also, both of our mothers love fruit cake. As a surprise to them, we will be serving fruit cake in addition to our wedding cake! Dancers:My mother is from Panama. She will be astonished to find out that we hired Tipico Panamian dancers, who will be dressed in polleras, to do two performances that will engage our guests during the last half hour of dinner. Last but not least…My fiancé and I love dark chocolate covered strawberries. They will be making an appearance next to the rest of the delectable desserts that we will have…from the French bakery where we had our very first date!
We’re doing several things to make our wedding very personal to us. I’m making custom cuff links for my FH, the groomsmen and the fathers – these will be pictures of meaningful things to each person. I’m creating custom charms for each bridemaids bouquet. The caterer is serving my homemade hot pepper jelly and cherry chutney with the hors d’oeuvres and our cake maker is using my homemade peach butter and cherry preserves in the filling of our cake. A farmer friend of mine is growing heirloom squash for us to decorate with. I’m going to be wearing my Mom’s wedding veil and my engagment ring contains a diamond that my fiance found in the church parking lot of a tent revival when he was eight. One of my favorite details is that each table is going to be named after one of our numerous cats with a picture of each cat playing (or eating!) a sunflower. We’re also working with our minister to custom create our wedding ceremony and my uncle will be playing guitar and singing at our ceremony.
Other special elements I failed to mention in my initial post! :GUEST TABLES:My fiancé’s parents have been married for 28 years, and my parents were married for 26 years before my father passed away. We greatly admire our parent’s dedication to uphold their vows. Each of our guest tables will be named after key components to a successful marriage {i.e. commitment, trust, faithfulness, etc.}SPECIAL ELEMENTS:Our venue was built in 1924. The hotel where we will be spending our wedding night was built in 1911. My engagement ring is vintage. We will be having a vintage Rolls Royce for our transportation. My fiance will be standing dapper at the altar in an ascot tie. We even intend to have our wedding video transformed into vintage style cinematography! CEREMONY:Each guest chair will have a different quote on it {ie: "Love is not about finding the right person, but creating a right relationship”. — It’s not about how much love you have in the beginning but how much love you build till the end." — "My heart is ever at your service” -William Shakespeare”, etc.}.WEDDING FAVORS:Our wedding favors will be miniature clocks that are embellished with a tag that reads, “Brought together in God’s timing”.
I love reading these posts! We’re incorporating many personal details – my fiance and I discovered Virginia wineries together so we’re getting married at one! We’re using corks from the wine we’ve drank over the past few years of dating to display elements on the reception tables. I’m actively involved in a volunteer group that brings pets to nursing homes for visits – we’re going to be displaying baseball cards of these sweet dogs at the reception and making a donation to the charity in lieu of favors.We’ll be honoring our loved ones that are no longer with us through photo displays. I’m going to be incorporating my late grandmother’s handkerchief & brooch (given to her by my Mom) in my bouquet. I’ll have a sixpence in my shoe for good luck dated the year of my grandparents’ wedding (1939). We’ll have personalized vows we’re reading to one another.
Our “special detail” is a fly fishing fly. My fiancé is incredibly passionate about fly fishing and a fly-fishing fly seemed like the perfect detail that was unique to us. Although my fiancé has graciously allowed me to plan the entire wedding and all the details to make sure it’s my perfect day, I wanted to incorporate the fly element into our wedding to make him feel included since fly fishing is such an important part of his life. We both love the outdoors and nature, so a destination wedding in the mountains was right up our alley. We chose Jackson Hole, WY because it had a rustic elegance about it, great snow-capped mountain views and a relaxed and welcoming atmosphere (and the fishing is pretty good too). On my scouting trip out to JH to find the perfect venue, I fell in love with an old fly fishing lodge that has been converted into a classic Western ranch (specializing in fly fishing, of course). Our ceremony will be on the lawn outside the lodge overlooking the mountains, and the reception will be inside the rustic wooden lodge, complete with elkhorn chandeliers, two massive stone hearth fireplaces, magnificent game heads, and picturesque views of the trout pond outside. So naturally, the fly-fishing fly fits perfectly into our wedding theme. When asking his best friends whether they would do us the honor of being groomsmen, he took them each fly fishing and tied them each their own “lucky fly.” Our Save the Date cards appropriately have a fly fishing fly on the top and the envelopes are lined with pictures of flies. Our florist had a wonderful idea to make each of the groomsmen boutonnieres with flies that my fiancé ties himself. Our napkin rings on the table will be flies, perfectly complementing the fly fishing creel baskets on each table filled with wildflowers. Our cake topper is a bride and groom fully decked out in fly fishing gear and toting their catch. And during our cocktail hour, in between the ceremony and reception, our guests will be encouraged to grab a rod and fly fish in the trout pond outside the lodge. Catch and release only, please.
My FH and I are from West Africa originally and we would like to incoporate special details that represent our heritage and culture into our wedding. We will be naming our tables after West African countries (something educative and fun for our guests) along with candy buffet (favor table) with assorted candy from Ghana & Liberia. We will also be using traditional kente cloth hand woven in our wedding colors for our reception decor. Lastly, my dad passed when i was 15 and my mother mentioned how she would like a minute of silence to be observed at my wedding. Rather than doing that i will be carrying a picture charm of him tied to my bouquet so he will be right there with me when i say my vows…
We will be getting married on my parents 34th wedding anniversary. While this happened without necessarily planning it I think it is great as I aspire to have a marriage like them. I also plan to carry a pocket-watch. This watch has been in my family for generations and is passed down to each girl named Sarah on my mother’s side. My grandmother has it for me (I’m a Sarah) in a safe place and it will be mine one day, perhaps after I am married. The last Sarah was my Great-Grandma Sarah and I will be honored to carry this watch as my mom did before me.
My grandmother is a poet and she is writing poetry that will hang from the tree underneath which we are getting married.Some of it is poetry that she wrote about her relationship with my grandfather, some about raising her family and some about my fiance and I… It makes me feel very safe to be married underneath that.
Our entire wedding is really for my grandmother. Our families would have been happy no matter what we did for a wedding but my grandmother has only 3 grandchildren and I may be the only one she sees married off. Another item is that we’re not having a bridal party but I did ask my male best friend of 22 years to ‘stand-up’ for me at the wedding. He’ll be doing a reading and carrying the rings. I definitely didn’t want him carrying a girly ring pillow. So I got an Irish pewter jewelry box. My FI has Irish heritage and so does my friend. The jewelry box will make for a great keepsake after the wedding.
One special detail that my fiance and I will incorporate into our wedding is an important event that will create a memory for my father and me that will stay with us always:When my brother and I were growing up, our parents made us take piano lessons for many years. They endured over a decade of great expense (which was not easy for our family to manage but my parents made sacrifices in other areas of the budget to make it happen), our griping about taking time out of our weeks to go to the lessons, all of the *constant* whining about practicing, and the endless recitals — many hours’ worth, over the years!As it turns out, now that my brother and I are adults, we are both incredibly grateful for that gift our parents gave us. We both now have a tremendous appreciation for the value of music and the arts, and a skill that will enable us to fill our own homes and hearts with music for the rest of our lives.So, as a thank-you to our parents for the gift of music — and for years of being so patient and firm about the lessons — my brother (who plays beautifully, much better than me!) will surprise my parents by playing the song that my father and I will dance to as our father-daughter dance. It will also help serve as a tribute to my late grandmother. She was a talented pianist and her piano, in my parents’ home, was the one on which my brother and I learned to play.
My FI and I have known each other for almost 10 years…we met when we were both in High School, dated for about 8 months….then went our separate ways due to college etc…. At one point in time, he was in South America and I in Europe then back to the US…some how we never lost touch with each other..whether it was through email, letters or phone. We have been together for almost 3 yrs now….long distance all this time. Can’t wait to get married. Then we’ll finally be in the same state, same city and same house. I have two shoes boxes full of letters and emails we’ve written to each other. I will included these letter as part of our table numbers to show our guest how our love bloomed from friendship to true love. These letters are very personal but documents "our love". A love that blossomed even though we were at times in different countries and different continents…still growing strong in our love.
Instead of putting my single friends through the ordeal of the “catching the bouquet” tradition, my fiancée and I have found a wonderful alternative. On our wedding day, wrapped in my bouquet, will be his Grandparent’s wedding day picture and my Brother and Sister-in-Law’s wedding picture (not clearly visible). When it comes time for us to throw the bouquet/garter my fiancée and I will surprise our wedding guest by announcing that we have elected to get advice from marriages we admire the most instead. At that point I will split my bouquet in half. My fiancée will present the half with his Grandparent’s picture and along with his admirations for their relationship then ask for their advice on how to have a successful marriage. I will then do the same to my Brother and Sister-in-Law.
From the moment Matt and I got engaged, we knew we wanted the focus of our wedding to be love and family. Sadly, my grandfather passed away from cancer three years ago, and I’d been searching for a way to privately incorporate his memory into our ceremony. Ever since my mother was a young child, he had worn a gold necklace with two charms representing my mother and aunt – his two little girls. When he started his radiation treatments a few years back he had to stop wearing the necklace, and so he gave it to me to wear until his treatments had finished. A few weeks before he died, the necklace I had given back to him went missing, and it had remained lost until my grandmother found it again our of the blue about a month after our engagement. We still can’t quite figure out how it went missing, or how it turned up again, but needless to say we were happy and relieved! While I never really knew what kind of wedding I’d eventually like to have, I always hoped that my grandfather could be the one to walk me down the aisle. Although that’s no longer possible, I plan on wearing my grandfather’s necklace on my wedding day as a reminder of him, and how happy he would have been if he could be there. My goal for my wedding to is to celebrate not only our marriage, but the love and support we’ve received from our family and from our friends who are like family. For us, this is what our wedding is all about, and I’m happy I have the chance to include my grandfather in this way.
My grandparents are originally from the south… and had a big southern family (11 kids in all). My grandmother insisted on keeping us while our parents worked during the summer. My best memories of her was her southern fried chicken, macaroni and cheese and her famous tea cakes right out of the oven. I’m 32 and FINALLY getting married, unfortunately I lost my granmother many years ago, 15 to be exact. She meant so much to me that since I couldn’t have her with me, I wanted to have my wedding in a place that reminded me of her…. So, I’m having a destination wedding at the Inn at Palmetto Bluff, in Bluffton Sc. The small chapel is set in a setting that takes you back to what the old south use to be (and her photo albums of her own wedding). Along with her picture inside of a pendant pinned to the underside of my dress, at my reception we will be serving a traditional southern meal… Her meal… Southern fried chicken, Macaroni and cheese and yes, her famous tea cakes… (alond with other choices)… Although, the moment my family enters, they’ll know why the dinner choices were made and hopefully they’ll smille and know she’s there.
My fiance and I are very passionate about the upcoming election, so instead of boutonnieres, we are having the groomsmen wear Obama buttons on their suits. Plus they’re super funny – for instance, my fiance’s reads: Fauxhawks for Obama, and my dad’s (a life-long Republican) says: Republicans for Obama. Just something fun, and very different from even a fabric boutonnieres!
When I graduated college my Grandmother gave me her Gold and Diamond locket that was her mothers (my great-grandmother). Recently my grandmother has gotten ill and lives on the other side of the country so to have here there in spirit I will be wrapping the locket around my bouquet. My mother has also said she would like to give me some fabric from her wedding dress to use on my bouquet as well so that I have something from both of the amazing women in my life.
Our special detail, or details really, will revolve around our love for books and literature. My fiancé is an English teacher and one of the things we first bonded over was our love of books, our grammar pet peeves, and our love of writing. Additionally, much of the time we’ve been together we have been living long distance from one another so emails and love notes and cards became an important part of our relationship. All of these themes, the written word, will run from start to finish, starting with our STDs which will be bookmarks asking guests to "bookmark the date" as opposed to "Save the date." Our ceremony is being performed by my step aunt, a minister, and will be written entirely by us, including our vows. My grandmother, a published author and married for nearly 60 years, will be writing one of our readings. At the reception we will be featuring a book we will write, print, and bind ourselves and it will detail our love story, information about each of us for those family members who have not yet met on each other’s sides, cute bios of each wedding party member, a thank you page, a memorial for my late grandmother whom both of us loved dearly, and scattered throughout we will feature excerpts from our lengthy written correspondence during the time we were a part from one another. A basket at the guest book table will feature used copies of our favorite books with tags attached to each one welcoming guests to take a book home with them and explaining which one of us chose the book and why we love it so much. Those little details will come together from start to finish in a quiet fashion to give our guests a sense of who we are, the people who are closest to us, the things that make us smile, the people we miss in our lives, and the shared joy we hope they can find in each other and perhaps, a special book or two.
We’re having our wedding at a Spanish tapas restaurant, and are incorporating lots of Latin/Spanish details into our day. One thing I am planning to do is make a "shrine" modelled after the Latin (usually Mexican and Guatemalan) nichos/retablos that I love so much…on this "shrine" we’re going to have photos, mementos, and keepsakes collected from our loved ones (examples include wedding pictures of parents, a grandmother’s linen embroidered hankerchief, mother’s jewelry, etc).
My favorite detail is that my engagement ring is a family ring that has been passed through the generations since the 1880s, and I am the sixth generation to wear it!
Our family is all in Taiwan and won’t make it to the wedding, but we’ll be honoring them by incorporating a lot of traditional Chinese elements into our East-West wedding.
We met playing hide and seek when we were kids- both hiding behind a bush beside my church. We plan to use a drawing of that image on our wedding stationery.
What a sweet idea for a contest! We are incorporating two special pieces into our wedding. We are incorporating daffodils. When my grandfather passed away a family friend gave me daffodil bulbs to plant. Each spring when the daffodils begin to grow in my yard and all around the city I’m reminded of my grandfather and the wonderful and full life he and my grandmother had. Our second special piece to our wedding is our favors. We are getting married at the beach and will be giving starfish to each of our guests. The starfish will have a note attached noting that we have donated money to the National Heart Foundation in their honor. My father and my fiancee’s grandfather have both had heart attacks. As they are such important people in our lives we wanted to honor them in this way. The heart is also a symbol of love, both for our wedding day and for each of our guests.I’m looking forward to reading everyone’s posts!
I’m all about the special details! I haven’t fully planned my wedding yet, but here are a few ideas: I’m giving my two nieces, our flower girls, hankies with their names sewn into them, along with a poem that mentions that although they are very little and won’t remember how much of an important role they played in my day, the years will pass by quickly and soon they will be brides. The handkerchief can be their "something old" on their wedding day.Another special detail, I’m including little charms on my wedding bouquet of my grandmother who passed away when I was little, and of my grandparents who can’t travel to the wedding. I’m also giving my mother and aunt lillies to carry, as their mother, who has passed, was named Lillian.We aren’t having children at our reception (except those in our wedding) because we would be inviting about 30 children if that were the case. Instead, we’re setting up a baby-sitting room, so that all of the parents can dance the night away while their kids are being looked after. I’m having a mini wedding reception for them- with a buffet of chicken fingers and pizza and french fries, and little mini wedding cupcakes.We’re having a beach wedding, so instead of having our mothers use candles to light one, symbolizing the unity of the two families, we are going to ask them to pour sand from two containers into one large one. We’ll then be able to keep this container forever.These are just a few of my ideas so far! This is a great way to comment in a contest- its lovely to read about other brides’ special plans!
I plan to have a picture of my fiance’s late grandfather made into a pin that he can wear on the inside of his jacket. His grandfather died 2 weeks after our first kiss and came to me in a dream shortly after, telling my fiance he was leaving him in good hands. I am now wearing the same setting his grandfather gave to his grandmother over 50 years ago.