Pro wedding vendors’ advice and recommendations to help you plan your modern wedding quicker, easier & with less stress
Viewing entries tagged
wedding ceremonies
When a couple gets married, as much as it’s about them, their relationship and their future, it’s also the coming together of two families.
There are customary or traditional roles for the parents of the couple in a wedding ceremony and including siblings is becoming more common as well.
But when the couple getting married already have children, either from a previous relationship or before they get married, it stands to reason that they’re included and recognised during the wedding ceremony too.
While the sand ceremony or ritual is wonderfully inclusive and symbolic, it has been DONE (and done and done again!).
So we need some new, relevant and maybe less kitch (?) ways to include children (and sometimes other family members too) in a wedding ceremony and I think these 6 ideas are unique and fun.
And, in recent years, these home-grown celebrations have been enjoying a resurgence in popularity and refinement thanks to the quality and availability of small-scale but high quality catering with food trucks and carts, new furniture and marquee/tent/tee-pee hire options and mobile entertainment packages with DJs, MCs, photo-booths and the like.
To help you start to piece together a comprehensive to-do list for your very own homely nuptials, we asked wedding planner and stylist, Nicole Bailey of Your Party Plannery and some newlyweds who had recently planned their backyard wedding, for their top tips and advice.
Also, be sure to download or Pin the DIY wedding drinks guide so you know exactly how much alcohol to buy!
An 'unplugged wedding' happens when a couple getting married have made a decision that they would prefer that their wedding guests don't take photos and/or upload them to social media.
There are many variations on this, from having an unplugged ceremony only, when guests are encouraged to put their phones and cameras away until after the marriage certificate has been signed, to a strict 'no photo policy' for the entire wedding celebration, to a complete 'social media blackout' until the following day or when the bride or groom have a chance to announce their marriage themselves.
There are times when the couple gets it right and the kids (and therefore their parents) have a ball and are an awesome source of fun and laughter at weddings. Just imagine a little page boy busting some moves on the dance floor or a sweet flower girl raiding the dessert table before she should; super cute!
It's the sitting still quietly for (what seems for them) a lifetime during a ceremony or waiting to have photos taken that usually doesn't end well.
We've seen the good and the bad (and the disastrous!) and want to make sure that you are armed with the best tips and tricks to get the kiddies onside for your big day.
Many wedding couples would like to include the refined elegance of string ensemble music to their celebration, but don't know which songs would be best, so we've pulled together an amazing resource for you!
We have created an easy, 1-page downloadable pdf for you to refer to: the 8 most requested processional (bride's entry) songs with professional quality audio and video recordings of each as performed by Amicus Strings.
This week it is all about the processional songs and in the coming weeks we will also cover music for the signing of the certificates and the recessional.
You can Pin it HERE!
We can certainly empathise with how, when you are considering ordering rehearsal dinner centrepieces, bouquets, boutonnieres, ceremony aisle decorations, flower petals for the aisle, arrangements for the bathrooms or entrance of the reception, bridal table and guest table decorations and hanging installations, your wedding budget for flowers can take a big hit.
But we've got 3 clever styling tips that will have your bridal blooms doing double duty, which can stretch your budget further, all while making your wedding celebration look and feel more beautiful.
Some brides and grooms shriek with dismay when I let them know that, for their 100 guests to actually hear them, they will need to speak into a mic during their ceremony; "oh, I HATE the sound of my voice!"
Apart from having a mildly sadistic streak (haha!), there are 3 other excellent reasons why making the effort to use a mic will make your ceremony so much more enjoyable for everyone involved.
Researching potential venues, photographers, florists and the like is a critical stage in your wedding planning process. And it's usually when your first understanding of what's available and the associated costs come to light.
Let's face it, you can pin hundreds upon hundreds of images of your perfect wedding, but there are no price tags on Pinterest.
We also understand that many couples are reading up about and contacting their wedding suppliers on their lunch break (because you wouldn't dream of doing it during work hours, right?)
So knowing all of this, why don't all wedding suppliers advertise their prices?
Lee Bouras runs her thriving, nearly 10-year-old business, Wyld Orchids, from the flower studio at her home. And although her studio is bigger than most average-sized shops (not counting the shedding for her extensive range of vases and accessories) and she employs a flower courier plus the added help of other florists in peak season, she still prefers to keep her work in house and bespoke.
"I like to do all of Wyld Orchids' creative floristry myself because I am a perfectionist!"
Striving to ensure that her unique creations exceed her client's expectations, Lee believes that the honest relationship she fosters with brides and grooms during the course of their planning makes all the difference to (and in fact, enhances) the final product.
Lee joins the ranks of Bridechilla Club's expert supplier contributors with her first post for budget conscious couples. Here she outlines her 4 key tips to working with your florist in the hope that it will help you gain maximum effect from your gorgeous blooms on your wedding day and be a fun process too.
In my job I hear both the glowing and the snide comments whispered by wedding guests. And although you don’t want your wedding day to be an anxious rollercoaster-ride-of-people-pleasing-pain, if you didn’t care about your family and friends, you would have had your ceremony at the registry office, yes?
You know the saying 'happy wife, happy life'? Well, in wedding circles, it can easily be translated to 'happy guests, happy wedding' - although it doesn't sound as great because it doesn't rhyme..
But, if you can plan ahead and follow the 3 golden rules of winery weddings, it is much more likely that your guests will remember your special day for all the right reasons.
Your parents have stuck by you through all your awkward phases.
Including your desperate pleas for a horse when you were 8 ("of course I will feed it every day, Dad!"),
your emo phase at 14 (black was the new black)
and your unhealthy obsession with a really dodgy local band when you were 21 (don't deny it, you know it's true).
And if your siblings are anything like mine, they would have mocked and teased you mercilessly through the aforementioned phases.
There are 3 core ways you can include them; practically, in a supportive function or by honouring them and the special relationship you share.
