Wedding TBC

Weddings are occasions of lasting traditions and rituals. All over the world, people’s beliefs, culture and history has affected this memorable event. It is common knowledge that wedding ceremonies are different all over the world, but did you know that the diversity extends even on the wedding night? Read this to know the interesting activities that couples, families and friends do before letting the newlyweds reach a night of wedding bliss!

It is customary in an American wedding for the bride and groom to hop into a get-away car with tin cans attached to the rear of the car, off to their secret honeymoon, immediately after the wedding. Did you know that this rooted from escaping a Celtic wedding night tradition?

In Gaelic cultures, it was a tradition for friends and family of the couple to mess with the couple’s wedding night. In the olden days, when couples spend their wedding night in a barn, girl friends of the bride would dress her for bed and ask each of the male guests to kiss her good night. The friends would do other things to prevent the groom from seeing her new wife. Even if the couple finally comes together, they would disturb the union by making noise outside the barn and even peep into the couple, while drinking the night away. The couple waits for everyone to get too drunk to eventually leave them alone. This kind of prank is something that newly weds want to get away from, thus, they keep their honeymoon destination a secret and speed away after the wedding.

More Celtic wedding night ritual come from Scotland: sleeping in the barn on the first night, sprinkling water on the marriage bed for luck and staying for a week with the bride’s parents before moving into the newlywed’s home.

The Germans and the French do a similar tradition of “disturbing” the wedding night, called Chiverie, known in the US as Shivaree. They make noise outside the place where the couple spends their first night together. Some even play around with the room where they will stay, like put plenty of balloons, spread food all over the bed, and hide alarm clock everywhere, just for fun.

The Romans believed that it was bad fortune when the bride stumbles when entering the newlywed’s house for the first time. Thus, after the wedding, male friends of the couple would carry her over the doorstep. At present, the groom is expected to do the job himself.

In Benin, western Africa, they value virginity. The bride’s mother rewards her with cash if she’s a virgin at their wedding night! In the morning, the sheets that the couples used are inspected for bloodstains. Some mothers even fly the flag out the window, showing off their daughter’s bloodstained nightgown. Seriously!

For the Chinese, at the night of the wedding, candles designed with a phoenix and a dragon is lit to drive the evil spirit away. The newlyweds will drink wine from goblets tied together with a red ribbon, while arms intertwined. Then the bride will be given half-raw dumplings, which symbolize prosperity.

Marquesasian (from Polynesia) brides have a notable wedding night ritual: they are expected to have sex with all the male guests and then saving the groom for last. Now that can make your wedding night … extremely unforgettable!

In the Agarwal matrimony, the wedding is fixed for a fixed day, alike other communities. The auspicious day is fixed according to the date of birth of the bride and the groom, as well as the Hindu calendar. The priest calculates the favorable days for the wedding celebrations.

The Engagement
It is the formal announcement of wedding in Agarwal Matrimony, where the bride and groom exchange rings. The families of the groom shower the bride with gifts like sari, jewellery, fruits, money, etc. similarly the groom is also gifted with clothes, money and fruits.

Music Festival
Music is an inseparable part of the celebrations in India; hence a day is secured for Sangit in Agarwal matrimony. It is a celebration prior to the wedding, when the women of the family sing wedding songs for the health and prosperity of the couple. In the wedding songs, the women also joke about the future in-laws, the wedding night and many other things associated with the marriage. The family members of both the bride and groom sing and dance all night.

Mehendi
The girls and women of the family decorate their hands, forearms and feet with the henna design. The henna is left overnight to achieve the dark colour, which is the sign of prosperity. The bride is applied most beautiful henna design, which make her stand out of the crowd.

Haldi
A thick paste of turmeric and other ingredients like sandalwood and oils is applied all over the body of the bride and groom in their respective homes. Turmeric is believed to enhance the beauty, and remove skin blemishes. The turmeric also enlivens the skin.

Another ritual is performed to protect the bride from the evil eyes, and also removing bad omen.

The wedding
After visiting the temple, the groom arrives in procession to the wedding venue, sitting on a horseback or on a float surrounded by the guests. The groom enters the wedding venue and waits for his bride to arrive. The bride reaches the wedding venue, beautifully dressed in the traditional wedding attire. The bride and groom are made to seat on chairs similar to throne. The bride is accompanied by her family and close friends.

The couple sits on the throne while the guests enjoy the feast and music in Agarwal matrimony. The bride and groom are not expected to talk to each other, but time has changed, and the bride and groom are also included during the wedding dance and feast.

After the wedding feast in Agarwal matrimony, the priest, bride & groom and their parents sit for the whole night to perform the wedding rituals. During the detailed wedding, the bride is offered clothes and jewellery, and is accepted as the part of her husbands family.

The bridegroom puts vermillion in the hair parting of the bride, and then they take seven steps, also known as Saptapadi. During the seven steps, the bride and groom take a vow in each step, and are officially declared as husband and wife. The groom ties a string around the neck of the bride as a sign of protection. After all the rituals and emotional moments, the bride bids adieu to her parents, and leave her paternal home with a heavy heart.

Reception
The bride is given a warm welcome at the grooms house, where a grand party is organized in her honor. The relatives, friends and other acquaintances come to greet the couple, and present them gifts. The family prays for the well being and prosperity of the couple.

This way the wedding in Agarwal matrimony accomplishes, and a new life for the couple starts.

Arriving at your wedding or event needs to make a statement. This is the after all the first impression that your guests are going to have of you and the theme of your event. A limousine, vintage car, or horse drawn carriage are some of the more traditional ways of arriving at your wedding. But to truly arrive at your wedding in style and to make a unique entrance, you may want to consider some more unconventional wedding transportation.

For a truly unique entrance arrive to your wedding ceremony in a hot air balloon. This style of transportation would be most effective during an outdoor wedding ceremony. Imagine your wedding ceremony taking place in the country or in a vineyard and your bridal party arriving in magnificent hot air balloon. Not only would it be a fantastic experience to have with your future husband but also you guests will be blown away. The timing and time of year would need to be taken into consideration with this type of wedding transportation. You should also have a backup plan as there may be weather conditions that would prevent the hot air balloon from taking flight. If all goes to plan a hot air balloon for your wedding transport will be the talk of your guests and would be remembered for some time. It would also give rise to some beautiful wedding photographs.

For a more cosmopolitan and modern entrance arrive to your wedding on the back of the back of a Harley Davidson or Motor bike. This entrance is certain to create quite a stir. The revs of the engines will let everyone know you have arrived. In choosing this type of wedding transportation you would have to consider the type of wedding dress you will be wearing and also your hair style needs. If you choose to have a less formal dress and hair then the Harley Davidson is perfect for your modern wedding.

A Gondola is extremely romantic and is perfect as wedding transportation for a wedding ceremony or reception by a lake or river. Not only would it be a serene and beautiful entrance and give rise to spectacular photographs, your guests will truly be impressed. Leaving your ceremony or reception on the Gondola is symbolic of your life long journey together on the river of life and love.

A Jet Ski entrance is suitable for an informal beach wedding where the bride and bridal party are dressed in shorter beach attire. Although the jet ski seems less practical as an entrance or form of wedding transport, picture a warm summers day where the guests are waiting in anticipation and in the distance on the ocean your see a bride and groom and the bridal party arriving on the back of jet skis. Imagine the excitement that this entrance would create as well as an expectation of a fun and relaxed wedding.

For an exotic entrance arrive to your wedding on the back of an elephant. Making an entrance on the back of an elephant would suit a wedding ceremony held at the zoo or in a botanical garden or even a rainforest wedding. You could either ride the elephant bare backed or sit inside a tent on the back of the elephant.
Whichever choice you make will certainly create an air of mystery, romance and fantasy for your wedding.
So whether it is by air, water, land or sea make the most unique entrance by choosing wedding transport that makes the ultimate impression. Arriving on a gondola, elephant, Jet Ski, Harley Davidson or hot air balloon is sure to entertain and leave your guests with an air of excitement and fantasy.

The Pebble Toss is another Celtic wedding tradition tied heavily into the belief of sacredness of place, honoring one’s ancestors as well and honoring or at least diverting the ire of any of the fairy folk. This is in tune with the whole ‘wishing well’ phenomena as well.

In today’s parlance, it is all about luck and wishing the happy couple good fortune and prosperity. As with the Oathing Stone, well wishes, prayers and happy hopes for the couple are placed into a stone or in some cases, just thinking them was enough while holding a small stone. Next this stone is tossed into a nearby body of water such as a river, stream, lake, a well and so forth.

These symbolic tokens would please the ancestral spirits of the place who would then also add their blessing to the couple. Sometimes other small gifts would be offered as well, such as coins, food, drink and other items.

No one knows exactly how far back this practice goes but it seems to go back into prehistory, back when giants were often thought to rule the lands and even create them, such as the Goddess Cailleach, who would carry stones in her apron and when it would inevitably tear, the stones would fall, often creating mountains or trails of boulders we now attribute to the action of glaciers. In Scotland at least, moving across the British Isles and even into Galatia in Spain, such offerings are an appeasement to her for she was considered a rather vain being who’s ire it was good not to attract.

Sometimes, such gifts were given to appease trickster spirits of the fae who might wish to bring harm to the couple or jinx their chances at having children or be prosperous.

In the more modern version of this tradition, a helper may present a tray to each person in the wedding party who will then select a stone, make their prayer or wish and then cast their stone into the well, river or lake, adding their blessing to those of the bride and the groom. Often the stones may be colorful tumbled stones or simple little river pebbles.

This tradition obviously has it’s roots with the Oathing Stones, or perhaps the other way around, or perhaps they simply coincide. Whatever the case, seeking the blessing for the happy couple from the Otherworld was a time honored practice. So many wedding traditions are centered around this, it is often hard to keep track of them all.

Weddings are a time of seeking blessings of prosperity, happiness and a strong and vital lineage for the future. This is one reason why we have weddings. It is a communal event to celebrate a joining and all that it promises for the future. We want the best that can happen for all concerned.

The Pebble Toss, like dropping pennies into a wishing well or Oathing the Stone, throwing a bouquet, tossing coins rice, or other favors to the attendees, providing a fabulous feast and gifting the less fortunate from one’s old leavings of clothes and so forth is another way to bring blessing and prosperity to the newlyweds and to their lineage for years to come.

The day of the most important event in your lifetime is nearing – your own wedding. Everybody is in a rush and tense most especially you. Your wedding budget is limited and as you have just figured out, there is a danger that you might exceed in your expenses. There has to be some cost cutting somehow. You look at the menu and it looks like it is already a complete set that it would be hard to remove an item. It is important in your wedding reception that the menu is just right. Now where can we find something to save on money. It has not occurred to many that there are non floral wedding centerpiece ideas that are elegant and a whole lot cheaper. Everybody wants to make their wedding the greatest day of their lives but it doesnt mean that the centerpiece for the wedding reception should always be with flowers. There is no rule that says you can’t do it without flowers. The only rule is that the centerpiece for the wedding reception should be elegant, impressive, a beauty to behold. There should be a touch of creativity to it. If one is able to do that without flowers while saving on money, then that’s the best thing to do. No one would ever think that you used a non floral centerpiece for cost cutting purposes. Here are some great ideas:

Adorn it with fruits. Fruits can easily take the place of flowers. Moreover, fruits of different kinds evoke a feeling of abundance, naturalness, feasting, and celebration. The different colors and contrast of the fruits gives a glaring and vivacious feeling fit for weddings.

How about harvest. Harvest seasons are times for celebrations. We can arrange farm harvest in such a nice way to evoke that feeling of joy after the harvest. Moreover, harvests signify prosperity and abundance for the newly weds.

Herb Garden Centerpiece. An herb garden centerpiece is a brilliant idea because it projects a feeling of wholesomeness and health. There is a kind of quiet harmony and wellbeing that it evokes.

Do it with rocks and fountains. There are numerous decorative rocks and fountains with which to create your wedding masterpiece. It’s unique and appear expensive but you can actually rent them. The good thing is that if you choose to buy, you can reuse it. You can easily give your living room that natural and relaxing scenery.

You might want to go on a seascape centerpiece. It’s unique, it’s creative, it’s fresh and creates a feeling of permissiveness and merrymaking. It will surely break the ice. Guests will immediately comment on your novel theme.

If majority of your wedding guests come from a single area, they would surely be surprised if you make a miniature of the area where they came from. For example, you might want to make a miniature of your office building and it’s environment. Or you might want to create a miniature of the romantic place where you first met. You can miniature anything that would create a howl of appreciation from your guests once they recognize it.

Ribbons, ribbons, ribbons. Ribbons are like flowers in the feelings that they stir up but they do not pretend to be replacements for flowers. They stand alone in their category. Ribbons of different colors and patterns and sizes contributes to the glamour of the occasion. You can easily contrive an elegant design with ribbons, which are very cheap but glamorous looking.

That techy look. If you want to have that ultra modern techy look, you may use props such as mirrors, computers, high tech gadgets, and imitate that space-look. You have to follow up these themes on your tables, curtains, and venue.

Adorn it with baby things. The greatest anticipation after the wedding is having a baby. If you are on the family way, why not design your wedding centerpiece with baby toy and props. If you are not on the family way, baby props suggests a sweetness and joy of soon having to have your own family.
If you are planning to have a unique wedding party, such as beach wedding, forest wedding, or any other thematic wedding, it is best to prepare your centerpiece for your wedding reception based on the theme including the cake too.

If you have scheduled your wedding on a special holiday, your centerpiece theme can take on the design of the holiday such as Christmas, the 4rth of July, Halloween, New Year and others. It will make your wedding day double special because it coincided with the holiday.

If you have collections in your house or you have friends who you can borrow collections from, then that would be the best. Do you have a friend who collects bonsai plants? Adorning your centerpiece with expensive bonsai trees would really induce wows from all your guests. Do you have your own antiques collection or do you have a friend who you can borrow from? This would be a right moment to show off your wares without spending so much. Crystals are perfect theme for your wedding reception centerpiece. They can come in different shapes and sizes yet they all bring in the classic air of finesse and fine dining. Dolls can really be good as it will create smiles from the guests. If you have a collection of different dolls around the world or even dolls from the oldest to the most modern, people will be attracted in your centerpiece and would linger around it for a while. Elegant decorations of different types if they are carefully arranged and patterned would be pleasing to the eyes. If you have wonderful decorations that have no theme at all, it can be patterned with the colors of the ribbons and cloths that surround it.

There are literally thousands of ideas that would make the centerpiece for your wedding reception without adorning it with expensive flowers. It just needs a little creativity, a wild touch of imagination, and a little skill to do it. After all, it happens only once. Making it unique and unforgettable is really to make this the most especial occasion in your life.