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Planning An Eco-Friendly Outdoor Wedding Ceremony

February 20, 2012 By Leave a Comment

eco-friendly weddingThe thing about weddings that ALL brides should know is that it can be beautiful, inexpensive and eco-friendly all at the same time. Having a green wedding wouldn’t require you to sacrifice aesthetics, creativity or fun. It doesn’t entail spending a fortune either. To prove that, here are some tips on how to plan an environment-friendly outdoor wedding that will be a major success.

Tip # 1 – Hold the ceremony and reception at the same place

This isn’t only for convenience sake. It can also efficiently reduce your carbon footprint. You and your guests will not have to travel far anymore to go from the ceremony site to the reception venue. This will save gas and reduce energy consumption. It’s also a practical idea to hold both the ceremony and reception parts of the wedding outdoor. The sun can provide your light and you won’t have to use heat, light or air conditioning anymore.

Tip # 2 – Send eco-friendly invites

The most eco-friendly form of wedding invitation would be the e-vite or the electronic invitation. This, however, can be problematic to those who are not internet-savvy like your older relatives. Some traditionalists, meanwhile, consider it tacky to receive wedding invitations via email. To resolve this matter, you can send e-vites to your younger and more hip guests and send traditional invites to the rest. But take note that the traditional invitations should be made completely with recycled materials and soy- or vegetable-based ink.

Tip # 3 – Light up with candles

If you’re going to have an outdoor dinner reception, it would be more romantic as well as friendlier to the environment to make use of wedding candles to light up the area. See to it that you use candles made of soy or beeswax as these don’t have harmful chemicals like paraffin candles. Paraffin is made from petroleum, a non-renewable source. Not only that, beeswax is nontoxic, natural and can burn much longer and brighter.

Tip # 4 – Shoot in digital

Shooting with digital cameras is a much better option where the environment is concerned. For one, you don’t have to print everything. You can view the photos taken in the computer and choose only the best ones to print. The rest can be kept in a disk.

Tip # 5 – Serve locally grown organic food

Let’s start with the cake. Buy a wedding cake that’s made of organic ingredients. Ensure that you choose icing that won’t melt easily under the strong heat of the sun. For the dishes, go for simple ones that don’t require long and elaborate preparations to save on energy and gas. All ingredients should be local and organic.

Tip # 6 – Give away eco-friendly favors

The little things you hand out to your guests at the end of the event will serve as a lifetime memento of your wedding. Leave a lasting memory by giving away eco-friendly wedding favours like beeswax candles, wildflower seed packets, mini flower pots and reusable nylon bags.

We only have one earth. If we don’t treat it with respect, we’re eventually going to lose our home. Plan an eco-friendly wedding and make your Mother Earth smile.

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How To Write Your Wedding Ceremony Vows

February 20, 2012 By Leave a Comment

wedding vowsWriting your own vows for the ceremony is a great way to personalize your wedding. Although it can be a daunting task for some brides, you can pull it off with flying colors if you set your heart and mind to it. To help you on this matter, check out these simple and practical steps.

Step 1 – Talk to your spouse and officiant

Don’t start writing your vows without first consulting your officiant and spouse. This is to make sure that everyone is on the same page as you are. Remember some religions require the use of traditional ceremony wording so you need to check on this matter with the officiant. You also have to let your spouse know that you want to personalize your vows to find out if he wants to do the same or not. If he decides to go onboard with the plan, choose whether to say the same wedding vow or write individually. The latter is the more popular option as it allows you both to express your innermost feelings for each other.

Step 2 – Ask yourself some questions

If you’re finding it tough to get started or you feel like your inspiration well is all dried up, ask yourself several questions to get you going. The answers to these questions will help you formulate a vow that states your feelings and emotions for your beloved.

  • What’s the greatest thing about your spouse-to-be?
  • When and how did you know that you’re in love with him?
  • When did you find out that he’s the person you want to spend the rest of your life with?
  • What does marriage mean to you?
  • Why do you want to get married?
  • What is your most favorite memory that you’ve shared with your groom?
  • What are your partner’s funny quirks or adorable habits that you don’t think you can live without?

Step 3 – Get inspiration somewhere

If creativity doesn’t seem to favor you at this time and you’re still struggling to let words out, try to get inspiration somewhere. Take a short trip to your favorite place where you always get inspired with new ideas and concepts. Go for a relaxing massage so that the stressors inside your mind will shut up and you can finally hear yourself. Read passages of poetry, love stories and romance novels of your favorite authors. Listen to soothing music that will calm your psyche and get your creative juices flowing.

Step 4 – Write, write and write

When writing a draft, don’t be overly concerned with format and structure right away. Tap into your emotions and then let your hands write, write and write random sentences and phrases. After you’ve mustered up all those feelings inside you, put together those that you think will make the best wedding vow.

Step 5 – Polish it with lots of practice

Read what you’ve written to a trusted friend or family member. It would be a good idea to enlist the help of someone who’s a good writer and who knows about your relationship with your groom. Take in all the pieces of valuable advice you get from this person and use these to further improve your wedding vow until you’re finally comfortable reciting it.

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Tips for Your Civil Wedding Ceremony

February 2, 2012 By Leave a Comment

civic wedding ceremony coupleIn less than a year from now, you will be tying the knot with your long-time fiancé. There’s still enough time for you to plan what kind of wedding you will have. If you and the groom-to-be are not religious or you belong to different religious backgrounds and you don’t want your matrimonial ceremony to be held in a particular church, you may opt for a civil wedding.

A civil ceremony is conducted by officiants who are legally allowed to do so. Once you have decided to formalize your love with a civil wedding, careful planning follows.

  1. Select the kind of wedding you want to have and look for an appropriate officiant who will conduct the ceremony. You may also hire the services of an independent wedding officiant who is flexible when it comes to giving ceremonies.
  2. Identify what kinds of ambience or feeling you want to impart on your guests and to yourselves. Is it joyous? Profound? Introspective? Light-hearted or solemn? Make sure to set the tone of your wedding properly. Sit with your partner and discuss some ideas about this.
  3. Determine what kind of vows you and your groom want to make. Are these vows of renewal or acknowledgment of the years you have already spent together? Since these vows articulate your feelings and commitment to one another, you need to decide which vows to make.
  4. Identify whether you want to have guests participate in the entire ceremony or you want them to just witness your civil union. Decide if you want them to be called upon and bless the union or get involved in choral readings. You may also incorporate some secular scriptures for the guests to read. A wedding officiant can help you in decision-making and he can make a few suggestions on the readings that fit well with the mood of the ceremony.
  5. Consider the type of music that will be played during your wedding ceremony and reception. For the ceremony, you might want to opt for something classic, romantic, solemn or light-hearted, depending on your taste. On the other hand, the music at the reception could be something more fun, energetic and interesting. You may want to hire the services of a DJ to play traditional or non-traditional music.
  6. Make sure to integrate some wedding traditions in your civil union. Some elements are great such as sand ceremonies, unity candles, hand and wine ceremonies symbolically to join you and your groom in a non-religious rite. You can also have some religious or cultural beliefs incorporated as long as your partner also wants these. Also, make sure that the wedding officiant agrees.

Civil weddings are great opportunities to express love for partners by reflecting the characteristics of each person and showing what they become when they’re together. Complete the civil union ceremonies with personalized wedding favours for the guests. In a civil wedding, you can be as creative as you want. After all, it’s your big day and you have all the rights to make it perfect and memorable.

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How To Plan Your Catholic Wedding Ceremony

February 2, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Catholic Wedding CeremonyFor Catholic couples, a wedding is not only the day they become husband and wife but also the day when they fulfil one of the seven holy sacraments of the Catholic Church. No wonder the ceremony for Catholic weddings is steeped with sacred rituals and religious symbolisms. If you’re planning such a wedding, it would be best to brush up on your knowledge of traditional Catholic wedding ceremonies.

Know the correct order for the processional

  • The priest and groom should not walk down the aisle but rather enter through a side door and wait by the altar.
  • The groomsmen and bridesmaids would march down the aisle in pairs. The best man and maid of honor would be the last pair.
  • The ring bearer and flower girls would enter next.
  • The bride is escorted by her father. In the absence of a father, a family member who is the closest father figure for the bride should walk her down the aisle.

Familiarize yourself with the basic parts of the ceremony

  • Opening Rites - The priest begins with an opening prayer, declares the couple’s names, and asks for God’s blessings on them.
  • Liturgy - Family members and close friends of the couple read significant passages from the Holy Bible, then the priest delivers a short sermon about marriage.
  • Marriage Rites – The couple exchanges their vows of commitment to each other. This is usually a prescribed set of words dictated by the priest and repeated by the bride and groom.
  • Exchange of Rings – The priest will bless the wedding rings and the groom and bride will take turns placing the ring on their partner’s finger while saying: Take this ring as a sign of my love in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Decide whether or not you will have mass

Celebrating the Holy Eucharist during your Catholic wedding ceremony is actually optional. If you will have mass, it will add around 20 minutes to the duration of the ceremony, to accommodate the “sign of peace” and the Holy Communion. It’s better to consult with senior family members first before deciding to forego the mass, as you might unintentionally offend a great aunt or grandmother if you skip this integral part of the ceremony.

Select the readers for the liturgy

Pick the family members and close friends who will be tasked to read Biblical passages during the liturgy. Make sure that they are well-briefed about their roles and familiar with the flow of the program to avoid delays and confusion during the actual ceremony.

Prepare gifts for the Offertory

If you can’t do it yourself, make sure to assign someone who will oversee the preparation of gifts for the offertory part of the mass. Baskets of fruits, bottles of wine, and bouquets of flowers are some of the typical offertory gifts that you can ask your family and friends to bring.

Now that you have reviewed the basics, there is no reason for your Catholic wedding ceremony not to be perfectly beautiful.

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