Renewing your Wedding Vows

Posted on May 17, 2012 by weddingfavours
Ivory and Gold Guest Book

Guest books are popular ideas

More and more couples are choosing to say “I still do”. And why not? In this world where divorce seems to be the norm, being happily married is surely something to celebrate.

There’s whole plethora of reasons why married couples decide to renew their wedding vows:

  1. A milestone wedding anniversary
  2. You’ve had a rocky time in your relationship and now want to re-affirm your commitment to one another
  3. You didn’t have much money for your first wedding and now want a more elaborate affair
  4. You had a civil service first time around – and now want a religious ceremony
  5. Your first wedding had some element of disaster and you a problem-free re-run

It is important to remember that a vow renewal service is not a legal ceremony. It is only a symbolic, sentimental ceremony and a license is not required. However, you may be asked to show your marriage certificate to confirm that you are already married.

Of course the lack of legalities means you can plan and enjoy a much more relaxed day, and it can be as simple as the two of you alone in a beautiful spot reciting vows you have written, or a fancy affair with hundreds of guests. It’s whatever you want it to be – without any of the pressure from parents and peers that you might have experienced first time around.

It’s important to remember though that this is not another wedding and there are a few points of etiquette to adhere to: No ushers and bridesmaids, Hen or Stag parties, no throwing your bridal bouquet and absolutely no gift registry!

Once the vows are spoken and the rings are swapped, it’s time to party. Anything goes – from an intimate family barbecue to a large, sit-down affair as lavish as any traditional wedding reception. Be sure to have a cake and lots of toasts, and bring your original wedding album to share with your guests, as well as family photos taken throughout the years of your marriage. Finally, don’t forget to capture the event on film so that you have lasting memories of your special day.


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Don’t let stress ruin your Big Day

Posted on May 10, 2012 by weddingfavours
Avoid wedding day stress

Avoid wedding day stress

There’s no getting away from it – planning a wedding IS stressful. There is just so much to organise and the ‘to do’ list can seem positively overwhelming!

Looking back on my own wedding, I remember feeling utterly frazzled the week before my Big Day, consumed by irrational fears.

‘What if he doesn’t like my dress?’ ‘What if I cry during my vows?’ ‘I hope it doesn’t rain.’ ‘What if I trip and fall whilst walking down the aisle?’

In retrospect, all ridiculous worries but, at the time, I was so stressed out with all the last minute details and arrangements. Even on my wedding video, I look a bit like a rabbit in headlights on my way to the church. Interestingly, once the nuptials had taken place, I hadn’t fallen and the dress was given the thumbs-up (plus a glass of champagne had been comsumed!), I was back to my blissfully happy self, wondering what all the fuss was about. But I will always have a little regret that I let myself get into such a tiz.

Let’s get some perspective here. Your wedding day supposed to be the happiest day of your life! A declaration and celebration of love.

So, how can you keep stress levels to a minimum?

  • Start planning well ahead of time. You don’t have to spend every waking minute planning the wedding but it’s good to get the ball rolling as soon as possible by choosing a date booking your ceremony and reception venues.
  • Enlist the help of a super-organised friend to help you keep track of things. Some people thrive on filing and will be thrilled to get the job!
  • Don’t let it become a full-time job. Take time out. A weekend away or trip to a spa will help keep you relaxed.
  • Take regular exercise. Exercise is a renowned stress-buster, plus it will help get you in shape – and into that dress!
  • Avoid situations that you are uncomfortable with. If you don’t want to make a speech or have a first dance then DON’T! It’s you’re wedding. so you make the rules.
  • If there’s something you are particularly nervous about, such as taking your vows, practice until you feel more comfortable.
  • Take a deep breath and smile. An exciting new chapter of your life is about to begin…



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All about confetti

Posted on May 4, 2012 by weddingfavours
Confetti

Confetti

Ten things you (probably) never knew about confetti

  1. Showering a newly married couple is an ancient custom that dates back to pagan times, when people would throw handfuls of grain or rice over the bride and groom. This was a symbolic ritual to demonstrate their hope that the union would be fruitful.
  2. The term “confetti” actually originates from an Italian word for confectionery. In Roman times honeyed sweetmeats were traditionally handed around at births and wedding celebrations. This custom still persists in Italy with sugared almonds being presented to wedding guests.
  3. The Italian word for paper confetti is coriandoli which, it has been suggested, may mean that originally coriander seeds rather than almonds were contained within the sweet.
  4. The Ven. Thomas Dealty, rector of St. Mary’s Church, Swillington, West Yorkshire, is credited with having introduced the habit of throwing confetti at weddings in the UK in the 1870s, from his observation of rice thrown at Hindu weddings in his previous position as Archdeacon of Madras.
  1. The British introduced the throwing of paper confetti to weddings (displacing the traditional rice) at the end of the 19th century.
  2. Nowadays table confetti is extremely popular sprinkled over the tables at your wedding breakfast. Available in a wide range of colours and shapes, it instantly transformed your décor.
  3. Confetti has a listing in the book of Guinness World Records, the current holder of the largest collection, based on some 1,700 unique shapes being Casey Larrain of California.
  4. As concern for the environment grows, natural confetti in the form of flower petals has become a popular choice. Fresh or dried rose petals are probably the most popular form, but any blend of flowers can be used. For smaller flowers, the dried heads can be thrown whole instead. You can even throw dried leaves at autumn weddings.
  5. Some venues have rules against throwing confetti because of the mess it makes and the environmental hazards. Check with your venue before you start handing it out and, if you’re responsible for cleaning up after the throwing, use a leaf vacuum to remove all traces from the surrounding area.
  6. There’s an art to throwing confetti. Don’t face the happy couple, as this gives you less throwing leverage. Instead, stand side on, fill both your hands with confetti and fling it sideways and upwards for maximum lift and distribution!

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DIY Wedding Favours

Posted on April 29, 2012 by weddingfavours
DIY Wedding Favour ideas

DIY Wedding Favour ideas


A Crafty Idea

If you’re feeling creative – and have a bit of free time in the run-up to your nuptials – then a “crafty” idea is to make your own wedding favours.

Not only will it save you money, but they will be truly unique too. What better to way to thank your guests for sharing your special day than to give each and every one of them a handmade gift?

Many brides actually find it therapeutic to focus their stress in a positive way by making their own favours. Plus, you could make a night of it, and invite the bridesmaids round to give you a hand.

Drawstring organza bags are the easiest option and work out at around 29p per bag (excluding the filling). Creating bespoke bombonieres using tulle net (we recommend two or three nets per favour) is slightly more complicated – but the results can be extremely satisfying.

There’s a vast range of nets, tulles, boxes and trimmings available to inspire your design, as well as sugared almonds and chocolates in an array of colours. The culinary queens amongst you could even make your own chocolate truffles!

A trendy alternative is to give flower seeds (usually linked in some way to your wedding theme), the idea being that your guests can plant the seeds in their own garden and have a lasting reminder of the day you got hitched.

If you decide to go down the DIY route, be sure to give yourself plenty of time to make them. We’re talking weeks if not months here! The last thing you want on the eve of your wedding is to be up till midnight tying ribbons round your favours!

Be crafty – and yourself a favour…


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Thank you gifts for your special wedding guests

Posted on April 20, 2012 by weddingfavours
Thank you gift ideas

Personalised pocket watch

Say ‘thank you’ in style

Organising your wedding is all-consuming and can be extremely stressful. Enlisting the help of close family and friends is therefore essential to avoid you being carried off to the loony bin before you even make it up the aisle!

For months, they have traipsed around wedding fayres and dress shops, endured countless hours discussing floral arrangements and first dance song choices, but now it’s pay-back time!

Once all the arrangements have been made and fine-tuned to the minutest detail, there is one final task that only the bride and groom can carry out – choosing the thank you gifts for those members of the bridal party who have kept you both sane and aided the precision-planning of your Big Day.

Personalised gifts are the big trend of the moment and provide a lasting memory of your wedding day. Engraved heart lockets, photo keyrings, compact mirrors and trinket boxes are beautiful keepsakes for your Maid of Honour and bridesmaids. You could also choose charm bracelets, with a personalised message charm, in a range of colours to tie in with your wedding theme so that the bridesmaids can wear them on the day and treasure them forever.

There’s also a wide range of personalised gifts for your Best Man and ushers  (though you may not feel like thanking them for the horrors they inflicted on the Stag Do!!)

Pocket fob watches and cufflinks, engraved with personal messages, are perfect to wear on the day. However, if you would prefer to present your gifts during the speeches, why not choose engraved pens, tankards or hipflasks?

Page Boys are a bit more difficult to buy for as they obviously don’t wear jewellery and may be too young for cufflinks, but a personalised teddy or money box usually does the trick.

Don’t forget to thank both sets of parents too – after all, in many cases, they are the ones who have funded your Big Day! A bouquet of flowers is traditional for mums but obviously doesn’t last forever, and you might want to give them a lasting token of your appreciation. Similarly, a great bottle of wine or whiskey is a lovely gift for dads but, again, doesn’t (usually) last forever.

A silver photo frame engraved with the date of your wedding is the perfect memento – and is sure the get pride of place on their mantelpiece and remind them of your special day for years to come.


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10 alternative ideas for your wedding day.

Posted on April 16, 2012 by weddingfavours
Pails - wedding favours

Unique wedding favours

  1. Instead of traditional wedding favours, how about pretty little tin pails filled with sugared almonds or other sweets?
  2. Hire a Volkswagen Beetle or a horse and carriage as wedding transport.
  3. Hire a photo booth or go the whole way and hire props and silly costumes as well?
  4. Karaoke for an hour – Let your guests sing their hearts out.
  5. A wedding theme – such as places you have visited, spot or perhaps films you both enjoy – use your centrepieces to tie in with the theme.
  6. Do you love chocolate or vanilla? Why not have chocolate or vanilla flavoured wedding cakes?
  7. Prefer not to have cake at all? How about a cheesecake or better yet a cake made completely out of different cheeses?
  8. When you send out your invites, ask your guests what their favourite songs are so that you can compile a list for your DJ.
  9. Instead of a traditional wedding bouquet, why not try ferns, ivy, pussy willow, berries or even a bunch of herbs?
  10. You could have a sweet buffet! a mixture of different sweets in your chosen colour scheme.

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The History of Wedding Favours

Posted on April 12, 2012 by weddingfavours
Traditional wedding favours

Traditional wedding favours

Wedding Favours through the ages

Wedding favours are small gifts given as a gesture of appreciation to guests from the bride and groom – and are a tradition which dates back many centuries.

The first wedding favours were handed out by wealthy European aristocrats and were extremely lavish indeed. Known as ‘bomboniere’, they were elaborate little trinket boxes made of crystal or porcelain and adorned with precious stones. The contents of these precious boxes were generally sugar cubes or delicate confections, which symbolised wealth and royalty. In this era, sugar was an expensive commodity and was treasured only among the wealthy.

As the price of sugar decreased throughout the centuries, the tradition of providing gifts to guests reached the general populace and was embraced by couples of modest means.

As sugar became more affordable, bomboniere were replaced with almonds and, in the thirteenth century, almonds coated with sugar – known as confetti – were introduced. These later evolved to become the sugared almonds we know today.
Traditionally, five Jordan almonds are presented in a confection box or wrapped in elegant fabric to represent fertility, longevity, wealth, health and happiness. The bitterness of the almond and the sweetness of the sugar coating are said to represent the bitter sweetness of a marriage.
Today, the range of wedding favours available is extremely diverse and many brides and grooms choose a theme or colour scheme for their Big Day, and design their favours accordingly. It is also possible now to personalise your favours by using ribbon or tags with your names and date of your wedding.
The classic sugared almonds remain hugely popular but some couples are choosing to replace them with chocolates or other confectionery, such as mini dragee hearts, which are available in a range of stunning colours.
Wedding favours provide a beautiful keepsake for your guests to remind them of your special day and, in many cases, will be treasured for years to come. So, do yourself a favour, and make sure yours reflect the joy and beauty of your day.


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Want unusual favour ideas? – we’ve got just the ticket!

Posted on April 3, 2012 by weddingfavours
Lottery Ticket Gold & Ivory

Lottery Ticket Holder in Gold & Ivory

Vintage Lace Lottery Ticket Holder

Vintage Lace Lottery Ticket Holder

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
If traditional sugared almonds aren’t your thing, then why not ‘take a gamble’ on a fun and quirky wedding favour idea?

Lottery tickets make brilliant favours, providing a great talking point and a buzz of excitement – and they are particularly well-suited for your male guests.

Whilst the ladies all love to coo over the beautifully ornate favour boxes you have chosen, it’s hard to imagine the blokes doing the same – particularly if your chosen colour scheme happens to be pink!

You can choose from a range of stylish Lottery Ticket Holders to tie in with your theme and they can also double up as place settings too. If you prefer, the holders are suitable for scratch cards as well as lottery tickets.

You could also include this poem:

Inside is a chance for us both to say,
Thank you for sharing in our special day,
If you’re lucky enough to win a quid or two,
Then get to the bar, the drinks are on you!

If you’re tying the knot on a Friday, then a Euro Millions lottery ticket is the best choice – and you can ask your Best Man to announce the results of the draw in the evening. You may want to include a contract in with the ticket that half of the winnings should be paid to the bride and groom!

The odds of winning a prize is one in 54 – so if you’ve got 150 guests, you could, statistically, have three winners at your reception. The chance of

scooping the jackpot is a ‘little’ higher at one in 14million, but that would be an incredible start to your married life!

And, remember, if no one wins a prize, the money goes to charity, so you’ve given something back to society on your special day.

Go on! Be lucky! It could be just the ticket…


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April Fool’s Weddings – are you joking?!

Posted on March 29, 2012 by weddingfavours

IMG_4223
Creative Commons License photo credit: jorgemejia

For many brides and grooms, April 1st is THE date to avoid for their impending nuptials. After all, no one wants to make a “fool” of themselves on their Big Day.

A brave few, however, have broken with tradition and have positively thrived on this novel date – and all that it encompasses. For lovers of a good practical joke, it can be a great opportunity to have some fun with your guests and play the odd prank or two – as long as it is clear that you are taking your vows seriously, of course!

Finding a venue that will take the booking seriously is the first hurdle. This year April 1st falls on a Sunday and many hotels and restaurants have organised wedding fayres on that day, presumably because they knew the date was unlikely to be snapped up.

Once your venue is sorted, let the fun commence! A quick search on the internet reveals some brilliant tricks that other April 1st brides and grooms have played on their unsuspecting guests.

One ‘game for a laugh’ couple asked the Master of Ceremony to announce that “there would be no first dance as the bride and groom were re-thinking their marriage”! A few tense minutes of open-mouthed silence followed before the laughing couple burst onto the dance floor shouting “April Fools”!

However, guests can give as good as they get, so do be prepared for the odd prank or two at your expense.

An online account of another wedding tells of the ushers collecting keys and passing them out to all the female guests.

During his speech, the Best Man announced: “The bride realises that the groom has had a lot of girlfriends over the years. She would appreciate it if any of them who have keys to his place could please return them.” This was the cue for all the women to bring their keys to the wedding party table, including a couple of pregnant women and someone’s grandma!

You can also have some fun with your favours on the day, and include little scrolls of jokes or replace the traditional almonds with cherry bombs, handshake zappers and other joke shop goodies.

Whatever you decide to do, make sure you have the last laugh…


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Easter-themed weddings – how to create an egg-sellent day

Posted on March 26, 2012 by weddingfavours
Easter Bear with mini eggs

Easter themed weddings

Spring is a fabulous time to tie the knot, and more and more couples are taking advantage of the two Easter bank holidays for their wedding celebrations.

Easter symbolises ‘new life’ and is therefore a hugely significant date for couples as they start their new life together.

It also heralds the start of spring, with flowers waking from their winter slumber, chicks hatching and the birth of spring lambs – which gives you lots of scope when planning your wedding theme.

Colour-wise, spring is all about delicate shades of white, pink, yellow and green, but, with Easter weddings, you can have a bit more fun and splashes of bright yellow are sure to bring a smile to your guests. Daffodils are the ultimate Easter bloom and co-ordinate beautifully with Easter chicks to create stunning table centrepieces. Tulips also work well and a smattering of flower petals on the tables in your chosen colour theme will create a lovely spring display.

Another “cracking” idea is to go for an egg-shaped wedding cake, decorated with Easter motifs such as the Easter bunny, chicks and Easter eggs. You could even make one of the cake tiers from chocolate.

You can also continue the Easter theme with your wedding favours by replacing the traditional five sugared almonds with mini chocolate eggs or Easter bunnies. You could even present them in top hat favour boxes to represent Easter bonnets! And, for your younger guests, why not choose favour boxes with bunny motifs?

No Easter wedding would be complete without an Easter egg hunt. It’s a novel way of entertaining the youngsters (as well as the adults!) on the Big Day, so make sure you’ve got some Easter baskets to hand.

With all of these egg-sellent ideas, you’ve surely got your Easter wedding cracked!


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