Wedding Favors

Posts Tagged ‘wedding party’

It’s often difficult to explain to people, especially parents, why you don’t want a traditional ceremony when you get married. It’s not exactly accurate to dictate that all women want the big white dress with the fairy tale entrance. Some do. But there’s nothing wrong with choosing something different.

If you’re not into pulling off a big puffy or a sleek and strapless wedding gown, you have every right to pick something that is more suitable for you. Some women do not wear a dress at all but choose costumes or alternative dress for their ceremony. Of course, if you have a mother, or an about to be mother-in-law, it can be a fight to be able to put on the clothing you’re comfortable with for your ceremony.

Other women line up for liposculpture and pink taffeta bridesmaids dresses. The fine costume jewelry is picked out so that the bride’s jewelry will stand out. Nobody wants competition on their wedding day and making the bride stand out is tradition. Tradition can be any woman’s big dream but if it’s not yours make that clear ahead of time.

The pressure is alive and well in many families simply because there are a great many parents who have already looked into their minds and have seen what they picture your wedding day. An only daughter can face more pressure than most. This can make it difficult when you are trying to create a wedding that differs from their ideas.

Perhaps you’re fine with the gown but don’t want to hold the ceremony in a church. Maybe you want sandy beaches or crisp mountain tops to be your backdrop. When it comes to planning your day, you have to consider yourself and what you really want before agreeing to any unsolicited advice.

Some women scorn the childhood fantasy because in reality, that’s exactly what it is. The next day you wake up married and the promise of a happy eternity is going to require work from each of you. You can’t just fall into a great marriage and perfect lifestyle, and some women do away with the idea of an illusion in favor of something more concrete for them.

Today’s women as well as the women of the last decade have struggled hard to recreate the idea of what constitutes a good wedding. Sometimes the predictability of tradition needs to be broken for all kinds of reasons. When women in the seventies opted to remove the word ‘obey’ from tradition vow ceremonies it came with resistance. Today, women have more choices because of that as long as the voice is spoken.

Being a bridesmaid is a great honor but for grown-ups, being the bridesmaid, or worse, the maid of honor for one of your best friends can be an experience that you may not want to repeat too often or ever again!

Here are 15 things I learned as a bridesmaid veteran of five weddings:

1. Remember it’s not your day! It is the bride's special day and she is undoubtedly the center of attention so be prepared to cater to her every whim. After all, as bridesmaid you only have to deal with Little Miss’ tantrums and spats for a few rehearsals and the day of the wedding, after that the poor guy she’s marrying has to deal with her for life;

2. While you may not be the center of attention as far as the wedding is concerned, you can be assured of being the center of attention for lots of guys! I should know because I met my husband when I was a bridesmaid for the 4^th time but be careful if you are thinking this will be a great way to find a catch because:

3. Never, and I mean NEVER! Let a guy open the door and escort you if he calls you “Sugar”, “Babe” or worse, “Sugarbabe!”;

4. Do not allow yourself to be convinced to wear grapevine as a hair accessory. Yes you can still find it, on a remote hillside in South Carolina on property owned by a gun toting hillbilly aged 72 and related to Jed Clampett as both his brother and second uncle;

5. Wearing woven grapevine leaves marks, both physical and emotional, which last for up to 6 months, if you have the choice, wear a crown of thorns instead;

6. Glue guns are a great invention for people who want to stick things and are not worried about whether they will explode or not – just remember that glue guns do overheat and will overheat because they are going to get a lot of use and as bridesmaid, you have to pitch in;

7. Brides want everyone to wear matching ear rings so be prepared to get your ears pierced if you haven’t already done so;

8. If you are asked to write a speech, do not retell the time when your “Best Friend”, who is getting married, was violently ill after drinking too much and ended the evening clinging to the toilet, swearing the world was ending and she couldn’t let it go because there was an earthquake (we lived in Ohio at the time);

9. If you are serious about catching the bouquet when the bride throws it, make sure you are wearing an outfit which will hold you in, as falling out of the top of your dress while stretching for the flowers can be very revealing resulting in more guys calling you “Sugar”, “Babe” etc;

10. Do NOT get drunk at the reception!;

11. As the saying goes, "Always a bridesmaid - never a bride!” is simply not true, I’m happily married to my husband whom I met when serving as a bridesmaid at wedding number 4;

12. Try very hard to convince the bride to allow the bridesmaids to get out of their bridesmaid dresses and into something practical as soon as possible in the evening. If she won’t budge on this, make sure the bridesmaids dresses are comfortable and practical if you have to spend the day in them;

13. The same goes for shoes!’

14. Buying gifts for the bride and groom should really be about getting them things they will enjoy – people buy the most boring and unoriginal gifts which cost a fortune but the ones that make an impression are the ones where a lot of thought has gone into them;

15. Being a bridesmaid for five friends I am not interested in repeating the experience unless by new baby girl really wants me to do it for her !

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Lawrence Reaves puts a comedic spin on being a bridesmaid. From Danforth, qualitywedding rings and engagement rings. Danforth Diamond is a good choice for a place that will help you find a great ring and a great price.