Wedding Blog
Next year at this time, I’ll be married!! When I woke up at 6:30 this morning, I told Mr. Kiwi, “Next year, at 6:30am, I will totally be sleeping.” Then he mentioned the teensy fact that I will have to get my hair done at some point, if I want to look good by the 10am ceremony. Why did we choose such an early time?
Like I said in my About Me post, this day has been significant for me for many years. 94 years ago, my Grandma was born. She was a great influence, almost a second mother. She went from being raised in a (literally) tar papered shack in Arkansas, to being the valedictorian in her college class - quite the task for a woman in the 20’s/30’s.
She never got to meet Mr. Kiwi, but I know she would have loved him. Since our birthdays were 2 days apart, it was almost like we had a special bond - being her youngest grandchild out of 6 may have helped, too. 
Anyway, a little bit of melancholy in rememberance of my grandma, the coolest woman ever.
I would like to incorporate her in our wedding in some way (other than the date), but we don’t have any wedding pictures of her and my grandpa to frame. We do have a framed black and white photo of her from her valedictorian picture, I wonder if I could put that somewhere meaningful.
Are any of you incorporating your grandparents in some kind of meaningful way at your wedding?
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Share this post: My Day In History
Happy Preniversary!!! So exciting!!
And I love all the things your doing about your grandmother! Only problem is, you’re making me bitter our wedding day doesn’t have any pre-existing significance!! 
Could you check old newspapers to find a wedding photo of them?
We may do the wedding photo display thing, but I’m not sure. I like the idea of it (my GPs have been married for 55 years), but it gets a little sticky with FI’s parents’ divorce thrown in there. Definitely, I am going to take an old locket, put my deceased GPs photos in either side, and hang it from my bouquet somehow.
Well, Miss Bluebell, I supposed I should also tell people the reason 11/3 was in the running… Mr. Kiwi is a coach, so we had to find the gap between football and basketball season!! Luckily, g-ma’s birthday was right in there.
Chrissie, that is a great idea with the locket! I COULD look up the newspapers for the wedding pic, but the recent news from the Aunts- Grandma and Grandpa did not have a happy marriage. Hm.. Not a good thing to hear at this time, but maybe a good thing to avoid, re: their pic?
my grandmomma passed away last year..and she always said i was her favorite granddaugther too!…she helped raise me since i was a baby and we both shared the same bday! she always told me that she wanted to stay alive to see me get married..=( so i was thinking of playing “amazing grace” in the ceremony (when the bridesmaids walk in) when i get married next year..that song reminds me of her, since she always used to sing it to me..
Minapoly, that is a great idea, and I’m so sorry about your grandma. 
It’s going to be a beautiful day, but also a little bittersweet.
The date that I originally wanted for my wedding ended up being the day that my grandmother passed away on.. (Sept 8, 2006.. and I wanted 09/08/07 as the date). I ended up not being able to book my venue for that date and now.. I’m grateful for that becuase I would not want to celebrate my wedding anniversary on the anniversary of her death. In any case, I am planning to frame her picture and carry it with me in my bouquet so that I’ll always have a piece of her with me through that entire day.
Incorporating my grandmother was important to me as well. Besides a note in the program, I had some flowers from her yard that I dried and displayed. I used her silver in my centerpieces and other displays. Like you, I didn’t have any pictures. Did your grandmother have a favorite flower, song, or food she used to make for you?
Bean, it’s a good thing that happened then, huh? I can’t imagine trying to celebrate our wedding on a date like that! I like the idea of the framed picture in your bouquet, though.
Katie, all those ideas sound fabulous. In fact, her favorite flower was sweet pea, she loved planting them. Anyone know if they’re in season end of Oct/Nov?
I have one living grandmother, so she, along with several of our other older guests, will be a guest of honor at our wedding.
I am also wearing a locket bracelet with pictures of my grandparents inside. I thought this was a nice way to honor them.
http://www.ice.com/customer/product_detail.jsp?product=108692650
We’re also having a table set up with old family photos.
D, I think that bracelet is lovely! I wish I had enough family photos- a lot of my family is feuding right now, so it’s touchy-touchy with them.
I would love to do the table of old wedding photos to honor our grandparents as well as our parents. It does get kind of sticky however with the fact that FI’s parents were married in front of a judge and 2 witnesses (no wedding photos) and the fact that FI’s grandfather was married 4 times. Do we use the picture of him with his current wife or the one who mothered FFIL? Do we use both? Do we use ALL of them? I just don’t know…
Other than that, I would also like to have some of their photos in our slideshow.
Joyjoy, my parents were never married (to each other!) so I don’t have their wedding photos, Mr.Kiwi has one grandma who I’ve never met, but I’ve heard is a little “loopy”. Families are sooo confusing, aren’t they??!! As for the grandpa with the 4 fives- YIKES. I couldn’t even imagine how to go about making that pleasing to all involved.
I was very close to my grandmother, too, and I am wearing her watch on my wedding day. My sister has had it since G-Ma died, and she wrapped it up and gave it to me as an engagement gift. I immediately burst into tears, because I remembered sitting in her lap for hours playing with the watch! It’s nothing fancy, but it is such a happy memory for me. And my e-ring once belonged to FI’s grandma, so she will be there, too.
Liza, that is a beautiful story!! I have something of my g-ma’s, but it’s very hush hush, out of the three granddaughters, I am the youngest, but was given it to me by the aunt that no one likes. So… I feel glad that now I have it, and the evil aunt doesn’t, but I don’t want to give it to the oldest g-daughter when they find out I have it. Dilemma.
I just got married 2 weeks ago. On the ribbon wrapped around the stems of my bouquet, I pinned 2 stick pins that my mom has - each belonged to one of my grandmothers. During the ceremony when the minister spoke of our families — both those present on that day, and those alive in our hearts — I rubbed my fingers over the pins and spent a special moment thinking about my grandmothers. I was the first grandchild on both sides (and first granddaughter) and they were both nuts over me, so it was nice to feel that closeness to them during the ceremony.
When I was getting ready, my mom and I pinned them on the bouquet together and had our own little moment. I know it was hard for her to not have her mom there for such a big day. (I’m tearing up now as I think about it.)
One of the pins had sapphires in it … and since they belong to my mom … so they had the added bonus of being my something old, borrowed AND blue!
JB, that is amazing. I wish I had something as meaningful as that. It made for such a great moment for you, your mother, and something that you could share with your g-mas even though they weren’t there in person to see it. I think it was great your mom thought of it, too!
Oh, I love hearing all these stories!! I think we’ll probably do some family wedding pictures, but it’s a little touchy since my original idea was to do pictures of other weddings that took place where ours will be, but that’s only my side of the family and not everyone in my family even got married there. So we’re just going to try to do a bunch of family photos all mixed up I think, some weddings and some not. I’m also going to be wearing the necklace I talked about in one of my first posts which belonged to my great great grandmother (hehe or someone like that) who I obviously never met, but I still like the family idea there!
My grandpa–a god to my family–passed away four years ago. I am putting a bouquet jewel “W” for West (his last name) on my bouquet. I am also going to make my borrowed/old item something that I borrow from my Grandma of my grandpa’s (not his wedding ring, but something else). :O)
I have heard of someone giving her bridal bouquet to a living family member to go place on the gravesite of the family member.
Okay, I haven’t been telling people about this because I don’t want anyone to think I am weird. I had a dream a couple weeks ago and thus far, all wedding dreams have been positive. This one in particular, my grandpa showed up in the morning before the wedding and sat on the bed and said, “you know I can’t be at your wedding, but I’ll be there…” That means a lot to me even if it’s just my warped mind making it all up. :O)
wsukarebear, I don’t think your mind made that up- it’s a pretty cool dream, either way. I’ve had some amazing dreams about my grandma, even smelling her distinctive perfume every now and then.
I think your ideas are great, and Mr. Kiwi and I have decided to name our first daughter (well, her middle name) after g-ma, so that will be something I’ll always have.
That’s nice you’re incoporating your grandma! I’m really close to my grandma and it’s awesome that you’re having your wedding day on her late bday! awesome! anyway, have a great weekend!
I think I should clarify something in case my cousins read this, it was something from my OTHER grandma that I was given. I’m too close to my other cousins to hold something like that from them. The other side of the family isn’t close to me, and as I said all the other girls are older- 40s. They don’t need her old handkerchief. I just wanted to post this in case my dad’s side reads this- no need for secrets on that side.
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Mrs. Kiwi, Los Angeles
Age and Occupation in 06: 27, Bookkeeper
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 27, P.E. Teach/Coach @ private schools in LA
Engagement Date: March 31, 2006
Wedding Date: November 3, 2007
Venue: Radisson Hotel
About Me: I'm a bookkeeper who failed high school algebra. I'm currently living in Los Angeles, literally a street over from where I grew up with Mr. Kiwi, my honey of three years. We have a jumbo mini-dachshund (seriously, he's huuuuge), and we're planning an autumn themed wedding on a shoestring, paid for by ourselves. The wedding date is my late grandma's birthday, I needed her there somehow, and that seemed like the best way for us. I can't believe I'm a Bee! I couldn't be more proud!
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