Giant Hanging Pomanders
July 14th, 2008 @ 5:11 pm by Mrs. Penguin
I’ve gotten several emails asking about the hanging pomanders at our ceremony. I was waiting to write this post after my pro pics recap, but some gals are peeking at my teaser pictures! 
A while back I priced out fresh carnation pomanders to be hung at our ceremony. Let’s just say it would cost more than the rest of our flowers combined to have them. Floral foam balls are insanely expensive, and pomanders require a lot of labor in a short amount of time should you want them fresh. That’s probably why, unless under an unlimited budget, you most often see fresh pomanders being fairly small. I wanted two 24″ pomanders and two 18″ ones, so I decided to go the paper flower route.
Idiot.
This was a really labor intensive project that made a very minimal impact. Our execution of it was so last-minute that we would have been better off just doing without them, or, at the least, building a nicer stand for the balls. But, at the right angle, they’re pretty!
Our Lasso
July 14th, 2008 @ 11:04 am by Miss Hydrangea
Several months ago, Mr. H’s mom went to Mexico to visit her sister and to look for a few wedding items that we need for the Hispanic traditions in our ceremony. Unfortunately, the lasso that she found we were unable to get, so I set out to search for one online.
Just in case you aren’t sure what a lasso is, it’s a large cord, or rosary, that is placed around the couple after they exchange vows. Someone particularly special to the bride and groom (such as a Godparent, grandparent, etc.) places the lasso around the groom’s shoulders, and then the bride’s shoulders. The lasso is worn for the remainder of the ceremony. This tradition is performed to show the love that will bind the couple together for the rest of their lives.
It turns out, finding a lasso online isn’t the easiest thing to do. I found many inexpensive ones that would definitely do the trick, but Mr. H was picky and wanted something made of real silver and beads that will stand the test of time, and that we will be able to hand down to our children one day. I love the idea of our future generations using the same lasso for such a significant event, so I made it my mission to find the right one for our wedding. Read more…
Here Comes the Bride (Part 2 of Our Buddhist/Hindu Ceremony)
July 8th, 2008 @ 6:05 pm by Miss Margarita
I ended part 1 of our Buddhist/Hindu ceremony with the Ganesh Puja. Since it’s been a little while since the last post, let me set the scene.
Mr. Margarita will be standing at the front of the Mandap/Poruwa (platform) on the left side (from the audience’s perspective). Mr. Margarita’s immediate family and the Hindu priest will be seated on the left side of the Mandap/Poruwa. Mr. Margarita’s four groomsmen will be standing to the left of the platform facing the guests. My immediate family (minus my parents) and the Sri Lankan officiant will be on the right side of the platform. 400-500 of our family and friends will be seated facing the Mandap/Poruwa and waiting for the ceremony to begin.
The Procession
My four lovely bridesmaids will then make their way down the aisle and stand to the right of the Mandap/Poruwa. Following them are our four adorable flowergirls (ages 1 1/2 - 4 1/2) who will hopefully make it all the way down the aisle without crying or fleeing at the sight of 400-500 faces.
Read more…
Fabulous Etsy Finds Part III: Our Ring “Pillow”
June 18th, 2008 @ 2:04 pm by Mrs. Tiramisu
I’m sure that many of you have seen this on weddingbee or another wedding blog already, but I wanted to share yet another of my Etsy purchases with you all anyways. Along with many others, we’ll be using the Paloma’s Nest Tiny Text Bowl to carry our rings down the aisle.
Etsy sellers have the best packaging.
The Alternate To Being Given Away
June 16th, 2008 @ 1:18 pm by Mrs. Corn
It doesn’t surprise me that many people think that the whole ‘who gives this woman to this man’ part of the ceremony is antiquated and chauvinistic. But there are other alternatives.
Below is the wording from our ceremony supplemented by the choreography we worked out. Hopefully it will help someone out there…
—
*Processional (everyone walked down the aisle, the last of which was me escorted by my dad who remained standing with us at the ‘altar’)
*Statement of the Gift of Marriage
*Prayer (the ‘congregation’ sat at this point)
Declarations of Intent
Davis, understanding that God has created, ordered and blessed the covenant of marriage,
do you affirm your desire and intention to enter this covenant. I do.
Read more…
A Hummingbird Handfasting
June 10th, 2008 @ 3:39 pm by Mrs. Hummingbird
Picture courtesy of www.myspiritualwedding.com
In my vow post, I mentioned that we originally were interested in the idea of including a handfasting in our ceremony. Sadly, over the course of ceremony retooling, we ended up removing this ceremony (as well as all of our readings) for the sake of time and clarity.
However, because handfastings are really beautiful and an awesome old tradition, I figured I would write a post about them.
Read more…
These Words
June 7th, 2008 @ 12:13 pm by Mrs. Hummingbird
Picture courtesy of www.maineiac.com
The whole thing about writing vows is, there is practically nothing you can say that won’t sound a little bit cheesy or like you ripped off a Beatles song. However, working on our wedding ceremony, we wanted to make sure that through the haze of love, we said the things we really wanted to say to each other.
Karaoke Down the Aisle?
June 3rd, 2008 @ 5:42 pm by Mrs. Penguin
We put off picking processional music till the very last minute of planning! I’d always wanted a musician to play an instrumental version of our first dance song for my walk down the aisle, but I couldn’t bear to sink another few hundred bucks into a musician to play for less than an hour, so we opted to choose music for our DJ to play as we walked down the aisle. Because of this, I gave up the instrumental aisle song.
BUT! Lo and behold! Itunes carries a huge selection of Karaoke music! Some songs sound pretty electronic, but I lucked out and our first dance song, “Only Hope,” by Switchfoot, was on the list…and not only was it on the list, but it sounds beautiful! The song is very long and boring, so I edited down the music to a little over a minute and left all the juicy parts in. Amazingly, it’s not the slightest bit cheesy at all! Have a listen…
Itunes Album: “Karaoke: Sing a Greater Hope”
Song Title: “Only Hope”
What is your walk down the aisle song and why did you pick it?
Miss Toucan Gets With the Program
June 3rd, 2008 @ 2:49 pm by Mrs. Toucan
I’ve figured this out about myself. I’m a procrastinator. Even worse, I’ve convinced myself that I work better under pressure and therefore can justify procrastinating. This is probably completely false, but I like to try to believe it anyway. Anyway, this post wasn’t supposed to be about procrastinating, but instead about one of the projects that I procrastinated on doing - our wedding programs.
I had these lofty ambitious goals to do fan programs like Mrs. Bellpepper and Mrs. Plum but since we didn’t get our act in gear to actually figure out the whole program (music, who reads what, etc.), the project was delayed. By the time we had everything in place, I thought it best to save my sanity and not have to worry about all that cutting! Instead I came up with a far simpler easier program:
Front Cover
One Lucky Day, Con’t: The Windy Pretty
May 30th, 2008 @ 4:29 pm by Mrs. Lovebug
…Everything was in place. Mr. Lovebug and Melissa had taken up their positions on the steps of the ceremony site. The string quartet was playing the last few bars of Canon. I waited with bated breath for my cue. All I could feel, all I was aware of, was the breeze stirring my skirts.
Only, wait. That breeze sure is…breezy. In fact, that’s not so much a breeze as it is wind. I look up at the sky. It’s suddenly grey. It’s so very…grey. Oh my god. It’s going to rain. It’s going to rain on my–
CRRAAAACK! Audible gasps. Nervous laughter. What the…? What’s going–
And then, before I know what’s happening, the music starts. I wouldn’t know what the commotion was until after the ceremony, when I find out that seconds before I walked out, the wind tore a huge branch off one of the trees. It came crashing down inches away from one of the photographer’s assistant’s head, nearly braining him.
Read more…
