Traditions

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I’ve always loved a good wedding.  And wedding traditions have survived because there is a sense of community about them.  In starting a new life with my fiance, I wanted to start some new traditions.  We kept some: I’m wearing white, we have Bridesmaids and Groomsmen, I’m carrying a bouquet, the list goes on.  I wanted to share the ones we’re changing, though, and hope that you might share some of yours in return.  I think the free exchange of ideas engenders some sparkling creativity. And we can always use some more sparkle, right?

Bouquet Toss

I’m an older Bride with older single friends (many are Bridemaids), so this tradition scared me a bit.  But I didn’t want to eliminate that beautiful bouquet going to someone else at the end of the evening.  The Anniversary Dance seemed the perfect way to solve both dilemmas.  We’ll have all the married couples who wish to paricipate gather on the dance floor for a special dance.  The first pause in the song will have the Emcee asking couples who’ve been married less than five years to step off the dance floor for a moment, the second pause will have couples married less than ten years step out, and it will continue until the couple who has been married the longest will remain.  This will be the couple that receives the bouquet and an invitation to share a word of advice about making a good marriage last.

Garter

When I explained to Superman that I felt pretty weird about having him search under my skirt in front of a lot of people, he agreed.  His suggestion was that we replace this tradition with ‘Toss the Bridesmaid’.  I did not agree.  We decided that instead of this dance, we’d have our Groomsmen seek out a partner for a snowball dance.  We wanted to reiterate to all our guests that it really is a small world, and we all get to know each other through someone else.

2 Colors

If you’ve ever lived in Utah, you’ll understand when I talk about green jello with carrots as a viable wedding entree.  Another typical choice is to have 2 (and only 2) wedding colors.  Enter Kate.  I love color.  I love LOTS of color.  To my Groom’s chagrin, I chose close to 18 colors when I first started planning.  He quickly eliminated 2 of the 3 pinks, though.  Haha.  In the end, we wound up with the idea that we’d have Black as our main color and complement that with a rainbow of fun color.  To those outside of Utah, I wish I could explain how fun it is to have people ask ‘What are your colors?’ and answer with ‘Pretty much all of them.’

Dollar Dance

Something I was raised with probably isn’t that popular all over the place.  I can’t count the number of weddings I attended where the DJ would announce ‘And now, the Dollar Dance!’  Then all these guys would line up and pay a dollar to dance with the Bride. OK.  Works for some people? Great!  I wanted something a tad more subtle.  Enter my friend Cathrine.  She had the brilliant idea to use the lovely wooden well in my fiance’s backyard to have a ‘wishing well’.  Guests can buy a coin from one of the servers and then toss that coin with a wish for the Bride and Groom.

What are some of your new traditions?  What are some of the things you love about the good old traditions?  What made you decide to change, if you did?  What did you use for inspiration?