WaterFALL in love

You can rent a waterfall to add some ambience to your reception, or you can go wild and rent a rock climbing wall with a waterfall obstacle from a company like the funones.com, based out of Chicago.

This more subdued version of a waterfall for your wedding could include your initials or the first names of the bride and groom (available at gigis-party-rentals.com, Florida).

Waterfall with logo or initials

Tropic Thunder

When it comes to wedding planning, you always have a choice: you can go for the understated or you can go ‘big.’ In this case, you can rent ferns or you can rent a giant palm tree (or several giant palm trees!). Plantman.com provides “extravagant jungle tropics rental to the San Francisco and Los Angeles Areas” for as low as $750. Imagine a nine foot waterfall, a pebble bottom lagoon, fern-filled jungle grottos, a 16′ palm tree, and lush moss-covered rocks with ivy”.

For Beach, er, or For Worse

If the sun and surf are your definition of wild times, consider bringing the beach inside for your reception.

Or, if you anticipate that your  wedding reception will be a walk on the wild side, rent a surf machine and your guests can ride the waves without even getting wet! (Deluxe Big Wave Surf Machine from bigfunuk.info.)

Elegant Ring or Wild Bling

Both extremes may appeal to you – the subdued elegant wedding or the crazy, fun wedding- but what is the best fit for you as a couple? This is a day that you will remember for the rest of your life and it should symbolize everything about you as a couple. Are you more likely to go out for a fancy meal on a date, or are you more likely to go bungee jumping? What are you interests? One great way to establish the tone for your wedding: look at the engagement ring. The groom-to-be (hopefully) put a lot of thought into the ring when he picked it out – and (also hopefully) the bride loves it.

If the engagement ring is an impressive, but simply-designed and elegant solitaire – an elegant and tasteful wedding is best for you.

If the ring is bold and beautiful like this yellow gold engagement ring with a flower and petal design along the top and sides, then you probably have already arranged for live tropical birds and a waterfall for your reception!

For more ideas for wild weddings, check out this series:

Wet and Wild

Welcome to the Jungle

Wild Flowers

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Spring has been celebrated all over the world, in all types of religions – as far back as you can imagine. When the sun starts shining, the ground under our feet heats up, and the new tender greenery pokes through – it’s hard NOT to get all warm and fuzzy. If that’s not enough to cheer you up, you also have really cute little baby animals like chicks and lambs.

Here are some ideas for how to celebrate your wedding the old-fashioned way (and by old-fashioned, I mean pre-medieval!)

Handfasting

Handfasting is a wedding rite that originates from a pagan ritual, but is being used in weddings based in all sorts of faiths and by people of all different lifestyles. Handfasting is a great way to bond a blended family together, because all members of the new family forged by the wedding can participate. Check out handfasting.info for more information, as well as examples of wording for ceremonies that include handfasting.

Symbols

Oak Leaves

Oak leaves are a symbol for longevity – so the entwined oak leaves that hold two mouth-blown (and therefore completely unique) glass horns are the perfect way for the bride and groom to share a toast (mayhemltd.com). The oak tree was particularly important to the Celts,who felt that all trees were sacred.

Horns

The drinking chalices above are also horn-shaped. The horns are also an important symbol – the most famous Celtic animal symbol is the horned (antlered) stag. The stag is a symbol for sexuality and fertility.

Celtic Design

Celtic knots date back to almost 500 AD: there is the lover’s knot, the triple knot (Triquetra), and the Triscele.There are many ways to incorporate the Celtic scrollwork or Celtic knots into your wedding, including your wedding band.

Clothing

There are beautiful dresses available now that this type of wedding has become more popular. Rivendelbridal.com has a large selection, here is one example of a dress perfect for a pagan princess, or elven queen: it is called the Celtic Star.

Trees

Trees were sacred to the Celts so an outdoor wedding would be very appropriate if you are going to be influenced by this theme.

Here is a video full of imagery that might inspire you to arrange your own mystical wedding.

Language

This bronze pendant spells GRA, ‘love’, in the Celtric tree alphabet called Ogham. This pendant from celteshop.com would be an interesting and thoughtul gift for members of the wedding party.

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Here are some fun ideas for your bachelor party, bachelorette, bridal shower, engagement party, or jack and jill.

I come across so many Big Fat Fun decorations during my research. Here are some of my favorites, I hope they inspire you to come up with some unique ideas of your own! Let me know, and perhaps I can feature your party in an upcoming article.

Disclaimer: Not all items below will be appropriate for your function – this will depend on your theme, and how casual the event is.

Nosy Guests

Party cups from worldwidefred.com, that give you different noses. This is a fun way to break the ice.

Highlight of the Night

These shot glasses from envious.com light up for 6 seconds every time  you tap it on a hard surface.

Night Lights

Rather than the risk of making a decorated room look to ‘busy’, stick to one simple decoration and use a lot of it. Imagine filling a room or back garden with 25 of these lights from asianlantern.com (at around two dollars each, this is affordable!).

Casino Night

Here is a fun hanging decoration from partymakerdiscountsuperstore.com for a Casino-themed Jack and Jill or Bachelor Party. This would even work for a reception if the couple is going to announce they got married in Las Vegas!

Love Beyond Measure

I love these measuring spoons – a great favor for a bridal shower or a wedding (if the bride and groom work in a bakery?). You can order them from everythingfortablefavors.com.

Gloom Groom

This shirt from thinkgeek.com is perfect for the groom who wakes up on the surly side of the street every morning. If there’s no chance you’ll get him to wear a costume, dirty saying shirt, or anything that remotely identifies him as the guest of honor – have him try this shirt on for size!

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Black is the new White?

Black doesn’t have to be dark (see our earlier article about darker-themed weddings if that’s what you are looking for.). In the old days, black might have been a big “don’t” on the day you say “I do” but now it’s okay. More than okay, actually – black details on the big day can be brilliant. And, even better, when you incorporate the unusual into your wedding day, you often don’t have to buy it at a wedding store -making things much cheaper.

Here is an elegant cake from sedonaweddingcakes.com. The stylistic wedding cake topper is very classy and the black sugar roses are a nice touch. This cake would coordinate well with tables decorated with crisp white linens and black cloth napkins with white polka dots. This is another way to save money – some venues include white linens in their rental fee. If not, party rental companies usually charge less for white linens than for the colored specialty linens. If you are handy with a sewing machine, you can sew the cloth napkins your self. Don’t forget to launder them and iron them before the big day – a perfect job to delegate to a helpful friend, auntie, or even grandmother.

Wear something a bit racy under that demure white dress, like this black garter available from bachelorettesuperstore.com.

Your engagement ring or wedding ring could tie in to the color scheme as well, like this ring featuring black and white diamonds.

Or, wear some dark shoes and gloves with your dress for contrast! You could also add these accessories for the reception, particularly if you are having the event in the evening.

For example, here is a beautiful Alfred Angelo dress that would be perfect for a church wedding.

And here are some items to glam it up afterwards!

Black Shoes

Long Black Gloves

Like these ones from buycostumes.com.

A fascinating fascinator from folksy.com.

All of the ideas in this article would work for any color – imagine red as an accent instead of black. A little black purse would work, too (a bride needs somewhere to stash her lipstick too). A beaded drawstring purse would look great with the accessories above, perhaps a vintage purse – a great gift idea for the maid of honor to give to her best friend!

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It’s not for everyone, but here are some ideas for:

A Wedding That Walks on the Dark Side

Think skulls, black and other dark colors, and draw inspiration from The Day of the Dead, Halloween, and For more subtle ways to incorporate the color black into your wedding, please read next week’s article; “Black Tie Weddings“.

Here are some tips if you are going to the dark side:

Keep It Simple:

Restrict the decorations to one color and one or two images and stick with them, unless you want your wedding to look like a Halloween party. For example, you might select white skulls on a white backdrop for an elegant yet eerie look. Or black spiders on a black background would work well. Even better just use a spider web design, and leave the spiders out of the picture.

Go Crazy:

Or you can do the exact opposite and use every color out there. Use the rich vibrant palette of the Day of the Dead art as inspiration. Again, you might want to keep yourself to one or two images, but you can repeat them everywhere (a skull and a cross would work well, or a top hat and a fan). Colorfully printed fans would make great wedding favors and table decorations for the female guests. A cigar or a red boutonniere would be a nice gift for the men.

Til Death Do Us Part

If you’re a fan of the Day of the Dead (or just skulls), these custom-wrapped chocolate bars would be killer. You can order them from ChulaMichelle on Etsy.

Here Tooth-Decay, Gone Tomorrow

Here’s the perfect decoration for an engagement party near Halloween (or any time, if you have a sweet tooth). Also a fun way to display and offer a variety of sweet wedding favors. This candy cake is available from cookiepots.com at a very reasonable price. At less than $40 each, you could use them as table centerpieces in the place of flowers and wedding favors (which would easily add up to more than this price).

For Better or For Hearse

Cool wedding cake topper crafted by self-described ‘mantastic crafter’ Patrick Murillo.

For Richer For Gorier

This colorful skull cake is from bake me a cake.

Here’s another cake made by tiffanysbakingco.com – a hearse groom’s cake, but also could work as a wedding cake as well. Of course, it would be perfect for the wedding re-HEARSE-al (MWA Ha ha ha ha). Also, check out their traditional wedding cakes – delicious and beautiful looking!

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Here are some ideas for party gifts and prizes. Check out the next post for prizes and gifts suitable for Bachelor Parties (Stag parties).

TASTY PRIZES

Big Candy Ring

A big candy engagement ring is tasty bling for a bridal shower or casual engagement party. You can order the one pictured above at kidspartyfavorstore.com.

Novelty Chocolates

Tom and Sally’s Handmade Chocolates (tomandsallys.com) sells chocolate pasties, as well as chocolate thong underwear. The pasties also come with a peanut butter applicator, which I thought was a nice touch.

CLASSY PRIZES

Bracelet

Here’s an amazing grand prize if you are holding a pre-wedding fundraiser. This tiffany-style sterling silver bracelet looks like it is worth a lot more than its $50 price tag and would make a great door prize or grand prize. The heart charm fits into any wedding-related theme.

Charm

Another fun idea – give prizes away at the wedding rehearsal dinner related to the pre-wedding events. This is a fun speech to make at a rehearsal dinner (this is only appropriate if it suits the tone and if everyone there has a sense of humor!). The person acting as the Master of Ceremonies at the wedding reception can give away prizes to members of the wedding party at the rehearsal dinner. For example, he could give the groom a pair of warm woolly socks in case he gets cold feet.  In the example above, an angel charm would be appropriate for the most well-behaved guest at the bachelorette party. The MC could show the prize and say what it was for but then complain that there wasn’t anyone to give it to. Instead, he could give it to the flower girl. This is also a unique and fun way to hand out the wedding party gifts.

Spa Gift Certificate

A spa gift certificate is always appreciated. Everyone likes to get a manicure before the big day, even if they are a guest and not the bride.

FUNNY PRIZES

Magic Frog to a Prince

You can order this cute party gift at stupid.com.

Man Voodoo Doll

Pictured above, the ‘bad boyfriend’ voodooo doll from flashwear.com – complete with 10 pins.

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This week we feature some crafty Halloween wedding ideas for the DIY or budget-conscious wedding plans.

For more Halloween Wedding ideas, please refer back to my articles “Halloween Wedding Tips Part 1: Scary Spots” for a list of spooky locations for weddings and “Halloween Wedding Tips Part 2” for some cake ideas, a cool ice sculpture, and some great video clips.

.

Decorations

Candy-filled Ornaments

You can hang on branches, cluster them together to make a focal point above the dance floor or head table, or use them to spookify an existing chandelier. Instructions and supplies at the Michael’s website.

michael's.com

Halloween Wreaths

Use a grapevine base or spray-paint a holly or evergreen wreath black (or another creepy color). Use a glue gun and floral wire to attach decorations. Here are some examples – you can hang them up or use them as the base for table centerpieces.

ishouldbenapping.com

Banners

Cut out letters from Halloween paper (look for pads of mixed designs for scrapbooking or Halloween wrapping paper). Use letters of different styles and sizes and stick two one or two colors, or use a multicolor paper and stick to simple lettering. String the letters on twine or eyelash yarn.

knittingyarnmarket.com

Pumpkins

Use pumpkins as lanterns rather than lights or candle holders – they can be used as centerpieces or any where in the room. Consider painting pumpkins gold and silver for a look that works with a formal evening reception. You can also carve your names into pumpkins, the date, or even your faces if you’re very talented!

countryliving.com

Eat Drink and Be Scary

Creepy Cocktails

The Black Shadow

This drink is sort of green and cloudy -just what every ghoul wants for her wedding toasts! You can get the recipe at in-the-spirit.co.uk.

www.in-the-spirit.co.uk

Bloodshot Eyeball Drink Garnish

Check out the garnish on this cocktail from the geniuses at Finlandia. To make ice “eyeballs,” peel radishes, leaving thin streaks of red skin on to represent blood vessels. Using the tip of the vegetable peeler, or a small knife, carefully scoop out a small hole in each radish, roughly the size of an olive. Stuff a green olive, pimiento side out, in each hole. Impale the eyeballs on a suitable stir stick (like the pitchfork one below). You can also turn the eyeballs into ice cubes: place one radish eyeball in each section of an empty ice cube tray. Pare the radishes down a bit to fit, if necessary. Fill the tray with water and freeze overnight.

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This article features ideas for Autumn or Fall Weddings. To see ideas for other seasons, see ‘Spring Wedding Ideas‘ (Feb 2009) or  ‘Wet and Wild’ (beach themed weddings, May 2009),and look for a Winter Wedding feature in December.

Awesome Autumn

Fall weddings can be so romantic. Autumn colors are rich and vibrant. And, for longtime students such as myself – September always marks a time for new beginnings, much like the New Year does for others – so a September or October wedding can be symbolic as well.

Warm Wishes

The warm colors associated with Autumn can inspire the entire event. Candle light and textured fabric can inspire a cozy atmosphere. Branches or ‘heavy’ bouquets add to the setting.

LED The Light In

Use LED ‘candles’ to reduce heat, fire hazards, and the need to light/maintain flames throughout the evening. The 4″ Pillar style below flickers realistically and lasts up to 200 hours (batteries included in price).

hassle-free LED from yummicandles.com

Make or buy Fall tone wreaths to go around each candle for table centerpieces. You can buy the supplies you need from Michael’s: you’ll need a grapevine wreath, floral wire, and a glue gun. Attach decorations that match your wedding colors and the season: berries, leaves, flowers, apples…

michaels.com

Be-Leaf It!

Leaf designs are complex, elegant, and visually pleasing – perfect for wedding invitations and decorations.

Save the Date

Designer Meg Moynahan has created a stunning collection called “New England Fall Wedding” which includes an invitation, save the date, and website. I enjoyed her other invitations as well (the polka dot collection was my favorite).

megmoynahan.com

Attire

Incorporate leaf motifs into the wedding clothes or jewelry. The ring pictured below has a leaf design along the top and sides.

danforthdiamond.com

This 18K white gold wedding band has a hand-engraved leaf pattern.

danforthdiamond.com

Favors

You can order the bags and leaf ribbon from sophiesfavors.com. Their website also suggests you can use this ribbon to decorate bottles, invitations, hang tags, and tins. I also imagine it could be used to decorate the reception chairs, tables, or candles.

sophiesfavors.com

Fill them with traditional Jordan wedding almonds or any candy of your choice. You can order Jordan almonds in an Ivory Tusk (light beige) color or a seasonal color mix for Autumn.

jordanalmonds.com

I also like the white Amorini hearts offered by the same company – these are traditional Italian wedding favors and translate to ‘little loves’.

jordanalmonds.com

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Last post, I started writing about cookies at weddings.

Cookies are always a fantastic idea, and they are really great when it comes to weddings.

They sweeten up any wedding-related event.

See my last post “Wedding Cookies – The First Half” to read about my top 5 reasons why wedding cookies work and to discover a bunch of ideas for smart cookies (cookies you can prepare yourself to take a bite out of your wedding expenses).

Elegant

thewelldressedcookie.com

Pretty

These wedding rose cookies will add color to every table and can be color coordinated for the event.

rollingpinproductions.com

Picturesque

When the bride and groom look good enough to eat…

ediblegiftsplus.com

Sweet

Just supply the guest list and order the cookies and ediblegiftsplus.com will make these cookies that double as seating cards!

ediblegiftsplus.com

Cookie Themed Favors

The cookie cutter below comes with a recipe for sugar cookies and you get to personalize the card. The online store suggests that you “tie the cookie cutter to the card with a string or satin ribbon (not included) that coordinates with your wedding colors or… arrange them with sugar cookies in a basket on your reception table for an extra sweet surprise!” Available at orientaltrading.com.

orientaltrading.com

hotref.com

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Who Says It Isn’t Easy Being Green?

Here are some wedding options that are both beautiful and eco-friendly (and often, economical, too!)

A Dress That Won’t Cost the Earth

Your dress doesn’t have to be made out of recycled tin cans to earn it’s green status. Look for dresses made from natural fibers, like the gowns from Tennessee company ‘Threadhead Creations’. Their dresses are made by hand from hemp, organic cotton, peace silk, and bamboo.

Go green with your gown: wear a hand-me-down!

Reconsider wearing that ugly dress of great grandma’s if your family will allow you to alter it’s design. Re-using fabric to create a new gown is a wonderful way to be eco-conscious. There are experts who specialize in restyling heirloom gowns, like the Illinois-based Treasures by Tina. The gown featured below was originally a high-necked, long-sleeved wedding dress from the 1960′s.

treasures-by-tina.com

What Kind of Metal is Your Love Made Of?

Did you know that “mining is a very “dirty” business and the production of one beautiful gold ring will generate five tons of environmental waste, contaminating water and lands which endangers the health and lives of humans and animals” (danforthdiamond.com).

Think Refined, Not Mined

Eco-conscious jewelers offer engagement and wedding rings that are made from 100% recycled precious metals, like the 14K white gold set below.

Warning: make sure the company can provide a certificate of authenticity!

Do the Earth a Favor

Don’t send your guests home with another useless knickknack… provide guest favors that are good for everyone! Here are some heart-shaped bird seed favors: a favorite for any feathered wedding crashers at  your garden/outdoor wedding! Or, guests can take them home and hang them outside their windows. These favors, from blissweddingsmarket.com, can be personalized with your name and a ribbon that compliments your wedding colors… If you buy at least 35 favors they are only $2.99 each – so they are nice to your wallet as well as the earth!

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