The Bride is Always Late: Irish Wedding Blog from WeddingDates.ie » Non-Traditional Weddings

9 Things To Remember For Your Italian Wedding

ClaireB — Tue, 08 May 2012 07:00:15 +0000

1. Budget

Your budget will most likely be more for a destination wedding than for a traditional home based wedding. Can you afford this additional expense? Your guest’s budgets also need to be taken into consideration. Can they afford to travel to an overseas location? Ultimately you need to decide if the destination or the people are more important.

2. Language

Language in a foreign country can be a problem, especially if English isn’t the first language. You will need to make sure that your wedding planner has a fluent grasp of English to ensure that all the arrangements they are making will run smoothly. You will also need to budget for interpreters if you will be using local officiants for your service.

3. wedding planners

It is highly recommended that you get a wedding planner who is based in the country you wish to get married in. As accessible as everything and everybody is via the Internet, Social Media and Email, from experience we know that our brides reduced their stress significantly when they worked with local wedding planners. Speak to our very own Ornella Giuliano if you have any questions.

4. Traditions

Do not assume that all weddings are the same everywhere. In most cases they differ significantly from country to country. It is important to ask your wedding planner about these differences so that you can decide if you want to include them in your own plans or if you want to keep to your own cultural practices. If you choose to keep to your own traditions then you need to explain these to the people who are working with you to plan your day.

5. Accommodation

When weddings happen locally, accommodation is only a concern for those travelling from abroad. These guests are in the minority in most cases. When you have a destination wedding, it is the opposite. Everyone needs accommodation. Check that your Italian wedding venue can accommodate everyone or that there is accommodation in the nearby vicinity.

6. The Decor

DIY weddings are very popular nowadays and involve the transport and creation of a lot of very personalised wedding decor. Take into consideration how these will be transported to the destination or if they will be made on site. Both options have budget implications. Make sure that you can work within your budget.

7. The Dress

You will need to transport your wedding dress as well as all the clothing for the bridal party. These clothing items are generally fragile and need to be handled with care. Will this cost you more? Have you taken these costs into account. Consider using a wedding storage box.

8. A civil ceremony

Every country has it’s own wedding laws that need to be followed. Will your wedding be recognised in your own country once you return? Does it make sense to have a civil ceremony in a registry office in your home country to ensure the formalities are in place before heading abroad? Read up about civil ceremonies via Citizens Information and the Register Office to ensure that you know what is involved.

9. Have fun

There is something especially unique and beautiful about having a destination wedding. Soak up the surprises you discover along the way and don’t be too rigid in your planning. Allow the culture you find yourself in to surprise you.

{Image by Dimitra Tzanos.}

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Top Ten Bizarre Wedding Traditions

Shane — Fri, 20 Apr 2012 09:00:42 +0000

We all know the typical traditions, “Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue” But with so many different wedding traditions across so many cultures there are bound to be some that we find a bit bizarre, here are just a few of them!

1. Away with the Fairies
Something close to home first, though I’ve never heard this one! An Irish tradition that says that a bride may not lift her feet from the floor while dancing during the reception! This is to prevent the fairies from catching her and carrying her away..

2. Bridenapped!
A German tradition where the friends of the Bride and Groom-to-be kidnap the bride and hide her somewhere. The Groom then gathers his friends who are not involved in the kidnapping and starts looking for her, this typically starts in a bar where the groom buys everyone a round of drinks!

3. Who will rule the Roost? This Coin Game will decide!
I am, as of yet, unsure as to the origin of this tradition, but it surely is a fun one! After the reception is over, both the bride and groom go to the grooms parents house. There is a large bowl filled with water which has been dyed red, at the bottom are a collection of coins and other trinkets. They are told to try to pick out one specific item, whoever gets the item first will be wear the pants so to speak!

4. Charivari
A French Tradition where by, on your Wedding Night, Friends and relatives gather outside your room and bang pots and pans or whatever they can find to make an unholy racket! This continues until you get out of bed and supply them with more drink and a few snacks! My thinking is this is to ready you for Parenthood!

5. Blackening the Bride
A Scottish tradition where a few days before the Wedding friends and family try to catch the bride of guard and throw an unholy mess of stuff at her, eggs, sauce, mud, feather and that’s just to name a few! If that isn’t bad enough, they then parade her around the town to signify that she is now “off the market”, and if guys still try to pursue her, the sight and smell of her should deter them!

6. Hands off my Shoes
One of hundreds of Indian traditions, before the groom goes to the alter he has to remove his shoes, the brides family are then obligated to attempt to steal the shoes, where the grooms family are there to prevent this! They cannot hold onto the shoes, but go to great lengths to hide them well, for if they are found by the brides family, the groom then has to pay however much money they request to get the shoes back!

7. Signing the Shoes
Another shoe related tradition, originally from turkey, where the bride leaves her shoes in the chapel before she arrives, all the single women and girls sign the bottom of the shoes! The bride then arrives barefoot, and puts on her shoes. At the end of the night the bride checks the sole of her shoes, the name that is most worn off is the one who is next said to be married!

8. Polterband
A German tradition, where friends and relatives of the couple smash dishes that they either made or owned in an attempt to scare away poltergeists. The couple then have to clean up the dishes which is supposed to signify the breaking up of their old lives and the cleaning is the start of the new.

9. Rice in your hair
A Finnish tradition where rice is thrown at the happy couple. The grains that remains in the bride’s hair is counted. It is believed that number of grains shows the number of children the couple will have in the future.

10. Who’ll wear the hat?
At the wedding reception in Estonia the groom is blindfolded. He is surrounded by the single men. He is then spin around. He tries to put his hat on one of the men. It is believed that the man who gets the hat is going to get married next.

[Image via The Bridal Buzz]

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re-wedding: {balloons and a picnic}

ClaireB — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 22:06:33 +0000

tra la la la, mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm, tra la la la, mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm, deeeeedummmmm.

i’m singing my heart out today, swaying along to the swing cats. my hair is swept back into a chignon bun. my jewellery is woven from the finest silk and ribbons, shells and threads. i am surrounded by my favourite people who find themselves sitting on hand written letter cushions. we are eating sandwiches and sunbathing our bare feet in the brilliant sunshine. kids are laughing on the nearby swings. the grass is littered with flower petals.

i have a big bunch of balloons tied to my wrist. they play in the wind, tugging to get free.

in just a few moments they will drift away as everyone let’s theirs to rise up, up, up into the big blue sky.

no clouds. no rain today. just you and me. just love. tangible love, like the taste of delicious.

‘i love you, do you know that?’
‘maybe…’
‘what do you mean maybe?’
‘well maybe i love you more than that’
‘that’s not possible’
‘i think it might be’
‘is this why we are getting married for the 7th time, mr burge?’
‘i think it might be, mrs burge’
‘but we like this, don’t we?’
‘yes, yes, of course yes.’
‘let’s do it again next week, shall we?’
‘yes, if you wear the same dress again. i like what claire la faye does to your body’
‘no that is breaking the number one rule of re-wedding. it has to be a new dress every week.’
‘that makes me sad.’
‘no it doesn’t! next time is a new adventure on learning how to get it off…’
‘mmmm…’

feeling inspired?
photographer: lina hayes
wedding band: the swing cats
wedding car: simon webster
wedding dress: claire la faye
ribbon: nells embroidery
scatter cushions: my bearded pigeon

{images by the featured artists and sourced via creative commons on flickr. images that do not have a direct link can be seen in the accompanying gallery.}

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The White Event: Calling All Brides-To-Be

ClaireB — Thu, 05 Apr 2012 14:39:41 +0000

Calling All Brides-To-Be!

Brosnan Photographic and The Bridal Lounge have teamed up to bring you The White Event. The White Event is a fresh concept in wedding inspiration and education.

This event will bring together brides and vendors with the same goal – to create unique, fun, non traditional weddings. We believe every wedding should be beautiful and above all personal to the couple getting married.

The White Event will be an intimate evening of inspiration, banter, and tasty treats. We’ve invited along some fab ladies in the wedding industry who will be speaking on current trends, ideas, and giving helpful tips for your big day.

Here’s our guest speaker lineup:
Ciara O’Halloran (Style Serendipity) – Ciara will be sharing her personal experience of breaking away from a traditional wedding.
Naoise McNally (One Fab Day) – Naoise is going to give us tips on finding the right vendors to suit your budget and style.
Jemma Cassidy (Hip Hip) – Jemma will be spilling the beans on all the latest trends from the states and helping us find our inspiration.
Deirdre Hynes (Ruby & Bloom) – Deirdre will be giving her planning and styling tips to help you create a personal and individual wedding.

If that isn’t enough we’ll be styling the event to perfection to add extra inspiration and get your creative juices flowing. We like to think of it as a ‘mini wedding’ and you’ll be our guest! Our fab vendors include Pretty as a Picture, Cloudberry Bakery, Me Auld China, Dirty Fabulous, Best of Buds Florists, and many more.

What you’ll get from The White Event is:

new ideas
ways to create and communicate your vision
a relaxed evening of sharing

There will be open discussions and time to chat with the creative vendors involved.

Date: Tuesday the 24th of April. 18:30 to 21:30.
Place: The Back Loft Studio at La Catedral on Saint Augustine Street in Dublin.
Reason for The White Event: The alternative wedding industry took America by storm and it’s slowly making it’s way overseas. We’ve seen a need to help brides find their inspiration and create something totally original. We’re here to help you find ways of creating what you’re seeing abroad in a way that can be translated on Irish soil with Irish weather for Irish couples.
RSVP: As we’d like to create a relaxed evening there is a limited 24 spots available. Seats are €20 per person. You can register by emailing Christina or call her on 0863047444.

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7 Fun Ideas for a.L.t.{e}r.N.a.T.i.{v}e Weddings

guest — Fri, 23 Mar 2012 17:15:10 +0000

Over the years of attending weddings I have spotted a few gems that I thought I would share:

1. Helicopter pick up in the morning – I was told it wasn’t as expensive as it sounds and if you are all at a hotel and having breakfast together then its a great way to depart and get to the airport
2. Karaoke – I appreciate this isn’t for everyone but we did have fun and it was a twist on the first dance!
3. Choreographed dance – I haven’t been to one that dances up the aisle although I look forward to that day. I have though seen a quirky first dance which gets everyone going
4. Favorite tune – one invite asked us to RSVP and also request a song, was a great one to ensure at least everyone danced once
5. Tractor ride – a country wedding had a tractor and trailer take the guests from the church to the reception, very apt for the surroundings
6. The money dance – surely we can make this more wide spread then just the Greek community, its just too good not to
7. Betting on the speeches – I had thought it was a standard thing to do but have mentioned it before and got very odd looks. There should always be a inappropriately young person gathering bets on the length of the speeches from first word to final clap

…. will post more as I experience them

{Bree is our awesome commercialisation specialist. She has seen her fair share of craziness at weddings and will be sharing some funky stories on our blog in the coming months. Image by Robb North.}

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St. Patrick’s Day Wedding?! Top Tips For a Green Wedding

Shane — Sat, 17 Mar 2012 10:00:34 +0000

Happy St. Patrick’s day From WeddingDates! For all the Green Brides & Grooms out there are some idea’s to flavor you Wedding for the day that’s in it!

1. Lovely Green Ring Pillow

2. Irish Whiskey for the Toasts

3. Irish Coffees with Dessert! (Yummy!)

4. Use this Garter as your something Green (Rather then Something Blue for the day that’s in it!)

5. Use a Pot of Gold for you Centrepieces or Table Number Place holders! (It can fit the Theme and the Kids will Love the Chocolate Coins!)

[Images sourced via Compfight.com]

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DIY Wedding Tips – Guest Post

guest — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 11:00:56 +0000

Here is another Lovely post from Cassie, A TY Student we had in the WeddingDates HQ a few weeks back!

Want to make your wedding stand out that extra mile without spending lots and lots more money? Well there’s plenty of ways. Here are just a few of my favorites.

1. Celebrations
We always see on TV after a wedding confetti being thrown over the happy couple or white doves being released just as they leave the church. The tradition is rice, a sign of fertility, but if your like me and don’t like the idea of either of those why not keep things simple and use something like bubbles! Might sound stupid to you right now but have you ever seen a wedding picture with bubbles? There’s that sense of innocence and freshness. When we we’re young we played with bubbles, well when you get married your relationship is still young so why not represent this through bubbles? Fun eh?

2. One More Kiss.
We’ve all heard about the game of getting the bride and groom to kiss during the reception but why not do that extra something like get people to tell a story about you or your partner or even the two of you as a couple. Every time someone tells a story you have to kiss! The laughs and tears will be going on and on.
Another idea would be to have a box at each table, in the box is a question and different answers. The question is about the bride or groom and everyone at the table have to work together to choose the right answer. Each right answer equals one kiss. This gets the people at the table talking to each other and getting to know people instead of them sitting at the table awkwardly not talking.

3. LOVEly place-cards
Why not spread the love through your place-cards? On the back of each place-card write a love quote. Something like: “If you have it [love], you don’t need to have anything else. If you don’t have it, it doesn’t matter much what else you have” -James M. Barrie
Or
“We are all born for love. It is the principle of existence, and its only end.”-Benjamin Disraeli
Chances are you won’t run out of the, the list goes on and on but if you feel yourself running out don’t hesitate to repeat!

4. A different kind of wedding favour
Can’t come up with a wedding favour that you want people to remember? Why not push the boat out all together and create your own wedding soundtrack! Maybe even write and record your own song for it if you feel up for the challenge. But if you think that’s too much work why not just burn all the songs your using in your ceremony and all the others that have a special meaning in both you and your partners heart.Then create a personalized CD cover with your names, date of the wedding and even a picture of the happy couple. Sure to get everyone talking about its uniqueness.
Too much work? Well here’s another one! Go out and buy up bars of chocolate, take the original paper off and and create your own personalized wrapper. Same idea as the CD cover but smaller! Which ever one of the two you choose just make sure you make it original and personal. Something people will remember you as a couple by.
Finding all that too much? Then go for a simpler approach. We’re all familiar to the lottery scratch cards right? Why not stock up on them, go out and find yourself red envelopes and start saving the 1cents. There you have the perfect wedding favor! Put the scratch card and 1cent into the red envelope, on the front of the envelope write the words ‘Lucky In Love’ (Maybe in silver, let it stand out) and place them at each seat. Cheap and cheerful! Who knows, maybe someone will be leaving your wedding with lots of cash!

5. Simple centrepiece
Stuck for an idea for your centrepieces? Simple! Get a jam jar, fill it 3/4′s of the way with water and drop in a tea light. Don’t worry the tea light will float. Place it in the center of the table and surround with rose petals or leaves, twigs, flowers, whatever takes your fancy. Viola! Sophisticated, sweet, simple centrepiece! Not enough? Well then how do you like Coca-Cola? Maybe it was the fist drink you shared with your lover. (Personal touches are always nice!) Get out and start looking for the glass bottles to use as vases! Might think that sound tacky but if it suits your theme go with it. It can look amazing. Maybe your going to name your tables? Then you could put little flags out of each bottle with the name of your table on each one. Just and idea.

6.Memories
Want to do something different for your guests that fun? Why not hire a photographer that will bring props, (or maybe you’ll have some stuff at home that you could use. Hats, wigs, boas etc.) Set up a backdrop, something completely random. (For example, if your weddings in the summer and everyone’s out in their short dresses and summer clothes have a snowy background.) Get the photographer to take pictures of everyone with the props! Might seem mad to everyone but imagine the laughs when the pictures are developed! Imagine the wedding album… non-stop laughs guaranteed!

Maybe you have some unique ideas you would like to share in the comments?

[Image by Zanastardust. Sourced via Flickr Creative Commons Images]

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Wedding Shoes: A Picture Gallery of Inspiration

ClaireB — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 07:00:59 +0000

wedding shoes, a gallery on Flickr.

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Choosing Wedding Colours and Themes: 3 Useful Sources

ClaireB — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 07:00:08 +0000

Your mother in-law wants one colour. You want something else. Your groom has his say and then your mother gives her two cents too. How about consulting a few sources as a starting point:

1. Pinterest
This is a virtual pinboard where people pin up all their favourite things. The various pinboards might not be related to weddings but just strolling through the categories and various boards will get you thinking about themes and colours.

2. Flickr
Flickr has thousands of groups that will get your creativity flowing. Use the link above as a starting point and dig deeper from there. You will be amazed at what you find along the way.

3. Compfight
Compfight is a Creative Commons search tool but you can use it in a unique way for your wedding. By typing in a colour you can bring up multiple search results with images that have been tagged with that colour. The images will not only provide decor inspiration but they will give you a good idea of complimentary colours and also hues that clash.

Happy colour hopping… you might just lose yourself in the colour spectrum!

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White Vintage Wedding Inspiration: Think Creatively For Your Day!

ClaireB — Mon, 26 Sep 2011 07:00:08 +0000

Your day needs to reflect you. Use this gallery as an inspiration board to get you thinking out of the box.

white vintage wedding inspiration for weddingdates.ie, a gallery on Flickr.

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