Weddings Traditions Around the World

Cultural Wedding Traditions

History, Tradition or Superstition?

Guess the country!

In this country they used to break thin biscuits over a bride's head to symbolize her wealth.  I'm guessing that brides must have gotten fed up with that!  Then someone got the wise idea to put frosting all over buns and that led to adding cream filling, then stacking them in a pyramid shape...and sometimes it was built around caged doves that were later released!  It's also customary in this country for the guests to bring flowers to the wedding which literally cover all of the tables.  

It is customary in one country that a couple only has one week to get married after they become engaged!  They, with two witnesses, go to the city hall to get married while everyone else stays at the bride's parents' home to prepare the feast. Can you guess which country and culture it is?

Wedding traditions in this country include the bride's female relatives removing her veil, and replacing it with an apron and a scarf and then sing to her.  It's their way of celebrating her new status as a wife.  Which Country is it?  And people STILL get married there!?  Answers in a future post.

Hint:  Mediterranean Countries!

Greatest of Days

Wedding and Event Planning

Seattle Wedding Coordinator

If You Are Planning A Seattle Wedding Or Not, Read This!

Many of you know that I founded and organize a networking group for event and wedding vendors via the Meetup.com platform.  It's called South King County Event and Wedding Vendors.  Iris Dumuk of www.peridotphotography.pro  featured our June 2012 meeting on her blog.  At the meeting she took head shots for everyone and did a great job documenting the event and portraying the venue!  Here is the link to her blog post about the event.  


http://peridotphotographyblog.wordpress.com/2012/07/25/des-moines-beach-park-event-center-mock-wedding-vendor-meetup/


Enjoy!


Wishing you the Greatest of Days!


Janis Flagg
Greatest of Days
Event/Wedding Planning and Design
Wedding Officiating


If you would like to sign up for the Greatest of Days weekly newsletter ("Wedding and Event Dialogue") go to http://www.greatestofdays.com/contactandinfo.html

Plan Your Wedding at A Paint Store!

Yes.  You might find it helpful to go to a paint store if you are wondering which colors you want for your wedding.  You might be wondering what colors will look well together.

Maybe you would like to hear about trends regarding colors.  Just as in fashion, interior design and even in the colors of cars, colors for weddings are selected up to as much as 6 years in advance of when they actually show up in the stores.  One of my favorite sources for the color palettes is a company called Pantone. They added 175 colors alone in their Spring 2012 collection in addition to their Fall 2011 collection.  Ladies, have you ever thought it was a miracle that you found a pair of shoes that matched your dress perfectly?  Sorry, it's not an accident!  If they were "born" about the same time, things will follow a certain palette for quite a while.   One thing I would never suggest is that you become too matchy-matchy. There are going to be variations in colors just depending upon the texture of any material and lighting. Make a note of what a wall color looks like at different times of the day.  Photographers will know what I'm talking about!  A long time ago I heard that there were over 200 shades of white.  So with that being said, just let go of some things. Things aren't identical and symmetrical in nature.  Our eyes don't even see things exactly the same from person to person.  That is a complete blog/e-zine in itself, but I won't do that to you!

If you're worried about how colors will coordinate, go to a paint store and ask to look at their color key. This is different than the paint chip display racks you're used to seeing in a paint section of a store.  You may have to ask someone at the counter to let you see it.  If you look at the photo here, you'll notice that there are many shades per paint strip.  If you look at a color and go straight across at the same position to any of the other strips, you will always know that those shades will compliment each other.

Happy coloring!

http://www.greatestofdays.com/

Where Did That Come From? Untold Wedding Traditions.

"Now Where Did That Come From?" 

I've promised to give tips, trends and tools for weddings and other events.  I've been thinking that maybe I should add to that list, traditions.  Isn't that really where a lot of the conflicts come in when planning a wedding?  I'm not speaking to cultural traditions though those can be huge, but at least you know where they are coming from.  I'm speaking to those traditions or mindsets that people have that show up when a bride is planning a wedding.  Odds are they can't even tell you why they are so insistent on these issues!  Here are a few.

"You should___",

"On our side of the family we do___"

"Why are you doing that?"

"What? You're not doing ____!"

"That's interesting!" (We know that means a thumbs down)

"What would your ____ think!"

These tidbits are just small sampling of the little darts that get tossed toward a bride planning a wedding.  Can you feel the pressure building?  Do you think she's going to eventually react or hold some resentment along with a smile?  More than likely.  Weddings are by far the most emotionally charged occasion considering that they are supposed to be happy.  

I hate to break it to people, but how things go through this process, might be just a glimpse into your future.  So consider it as part of a learning curve.  Chances are things will calm down until the next major step comes along.  In your younger years as you enter marriage, you just have to expect the next round.  Oh, that could be so pleasant, too.

"When are you going to have kids?"

"You're only having one?"

"You've got a ___ when are you going to try for a ___?"

"You're going to have how many?!" 

I would suggest rather than swallowing a bitter pill, go for the best medicine ever made and make sure you get addicted to it!  It is that wonderful medicine called laughter!  Things get better!  No one pressures you that much to retire or break a hip.  So look on the bright side!

Wishing you the greatest of days!

http://www.greatestofdays.com/

www.greatestofdaysweddingsandevents.blogspot.com

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NkKIjSu9dbA

http://twitter.com/#!/greatestofdays

http://www.facebook.com/greatestofdays

Accepted as Guest Blogger for GatheringGuide.com

To sign up for our weekly E-zine "Wedding & Event Dialogue" click on this link.  http://www.greatestofdays.com/e-zine.html

Featured in: Not My Mother's Wedding, blog for Mothers of the Bride

Founder of South King County Event and Wedding Vendors

The 6th largest Wedding Vendors networking group in the world through Meetup.com.

http://www.meetup.com/South-King-County-Event-and-Wedding-Vendors/

http://www.greatestofdays.com/testimonials.html

Wedding Planning 101, R.S.V.P. Defined

R.S.V.P.  ( répondez s'il vous plaît) or Respond Please!  Why this is so important (and frustrating) for anyone planning a wedding or other event!  Here's some RSVP 101 and my devious ideas! 

  

Does anyone understand the significance of this?  They might not!  That is, until they are the ones planning an event.  It comes down to showing a host the common courtesy of knowing whether you are going to be attending or not.  For a wedding, it can influence the costs tremendously!  Most people think that it's just the cost of the food.  That is the biggest concern, but a lot of people don't think of the extra costs that a bride and groom might incur because they want to make sure that no one goes hungry or doesn't have a place to sit.  Here are some extra expenses you might not even think of in addition to the food.  If a person doesn't have an accurate count it can add to wasted money on tables, chairs, chair covers, chair sashes, tablecloths, napkins, glassware, stemware, centerpieces, cutlery, etc.  These things do not always come automatically with the catering.  (More on that in another newsletter!)  When people don't RSVP by a certain date is causes unprecedented stress on the bride, groom and their families when they least need it!  They already have enough things on their minds and have the extra weight due to other's lack of courtesy.  

If only you could put in the invitation...if you don't RSVP and you show up, you will be sitting on the floor, be the last ones to be called up to the buffet line, wish you had brought a plate, eat the food with your fingers, wipe your mouth on your sleeve, go thirsty...and be roasted, (oops!) toasted during the reception.  Maybe you can just give the name of the town where the wedding will be and not give the location of the wedding until they RSVP.  I've never thought of that before! Hmmm. You could make them get up and dance during the reception, but instead of dancing to Y-M-C-A, you could make them do the same only to the letters R-S-V-P.  It's your party, you can do what you want to!  8)

Wishing you the greatest of days!

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Helping Brides Plan Weddings Without Stress.: Brides: Must Read if You Are Transporting Your We...

Helping Brides Plan Weddings Without Stress.: Brides: Must Read if You Are Transporting Your We...: Brides:  Must Read if You Are Transporting Your Wedding Dress on a Flight! A person in our community who I have the greatest respect f...

You Might Need A Wedding Planner If: - Wedding Forums @BridalTweet

You Might Need A Wedding Planner If: - Wedding Forums @BridalTweet

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Helping Brides Plan Weddings Without Stress.: You Might Need a Wedding Planner If:   You look bo...: You Might Need a Wedding Planner If :     You look both ways from your office chair before you begin your online search for wedding ve...

You Might Need a Wedding Planner If:   

You look both ways from your office chair before you begin your online search for wedding vendors.

You’ve started seeing your friends wear the same wedding dresses you wanted to wear last year.

Your fiance' begins to look both ways from his desk before surfing the web for wedding chapels in Las Vegas.

You want to scream when one more person gives you the countdown of months until your wedding.

You have heard from every possible human being you’ve ever known telling you what you should do for your wedding.

You’re secretly thinking that you wouldn’t mind just going to Vegas!

You would like to get married before your new puppy starts getting a gray muzzle.

You don’t like the idea of collecting 5 years’ worth of bridal magazines.

You stopped attending wedding shows a long time ago.

All of your friends have gotten married at every venue available within 25 miles of where you live.

You’ve taken your engagement ring in for cleaning often enough that the jeweler thinks you just chose to not have a wedding band.

You decide you might as well plan weddings for a living as the next best thing to having a wedding.  It’s not the same, believe me!

You want a shoulder to cry on and then get back to your life.

You didn’t notice that your fiance' shaved off his beard two weeks ago.  

You feel like a real estate agent doing a comparative market analysis as you are looking at venues.

You’ve inherited 20 weddings worth of decorations.

You didn’t think that planning a wedding would be like a part time job.

Your vacation time is being spent visiting venues and vendors instead of having a honeymoon in the tropics.  

Janis Flagg is the owner of Greatest of Days, Event/Wedding Planning and Design, 

Greatest of Days 

To sign up for our weekly E-zine "Wedding & Event Dialogue" click here.  

Copyright 2012, Greatest of Days 

Secrets to Color Cycles Influencing Weddings

I blog about weddings and alert people about what they need to be aware of in planning for a wedding.  So I think I'll let you relax a little bit now!  Maybe you would like to hear about trends regarding colors.  Just as in fashion,  interior design and even in the colors of cars, colors for weddings are selected up to as much as 6 years in advance of when they actually show up in the stores.  One of my favorite sources for the color palettes is a company called Pantone. They are saying that they have added 175 colors alone in their Spring 2012 collection since their Fall 2011 collection was revealed.  Ladies, have you ever thought it was a miracle that you found a pair of shoes that matched your dress perfectly?  Sorry, it's not an accident!  If they were "born" about the same time, things will follow a certain palette for quite a while.   One thing I would never suggest is that you become too matchy-matchy. There are going to be variations in colors just depending upon the texture of any material and lighting. Make a note of what a wall color looks like at different times of the day.  Photographers will know what I'm talking about!  A long time ago I heard that there were over 200 shades of white.  So with that being said, just let go of some things. Things aren't identical and symmetrical in nature.  Our eyes don't even see things exactly the same from person to person.  That is a complete blog/e-zine in itself, but I won't do that to you!  


Happy coloring!

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Wishing you the greatest of days!

www.greatestofdays.com

RSVP! How to handle those non-RSVP's!

R.S.V.P.  ( répondez s'il vous plaît) or Respond Please!  Why this is so important (and frustrating) for anyone planning a wedding or other event!  Here's some RSVP 101 and my devious ideas! 

  

Does anyone understand the significance of this?  They might not!  That is, until they are the ones planning an event.  It comes down to showing a host the common courtesy of knowing whether you are going to be attending or not.  For a wedding, it can influence the costs tremendously!  Most people think that it's just the cost of the food.  That is the biggest concern, but a lot of people don't think of the extra costs that a bride and groom might incur because they want to make sure that no one goes hungry or doesn't have a place to sit.  Here are some extra expenses you might not even think of in addition to the food.  If a person doesn't have an accurate count it can add to wasted money on tables, chairs, chair covers, chair sashes, tablecloths, napkins, glassware, stemware, centerpieces, cutlery, etc.  These things do not always come automatically with the catering.  (More on that in another newsletter!)  When people don't RSVP by a certain date is causes unprecedented stress on the bride, groom and their families when they least need it!  They already have enough things on their minds and have the extra weight due other's lack of courtesy.  

 

If only you could put in the invitation...if you don't RSVP and you show up, you will be sitting on the floor, be the last ones to be called up to the buffet line, wish you had brought a plate, eat the food with your fingers, wipe your mouth on your sleeve, go thirsty...and be roasted, (oops!) toasted during the reception.  Maybe you can just give the name of the town where the wedding will be and not give the location of the wedding until they RSVP.  I've never thought of that before! Hmmm. You could make them get up and dance during the reception, but instead of dancing to Y-M-C-A, you could make them do the same only to the letters R-S-V-P.  It's your party, you can do what you want to!  8)

Wishing you the greatest of days!

http://www.greatestofdays.com/

www.greatestofdaysweddingsandevents.blogspot.com

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NkKIjSu9dbA

http://twitter.com/#!/greatestofdays

http://www.facebook.com/greatestofdays

Accepted as Guest Blogger for GatheringGuide.com

To sign up for our weekly E-zine "Wedding & Event Dialogue" click on this link.  http://www.greatestofdays.com/e-zine.html

Featured in: Not My Mother's Wedding, blog for Mothers of the Bride

Founder of South King County Event and Wedding Vendors

The 6th largest Wedding Vendors networking group in the world through Meetup.com.

http://www.meetup.com/South-King-County-Event-and-Wedding-Vendors/