Today we start a new continuing feature here at weddingsetups.com: a look at wedding traditions from around the world. You can use these articles to honor your family’s heritage during your wedding ceremony, wherever it takes place. Or, you can celebrate the bride or groom’s culture during a pre-wedding party (an article with ideas for these parties will follow).

German Wedding Traditions

Festive Felony

In the smaller villages, the bride may be ‘kidnapped’. The groom looks for her in the local pubs, often picking up the tab for all of the customers or inviting them along in the search.

Housewrecker

There is a house party before the wedding that ends with all of the dishes getting smashed for good luck. The “lucky” bride and groom have to clean up the mess.

German Wedding Food

The bride and groom snack on bread when they first arrive at their home after the wedding, to symbolize that they will never go hungry.

Wedding Cake

The traditional wedding cake is Baumkuchen, which is often made in stacked rings but can also come in the shape of a rectangular cake or small squares. The one below is from konditorei-werner.de, warning: if you visit this site it will make you want to fly to Germany for some dessert!

German Wedding Attire

Tasty Accessories

Traditionally, the bride carries bread and salt to symbolize a good harvest and the groom carries grain, which is a symbol for good luck and health. This is also an aspect of traditional Polish Weddings, to read all about them please visit polishwedding.blogspot.com – a very useful and informative source. Photo: Polishwedding.blogspot.com.

Yes, but how far can you throw it?

In Germany the bride passes her veil on to the next woman to be married, rather than throwing the bouquet.

German Wedding Decorations

Sharing a Cup

Another tradition is for the bride and groom to drink from a special cup that lets them both drink at the same time. This is based on the “Legend of the Maiden Bridal Cup” and you can buy one of the beautiful cups at mayhemltd.com.This cup would also make a thoughful gift to the bride from the groom. The cup, and it’s beautiful story could also be used to propose!

Flower Horse Power

In Germany, real flowers are used to decorate the cars, rather than the ribbons, bows, and plastic flowers often used in North America.

Important German Words

Wedding: Hochzeit

Bride: Braut

Groom: Brautigam

Recently we looked at the beautiful possibilities presented by a wedding with a white theme (White Weddings That Are Hot, November 10, 2009). This week we’re going to look at a different kind of white wedding: one that happens when it’s snowing outside.

Winter Wedding Wonderland

A snowy setting can be a winter wonderland but it also presents it’s own challenges. For example, it’s cold out and we want the beautiful b-r-r-r-r-r-r-bride to look gorgeous (and comfortable) in the photos.

What to Wear

Winter Wedding Photography Tips is an article that offers some expert advice (it looks like they are based out of Utah so they know what they are talking about). They advise you to bring a cape or jacket to keep warm between shots, bring hand warmers, wear warm leggings under your dress, and that you can wear boots in the snow because your dress will hide them!

Light Up The Night

An evening wedding in a snowy setting give you an opportunity to shine. Select a venue with floor to ceiling windows looking out on to a park. Decorate the outdoors with hundreds of tiny white lights and stage your entrance for maximum effect.

Arrive in a horse and carriage.

www.whisperingpinesranchandcarriage.com

An outdoor arrival also allows you and your wedding party the exciting opportunity to dress for the occasion! Check out this stunning floor length fur cape.

romanticgowns.com

silkandsable.com

Bring the Outdoors Inside

Run a luxurious white carpet down the church aisle and decorate the aisle seating with white feathers that will evoke fluffy snow. Make sure you have an ice sculpture at your reception, of course – or, go all out and get an ice bar!

Some Cool Examples

Most importantly, no matter what the season, your wedding should also be FUN for it to be a success. Here are some examples of beautiful weddings that don’t take themselves too seriously.

Crystal Mountain Resort & Spa Michigan – the bride wears a white coat over her dress and the children in the wedding party wear black bottoms with white winter coats. The snow (and the exercise!) accentuate her rosy cheeks, making her a true blushing bride. From the footage it seems like the wedding manages to be fun and beautiful at the same time.

Another fun example from Sun Peaks resort in British Columbia Canada. The wedding took place at a cute mountain chapel on clear, sunny winter day. The flower girl leaves petals along the snow path in vibrant colors. The bridesmaids wear dresses with cute winter boots. The father of the bride looks cool as can be in sunglasses to shield his eyes from the sun bouncing off the snow (or to hide his tears if he get misty!). Check out the end when the bride casually snowboards down the slopes in her dress!

Destination Weddings are becoming more popular every year. They are a great way to make your special event even more special. And, perhaps surprisingly, they are often less expensive than a traditional wedding in your hometown!

There are websites that will help you plan your destination wedding.

destinationweddings.com

This site boasts that 89,101 weddings have been created with its site. It allows you to create a free website for your wedding event. The site has exclusive offers for destination weddings all over the world (including cruise ships). It generates a ’save the date’ announcement that you can send to your invited guests. Guests also make their travel arrangements through the same coordinator so that everyone can benefit from the same group rates and hotel/air packages. Guests can also purchase your wedding gift online from the honeymoon registry, which might include a day at the hotel spa or flowers for the honeymoon suite!

islandbrides.com

This site offers many of the same services but specializes in island weddings in the Caribbean (over 30 destinations).

luxedestinationweddings.com

This site advertises itself as specializing in “unique, luxury group destination weddings”. The website is impressive and worth a visit. It offers a wide variety of locations as well and allows you to customize your event with special features. This site also offers several honeymoons in its Luxe Honeymoon Collection.

After the event, photos and video of the wedding ceremony and reception can be viewed at the couple’s wedding website.

Destination Weddings: Trip Tips

1. Marriage Licenses and Laws

Laws governing marriage differ from country to country (and in some countries, the are different in each province or state). One example close to home: many people think they can just run off to Las Vegas and get married but that’s not quite true. It’s wise to get your marriage license beforehand – otherwise you might end up in a long line up. Also, the office isn’t open 24 hours so it’s not like you can suddenly decide to get hitched at 3am and then hurry over to a chapel. Getting married in Mexico? There is a 2-3 day waiting period and mandatory blood tests that cost $125 each.

2. Travel Arrangements

Don’t forget about your guests when making your travel arrangements. It’s much easier to get a group rate or package and then offer it to everyone so that your guests are all staying at the same location and you have some control over their arrival/departures. This will be easier if you find out approximately how many guests will be attending and what dates work for them first. Then you can make some plans and get back to them with an estimate of the cost before you ask them to commit.

3. Don’t Take It Personally

If you decide to have a destination wedding, be prepared that not everyone you invite will be able to attend. The positive side to this is that you extend an invitation to many people (which will make them happy) and that you will end up spending much less on the reception dinner, wedding favors, etc than you would if you had your wedding locally! The negative side is that some people you really care about may not be able to afford the travel expenses. Never, ever put pressure on them – this will only take away from the fun atmosphere at the event. This may be one of the biggest days in your life, but remember that your guests have lives of their own that they need to pay for.

Destination Weddings for Less

Expert Advice

Marcy Blum, famous event planner talks about Destination Weddings on howdini.com.