5 Wedding Traditions to Ditch (Volume #4)

The white wedding dress is great and classic.  With that said, don’t be afraid to mix it up with something that speaks more directly to you and your relationship.  It’s important to remember that your wedding day isn’t to appease your friends and family, instead it’s your day to celebrate your love; your friends and family are there to support that!  Still, try to veer towards a timeless look regardless of color because in ten, twenty, fifty years from now you’re going to want to be proud of your choice when looking back on your photos.

Speaking of photos, try to put a larger focus on candid and authentic moments rather than staged photos.  A pic of laughter after someone stumbled over a rug is far more telling of the special day than perfect lighting, perfect poses, and half smiles with deadeyes staring into the oblivion of a camera lens.  You’ll want to talk to your photographer ahead of time with what your expectations are.  Smiling on cue and “being on” can be exhausting so limit the formal photos and emphasize the fun with a skilled photographer peering through viewfinder for ideal moments throughout the event.

That plated surf-n-turf sounds so good three months away from the big day and tastes delicious at the wedding planning meeting with your planner but try to consider a few things.  First, the fanciness of your food doesn’t define your marriage or quality of your wedding.  Next, you’ve probably been to a handful of weddings, ask yourself this question: “which wedding had the best food?”  Chances are you don’t know because as a guest you didn’t care; even at the weddings with a suspiciously similar surf-n-turf dish.  The bride and groom rarely take the time to sit down and enjoy their meal at its proper temperature anyway, so consider other ideas.  One option to consider is food stations.  Oftentimes less food is wasted than in a buffet or plated meal, and the food is usually prepared per person rather than in bulk; which means that no matter how long it takes for you to get to your food a fresh dish is ready for you in moments.  Not to mention your friends don’t know which fork to use so save them the embarrassment.

It’s common to say that the wedding day belongs to the bride or that it’s “her special day” but it’s important to know that it’s “their special day.”  Don’t overlook the monumental day for the groom and don’t fail to recognize that it’s a celebration and commitment that both parties are making.  So, Bridezillas, chill out and remember that the most important factor to you having a perfect wedding is the groom.

The history of diamonds goes back to, possibly, before plant life.  The history of diamond wedding/engagement rings goes all the way back to the 1930s. That’s right, this ancient tradition of exchanging a diamond for a promise to “have and to hold” isn’t even 100 years old.  Better yet, it’s a tradition created by De Beers Diamonds in a marketing campaign – a very successful marketing campaign.  (second only to the bacon marketing campaign ten years earlier; seriously, check it out) But a diamond lasts forever, right?  Yea, like most stones and metals.  But diamonds are worth a lot, right?  Diamonds are worth a lot because we say they are worth a lot.  They essentially have about ¼ the value of what you’re buying them for and that is still based on them being “pretty.” The uses of real diamonds (where not yet replaced by synthetic) include only a few areas such as medical devices and as a tool to cut other diamonds.  That pretty much means we need diamonds so we can cut more diamonds so we can cut more diamonds.  The diamonds used in medical devices are so small that, trust us, she wouldn’t be impressed.  Beyond that, the movie Blood Diamond isn’t just a swashbuckling adventure with the bad guy from Push (it’s a movie you probably haven’t seen), Growing Pains’ Luke Brower, and that girl from the Labyrinth, it’s reflecting reality in certain parts of Africa where people are enslaved and killed because girls across the ocean want a pretty rock.  Consider showing your love with a different gem.