Subtle Memorial Ideas for Your Wedding

There are many tasteful ways to remember loved ones that have passed on. The key is to make is meaningful for the Bride, Groom and the family; but not uncomfortable for the guests. A wedding is a celebration of new love and life. It is also a celebration of the heart and family. There is a fine balance that you must keep in order to "do it right." Here are a few suggestions:

• Add their name(s) to the program ("Remembering those who are with us in spirit.")
• The Bride or Groom can wear something that belonged to the deceased. For example, the bride could wear a piece of jewelry; the groom a pocket watch, or perhaps cuff links.
• Include them in the prayer.
• Create a charm and add it into the bridal bouquet. A charm could be a small picture inserted into the bouquet, a vintage handkerchief wrapped around the bottom of the bouquet, or perhaps a photo pinned on the brides slip.
• Set up a memorial table with pictures of your loved ones and have a lighted memorial candle next to it.
• Play a favorite song of the person.
• Have memorial candles or vases of flowers.

Last but not least, here are two items that are both classy and sensible that could be used. I personally love the feather/angel pin. It's subtle, sweet and "nice":

Angel Wings - Designed to acknowledge family members or friends who have passed away but remain forever in your heart. This pearlized angel wing pin is beautifully presented atop a real feather and then attached to a heavy stock card. The angel wings can be pinned into the bride's bouquet or inside the hem of her gown as a reminder of those who are missed. The poetry card is available in six different versions including Dad, Mom, Grandma, Grandpa, Someone Special and Special Friend.

Rememberance Vase - Celebrate and honor the life of your loved ones who have passed with this hand blown glass vase to be placed on the altar or another special area at the ceremony or reception. You may choose to have the vase personalized with a specific name or something more general such as "Our Loved Ones" or "Our Grandparents", up to 22 characters and spaces. Personalization will be placed under the word "Remembering".

Rachael Ray Party Tricks... Place Cards for Seating

Rachael Ray has done it again! An easy way to make your own Seating Place Cards. All with the flick of the keyboard. All you have to do is take the time and buy the paper. Can't beat Rachael's affordable tips and ideas. Click here to access the site! Best of all it's free. Other tips by Rachael include: buying cloth napkins at a discount store and stamp or stencil each guests (or the bride and groom's initials) on them; Cut slits in the tops of dinner rolls, and place the seating cards in each slit. Take pictures of guests as they arrive with a polaroid, then punch holes in the top of the photos and hang them from the back of the chairs.

All great tips for your party events!

Borrowed and Blue ... Think outside the box when planning your wedding.

Borrowed and Blue

Cinderella got to have glass slippers, horses, and a grand ball to which the whole kingdom was invited. Princess Diana got a crown and scepter and world-wide syndication. How does the image of what you've envisioned for your dream day match up to your check book balance?

Unless you have extremely wealthy and generous parents, think about the debt you can incur planning your dream day. You could be $25,000 or $50,000 in wedding debt before you even leave for your honeymoon. Is it worth all that? Or would it be better to have a smaller affair and spend that extra dough on something else - like a down payment on a house?

Last summer, my family witnessed a wonderful, unusual beachfront wedding at our condo on Panama City Beach, Florida with a balcony that faces the ocean. While relaxing on the balcony near dusk, we noticed two sunburned men in tuxedo shirts and white Bermuda shorts dragging a plastic rose-laden trellis down toward the ocean. Stopping 10 feet before the water, they tilted the flowery rental piece upward until it was vertical and shoved it in the ground, digging the latticework into the sand with their bare feet.

Two minutes later, a bottle blonde in a white vinyl minidress hauled out a boom box and placed it next to the trellis. Next, a man who appeared to be the father of the bride, (also Bermuda-clad, with a boutonniere) dragged a blanket printed with "Holiday Inn" down to the trellis and spread it out in front. Next, three kids and five adults came and sat on the blanket, two disposable cameras in tow. The woman in vinyl pushed "Play" on the boom box with the bare big tow of her left foot, and "Here Comes the Bride" warbled out the speakers, with extra bass.

Miss Vinyl then ran back to the rec room of the condo, where she quickly reappeared holding the hand of her loved one. A minister in a flowery Hawaiian shirt followed them. They step-touched their way to the lattice, which blew over in a big ocean breeze - but the father of the bride and best man saved it before it smacked the kids in the face. They shoved it back into the sand.

Those two got married that evening, at sunset, facing the waves and everyone who was important to them on a blanket. If we squinted our eyes, we could see the word "MONICA" tattooed on the groom's calf with a pierced heart underneath it. They kissed passionately. Then they invited everyone on the beach back to the rec room, where there was cake from Piggly Wiggly and margaritas waiting on the pool table.

My point? Yes, your wedding day is a big deal. But it's only the first day of a long, hilarious, hard, exciting journey. Your can still have a wildly romantic wedding and a wonderful party for all your friends and family without breaking your savings - or, even worse, going into debt. When matching your Dream Wedding with your Reality Balance Statement, think outside the box.

Cost of the Wedding at Panama City Beach

Latticework trellis (41"x 61"), tied with plastic roses $21.95
Batteries for the boom box (6 D size) $8.50
Two disposable cameras, 36 picture exposure $15.00
"Wedding Favorites" cassette tape $3.99
Sheet cake from Piggly Wiggly $12.00
Margaritas (for 20) from scratch, top-shelf tequilla included $92.00
Total Cost $145.94

Planning a Spring Wedding or Easter Wedding

Dot's So Sweet

From YouTube comes one of those wonderful midcentury cartoons that makes you wonder how mainstream animated shorts became so brain-dead by the early 70s (Hanna-Barbera, I believe). The Dot and the Line: A Romance in Lower Mathematics is a Chuck Jones production from 1965; it won an Oscar, it darn near won a Golden Palm at Cannes, and it's just been nominated for the I Can't Believe They Got Away With That Math Joke Nobel. Enjoy and have a great day!

The Easter or Spring Wedding

Exchanging vows in the season of spring is romantic and fresh. There is no other way to phrase it. A new marriage in bloom, just like the trees don their new buds, grass springs from the ground and flowers begin to show their petals.

If you're planning a spring wedding, you should go completely with a spring wedding theme and include the freshness of the season. Elements to include in your spring wedding theme can include garden elements, fresh fruit, herbs, wildflowers, birds, doves, spring flowers, Easter candies and pastel colors.

One example of embracing the season, is for the bride and bridesmaids to wear wreaths of wildflowers in their hair, or carry bouquets of wildflowers. The groom and groomsmen may wear wildflower boutonnieres. Other common wedding flowers that bloom in spring include tulips, irises, lilacs and daffodils. Another nice idea is for the Bride to carry a simple Bible instead of a bouquet, or a Bible with a small bouquet of flowers. Instead of having a flower girl scatter rosebuds, you may have her scatter a mixture of wildflower or daisy petals. After the ceremony, instead of leaving the ceremony in a shower of rice or bubbles, consider birdseed, butterflies, releasing doves or wildflower petals.

Consider an outside reception if available and if the weather permits. If you want to keep it "light" choose background music that is light and uplifting, such as flute or harp music.

As for decorations at your spring theme wedding reception, consider displaying wildflowers in clear vases or metal buckets. Bunches of fresh or dried herbs, such as lavender and rosemary, may be mixed in with bouquets. For table centerpieces, floating candles and flowers in bowls are a simply beautiful addition to the table. To make your own, purchase silk flowers, such as roses or daisies, and immerse them in clear glass bowls filled with water. Then add floating candles, perhaps in the shape of flowers, to the top of the water. Light the candles and enjoy.

For spring wedding theme favors, consider wine glass charms in the shape of daisies, butterflies and garden tools. Attach the favors to wine glasses at the tables, and on the place-card at each table setting, note that the charms are for the guests to keep. Another idea would be to place seed packets in miniature terra cotta pots, and tie a ribbon around each pot with an instructions tag tied to the ribbon, telling the guests how to plant their seeds.

Have A Jelly Belly Wedding

Brides are constantly dreaming up unique ideas for their wedding days. Evidence of this is in the wedding venue and theme. Lori Woolery and Daymon Tracy of Pleasant Prairie, Wisconsin, tied the knot at a Jelly Belly Store known as the Jelly Belly Junction. To complete the sweet tooth wedding, Lori was actually escorted down the aisle by a human sized red jelly bean in a top hat and gold bow tie! William Kelley, the vice chairman of the Jelly Belly Candy Co., drove from the company offices in North Chicago, Ill., to attend this unusual event. After the ceremony ended the couple and the wedding party took a tour of the premise on the Jelly Belly train.

What a fun and novel wedding concept!

For more spring tips visit the Laptop Bride Spring Tips Newsletter