Why I Would Refuse to Plan a Traditional Wedding

Why I Would Refuse to Plan a Traditional Wedding

I got married 13 years ago, which was before Pinterest or a strong online community for the wedding industry. I didn't know much about wedding etiquette and I relied heavily on my mother and friends who had recently married. I spent hours in the car driving around to bridal stores (which I found in the phone book) looking at their inventory. I did attend a wedding-themed expo that came to town and collected a bunch of business cards from various venders, a few of which I contacted further for pricing.

But a lot of my wedding ideas came from a manila folder that my mom pulled out of a filing cabinet. She’d collected and stored magazine clippings, invitations and other papers with various ideas for wedding planning. I let a lot of decisions be made by what had comebeforeand other people’s expectations, not what I wanted. At the time I was happy with my wedding and while I don't look back now with disappointment, I do have regrets and I know I would plan things a lot differently if I got married today.

Today browsing through Pinterest, I can appreciate how creative and individualistic weddings have become. One need only to visit OffbeatBride.com to find a wide spectrum of people with unique tastes and wedding plans.

That is why I now subscribe to only one rule: don't be bound by the old conventional rules of wedding planning. Insert individuality and personality into your ceremony and reception so that even a perfect stranger attending would get a feel for who you and your fiancé really are.

Let’s take wedding cakes for example. If you like the thought of a 3-tiered, frosting-covered elegant wedding cake, then by all means – order one.

However, maybe you’d rather have a cake with more color:

there are cupcake wedding cakes:

geek wedding cakes:

tiered wedding pies:

tiered wedding pizzas:

naked wedding cakes (no exterior frosting):

pancakes:

and the list can go on and on having only scratched the surface of possible cake combinations and I haven’t even mentioned cake toppers yet.

Then when you apply this same variety to wedding venues, invitations, dresses, decorations, bouquets, food, etc., the possibilities are endless and indeed, no wedding need ever look the same.

To sum up, plan the wedding you want; be creative, don’t be afraid to engage in do-it-yourself projects, keep to your budget, but have fun! For my part, I would have included gerbera daisies at my wedding. They are such a bright, cheery flower and I think they look lovely in a wedding bouquet.

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