Monday, March 28, 2011

Planning Your Modern Wedding

By Ann Daniels


The demand for more modern weddings is understandable, given that many of the traditions associated with the marriage ceremony have roots in diferent times and cultures in which marriage was very often a political strategy or a business agreement rather than a love match.

Although a really good wedding happens when all of the elements work well together, the top priority as far as material goods are concerned should be the wedding bands. They are the only items or wearables that will get any use beyond the day of the ceremony, so before the cake or even the clothes, the rings should be the couple's main concern. Modern wedding bands provide many more options than the old-school standards of domed, gold, and plain. Particularly, elements like other precious stones, eternity styles, and cutting-edge metals like titanium, ceramic, and tungsten have opened the door to perfectly personalized contemporary rings.

Tungsten carbide rings, commonly abbreviated as "tungsten rings" are perhaps the most modern choice one can make in picking the right jewelry for a cutting-edge contemporary wedding. These rings are very hard and strong, scratch-resistant, and tarnish-proof, and they look great with a brushed or polished finish, laser etching, and all of the other distinctive design accents tungsten rings and the related technology make possible.

Coming back to the actual day-of necessities, music is a major part of any event and an important choice in setting the mood and tone for the atmosphere you want to create for yourselves and your guests. In the last few years I've become something of a professional bridesmaid/maid of honor, and the best weddings weren't the ones that stuck to tradition or tossed it out completely just for the sake of doing either. Instead, those couples figured out a basic structure for the ceremony with the traditional elements they found appealing, and built upon that to create something all their own. A great example of doing this with music is a friend's ceremony that used both Pachelbel's Canon and a song by the Beatles for the entrance of the wedding party and couple.

The rules have changed regarding wedding flowers as well-- the white roses and baby's breath of traditional bouquets are now often edged out by bright colors, exotic plants, and non-floral accents like ribbons and crystals. For the wedding I discussed above, the bride carried a bouquet of flowers sculpted from metal and glass while we bridesmaids held bunches of peacock feathers.

There are many other ways that a modern wedding can reflect the particular personalities and tastes of the couple as well. Weddings themed to a particular era like Tudor England or American 1920s, wedding dresses in a rainbow of colors, ceremonies that include children or pets, and many more options to make your day as special as it can be are now at your feet.




About the Author:



No comments: