Hubpages Weddings

A wedding is a ceremony that celebrates the beginning of a marriage or civil union between two people; many changes to the service have occurred in recent years. The ceremony is an opportunity to perform a traditional service and celebrate with friends and family. the marriage certificate must be signed at the end of the service for the law to legitimize the couple's relationship. There are a great many traditions around the world but the terms bride and groom before the couple are married are seemingly universal; after the ceremony they become a wife and a husband, respectively.

Weddings in a Religious Building

Other wedding traditions vary according to the religion, race, ethnic group and even class the couple may belong too. Traditionally the church is the most popular venue, where the ceremony is presided over by a Christian priest. The traditional white wedding as we know it is really only a service that is popular in the United States, the United Kingdom, Ireland and some other Commonwealth countries.

Double Ceremonies

A double marriage is a single ceremony where two couples rendezvous for two separate ceremonies; this often happens where a person has a brother or sister that decides to tie the knot at the same time and it is not unheard of for two brothers to marry two sisters this way.

Destination Wedding Ceremonies

Marriages in foreign countries are called destination weddings where guests can arrive either just before the ceremony or actually travel with the couple; whether this happens for an intimate beach ceremony in the Caribbean, or extravagant nuptials in Las Vegas, it will qualify as a destination wedding.

Themed Weddings

Two day or weekend weddings are a great way to extend the ceremony and festivities as an increasing number of people are finding out. To cater for an expanding market a number of companies arrange special themed occasions that incorporate anything from golf to surfing. For many people that have outdoor interests this can be a lot of fun and the guests can stay for the weekend with them to extend the occasion.

Online Weddings

Although it has not really caught on yet, a few bold and different people have decided to tie the knot online but it may be sometime before this style of wedding really becomes more popular; internet companies specializing in this type of ceremony are there to help you with your marriage. An online wedding also refers to where a couple decides to have their marriage ceremony broadcast live on the internet.

Civil Ceremonies Civil weddings have to be carried out by a local justice of the peace, judge, even a mayor can carry out the ceremony and most places out side of a church will use one of these people. For people that elect this type of ceremony it is not important to them if God or religion is referred to in such a brief service. Owing to the brevity of these ceremonies, the persons getting married do not mind if they are carried out in a city hall or even a courtroom.

With a little bit of luck, your understanding of weddings and marriage may be a little greater after reading this.

If you are in the process of arranging your wedding you will probably know how important wedding favors are these days. Fortunately, there are a number of different options which are very easy to arrange at the last minute. Favors do not have to be stressful part of organizing the special day when there are other more important things that require your time.

Flowers are undoubtedly one easy wedding favor you can give to your guests. There is virtually no preparation involved in this and depending on how many guests you have you may not have to order them well in advance.

Many people who choose flowers decide on a single red rose for each guest as a symbol of their love. You can simply purchase one for each guest and have a member of the catering staff, a friend or family member place one rose across each place setting after the tables have been set for the wedding reception.

These days the favorite is using candy and almost three quarters of events will use this as an easy wedding favor which can be enhanced by using a presentation tin. A simpler but possibly more interesting method is to present the candy that does away with expensive centerpieces altogether. Now, how simple is a large glass bowl filled with candy going to be in the centre of the table?

To complete this idea, a small plain bag or carton can be left for each wedding guest to put their candy into. Your guests will fill up the presentation containers with the candy in the centerpieces making this an extremely convenient gift which does not involve any wrapping.

Although candy is popular, you may wish to give your guests a picture frame which is longer lasting and more useful. Where possible, try to find a way around wrapping wedding favors, especially the likes of picture frames which could take a considerable amount of time, not to mention the cost. If you use the frames to hold the place cards however, wrapping will not be necessary.

Another easy wedding favor option to end this article is to arrange for a professional photographer to attend the wedding reception and take a photo of every couple as they arrive looking their best. If he brings along a printer you can distribute the photos before your guests begin to leave the reception. As everyone will be looking at their best this is a wedding favor they will really enjoy; seeing themselves this way in a professional photo. As a little extra you could ask the photographer if he could bring along a small projector and have a slide show during the reception when guest can see the photos he has taken.

At almost wedding you are fortunate to attend, the bride and groom will have spent some time choosing a wedding favor for all their guests. Easy wedding favors can save a great deal of time when there is so much else that needs doing.

Bookmarks are easy wedding favors and another great way for people to remember your special day because you can buy special card, design and even print them out from your home computer, perhaps with a picture of you and your partner at the top and your names and the date of your wedding.

Printed on ivory card if possible as it looks the best, then attach a black ribbon on top, or change the colors depending on the theme of your wedding so whenever someone reads a book, they can remember you and your special day and it also makes them feel special to have been a part of it. You could also consider candy bars as these are now very well received wedding favors that don't cost a great deal per guest when they are personalized providing you do not intend to buy hundreds of them.

This easy wedding favor idea can be made by creating a unique and individual wrapper any desk top publishing program or even in Microsoft Word on your home computer.

This idea can actually work very well if you use candy bars that have similar size wrappers, or use Hershey bars which always prove to be popular, and use the wrappers as a guide for the one you are creating. Although if you want to save time, why not by an inexpensive computer design program to create the wrappers for you and of course you can always use this again in the future.

Another wedding favor favorite is candles as these are not expensive and can create quite an effect with a little thought and imagination. More recently as candles are given as wedding favors, votive candles in their special holders have become the more normal gift, only requiring a special label to be attached with details for the wedding which you can produce yourself if you prefer a more hands on approach.

The use of large plain Church candles in whatever color theme you choose is also in vogue at the moment as an easy wedding favor and they can be decorated in a number of ways and engraved with the wedding day details. By wrapping an inch wide satin ribbon around the candle using a complementary or contrasting color, it can look very effective but only if it doesn't cover your candle design.

If you prefer to give your guest a gift they can eat and keep then why not use gift boxes which you can fill with your favorite types of candy and as an easy wedding favor you can't go wrong with this one, even if they eat the candy on the day, they will still have the box to remember it by. The boxes do not have to all the same shape of design so will be highly visible especially if you build a tower or other shape on each of the tables they have been placed.

The idea behind easy wedding favors is the effect they give without a huge amount of work or cost involved.

It is incredible just how much money a wedding costs these days,the cost these days is between twenty to twenty-five thousand dollars on average, which can put couples off. It may feel as if you must have an expensive wedding or miss out, this is not the case as huge savings can be made without sacrificing that much,you can still have a wonderful day even though it might be a cheap wedding although you might not be convinced yet! This article hopes to show some of the areas where money can be saved,perhaps using the savings on something more worthwhile.

Second Hand Hand Made Gown

That hand-made wedding dress is going to be the most costly individual item. Selling previously owned wedding dresses is an area which is becoming more popular; when a bride-to-be realizes she can have a quality handmade dress for half the cost of a new one or even renting it for the day, this begins to make sense.

Wedding Reception Preparations

With the wedding reception requiring the most planning and portion of the budget, this is the area to make reductions,if you want a cheap wedding, this is where you may have to start, firstly by reducing the number on the guest list. Reducing the number of people who attend, including distant relatives or friends you haven't been in contact with for years, will help enormously; you can even carry out some of the catering yourself and have a hot and cold buffet style meal instead of a four courses.

Other cost reductions can be made in where the wedding reception is held; it could take place in a friend's house or a local club where money could be saved on beverages if they are supplied directly.

The Wedding Photographer

Photographers are expensive but there is generally no need to hire one for the whole day; why not have your friends and relatives take pictures during the reception. Some people save money by dispensing with the professional photographer entirely; using a friend or relation may sound strange at first but you can guarantee one of them is a keen amateur photographer.

PC Produced Contemporary Wedding Stationery

It is also easy to save money on your wedding by designing and printing all your own stationery; with a good computer program and a home printer it is amazing how professional the results are these days. Many people are now competent enough to produce near professional quality work; problems and errors can be corrected quickly without regular visits to the printers.

Floral Arrangements

Florists and flower arranging can be very expensive, especially for special occasions; why not buy them direct and arrange them yourself or enroll a friend to do this for you. There is no reason why a friend or relative can't bake the wedding cake; this will save more money plus the traditional fruit cake does not have to be used as there are many other fillings that people enjoy.

Wedding Cars and Limousines

One last thing: luxury limousines, although nice, are costly so ask someone you know if you can use their car and make further savings; they may even have a luxury car of their own.

Savings can be made everywhere if you just know where to look but this doesn't mean it has to look like a cheap wedding; who will care providing everyone enjoys the occasion!