Wedding Wednesday: Traditions - What We're Keeping and What We're Doing Away With

This Wednesday I'm here to talk about wedding traditions.  Wedding traditions can vary vastly depending on who you are talking to. It also depends on where you live.  I've read a lot about some traditions that seem to be uniquely southern in my planners and magazines. One of those is burying bourbon.  You are supposed to bury an unopened bottle of bourbon as close as you can to where you will be saying your vows so it won't rain on your wedding day and exactly one month before your wedding day.  After the ceremony you're supposed to dig it up and drink it with your wedding party! This sounds like a fun thing to do but I don't think we could manage to get away with that at Indiana University!  So this southern tradition won't be making our list. Here's some more traditions and whether or not we plan to keep them for our special day.

Groom's Cake
I love the idea of the groom's cake.  There are so many fun and unique things you can do with a groom's cake.  We aren't really sure what we are doing with our wedding cake yet so I haven't put much thought into whether or not we will do a groom's cake yet either.  I have some ideas in mind should we decide to carry on with this particular tradition.

First Look vs No First Look

By tradition the bride and groom see each other for the first time when she walks down the aisle.  In recent years it is more and more common to create a first look moment prior to the ceremony.  We will definitely have a first look.  We will be taking much of our wedding photos prior to the ceremony so we have opted to start that process with a first look moment (probably at the Sample Gates).  Even if we weren't having the photos done then, I would probably still opt for a first look before we started the ceremony as a way to ease my nerves.

Traditional Vows vs Written Vows

One of the things Wyatt said the day he proposed to me is that he was saving the very sentimental and sweet things for his vows.  He was very up front about wanting to write our own vows.  I was initially on the fence about it because that seems like a lot of pressure on me. I have no doubt Wyatt will create the loveliest vows that leave me in (happy) tears so my thought was there is no way I can live up to that standard! As we get further in the planning process, however, I am coming to love the idea more and more.  I cannot wait to recite our own meaningful vows to one another!

Unity Candle

This is one tradition that neither of us really loved.  To be fair we don't hate it either.  We just have no preference either way about it.  Would it be nice to have our mothers light the candles that we then use to light a single candle to signify the families coming together?  Sure.  With that being said we will have been together for 7 years by our wedding day and we have already began meshing our families together.  This is one tradition we are currently planning to forego as part of our ceremony.  

First Dances

We will definitely be doing a first dance, a father-daughter dance, and a mother-son dance!  These are traditions I know we and our parents will remember for years to come!  We are already in the process of picking the perfect songs.  We think we have our first dance song choice narrowed down between two songs.  Now we just have to figure out which it will be.  I have some ideas already for my father-daughter dance too.  To be honest, though I love the idea of these dances and sentimental value of it, I'm also a bit nervous to be dancing in front of so many people as the center of attention.  

Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed, Something Blue

This is one of those traditions that is just a MUST do in my book.  The whole idea of all the pieces just seems so special.  I have some options in mind for several of them and am just waiting to get closer to the big day before I decide what I want to use.  One thing I'm considering is a ring my mom gave me that my dad had given her as my something blue (or old).

Garter Toss and Bouquet Toss

This is one of those traditions that I always dread.  I never enjoyed being singled out.  Keeping in mind that we already didn't really care for this tradition and the fact that we won't have that many 'single' people at the wedding, we decided we are ditching this tradition.  We will get to spend more time with our friends and family now too.

Veil vs No Veil

Wearing a veil is an old tradition that many brides still do to this day.  I've never not pictured myself as a bride with a veil.  When I had my first dress shopping appointment and they added the veil to the dress I was considering, it just made it all feel real.  It pulled the whole experience together for me.  It was at that appointment that my mom mentioned that she thought it would be nice if she made my veil.  It makes me heart happy to think about including her in that way.