6 Ways to Break Tradition
So you’re looking for ways to break those traditions, huh?
GIRL, YOU CAME TO THE RIGHT. PLACE. I DON’T LIKE TO BRAG OR ANYTHING, BUT I’M THE QUEEN OF BREAKING TRADITIONS. MY APPRECIATION FOR BREAKING TRADITIONS HAS GROWN SOOOOO MUCH DURING MY TIME OF BEING A WEDDING PLANNER. I COULD LITERALLY WRITE A BOOK OVER THIS VERY TOPIC BECAUSE THIS IS SOMETHING THAT I’M SUPER PASSIONATE ABOUT! I BELIEVE THAT THE WEDDING SHOULD CONFORM TO THE COUPLE AND NOT THE OTHER WAY AROUND. IF SOMETHING ISN’T YOUR STYLE, NIX THAT SUCKER! OR LET’S BRAINSTORM A WAY TO TWEAK IT TO WHERE IT HAS YOUR NAMES WRITTEN ALL OVER IT. AS SOON AS YOU WALK INTO THOSE CEREMONY AND RECEPTION AREAS, AND ALL THROUGHOUT, YOUR GUESTS SHOULD KNOW THAT THEY’RE IN THE RIGHT PLACE. HERE’S 6 WAYS THAT YOU CAN BREAK TRADITION!
1. Getting Ready
ALRIGHT GUYS, LET’S START OFF STRONG.
Most of the time when you’re reading those wedding day timelines on Pinterest or going through all the wedding blogs in the world, you see either one of two things.
Where the bride and groom don’t see each other before the ceremony
or
Where the bride and groom have a first look
But what if I told you that you had a third option? What if I told you that you could get ready…….wait for it…………TOGETHER? WOAH, right? That thought is way out of the box and you may have seen it here and there on the interwebs. But, y’all. This is something that is so incredibly underrated and that I’m rooting more for. Have your man zip up the back of your dress, and you tie that tie for him! This moment will sure to be one of your favorites from the day. And just wait until you see the pictures that come from this sweet, intimate moment together! When you look back on those pictures, you’ll feel all the giddy feelings all over again and you’ll be able to see the love and excitement on your faces!
2. the time of day
BRUNCH = A GIFT FROM GOD HIMSELF
Everyone is so accustomed to a good evening wedding. Having the ceremony a couple of hours before sunset, and then head on inside for dinner, right? What if you shook it up a little? How would it look for you? Would it be a breakfast wedding? A brunch wedding? I would totally do a good brunch wedding! Just imagine having waffles for your main course. Uhm, YUM. Not only do you get to do a completely unique wedding menu, but instead of going straight home afterwards to pass out until the next day, you have the whole rest of the day to enjoy some time with your hubs! Whether that’s enjoying your first night as newlyweds sanctioned off from the outside world, or going out with your wedding party later that night, there’s so many possibilities on how you can spend the rest of your wedding day to get the most out of it!
3. Walking down the aisle
GIRL, MORE POWER TO YA
If you’re all about woman empowerment, or if you’re not incredibly close to your father, or if he’s unfortunately passed away and you don’t feel like you can ever replace him, think about some different ways to walk down the aisle. Will this look like you standing out and walking solo? Or maybe you and you groom walk together! Maybe we reverse it altogether? What if your groom is the one that was really wanting the big wedding? Maybe you walk first, and he walks last! I once had a bride who had all three of her brothers sitting at various points down the aisle and they each handed her off to the next brother. The final brother handed her off to both mom and dad at the end of the aisle to give her away. I’m pretty sure I may just blog about that wedding later because it’s still one of my all time favorite standout moments to this day! This is one way you can definitely show your personality and what you stand for.
4. the white dress
WHITE DRESS? WHAT WHITE DRESS?
There’s this episode of Say Yes To The Dress that I watched (okay, a few that I’ve watched), that showcased some colored dresses. Let me tell y’all. Yes, they were colored, but daaaang. They were absolutely beautiful and still looked bridaly! There’s this pink one, this black one, or one of my brides even did a light blue dress on her wedding day and literally blew all of our freaking minds. She looked so good, and felt so confident, and you could tell she felt confident in her beautiful dress the whole night! I helped coordinate a styled shoot that featured a black dress, and it was legit one of my all time favorite styled shoots to participate in because it was so unique and different, and that black dress stood out big time! I’m definitely putting it on my to-do list to blog that styled shoot because it was everything.
5. Cocktail hour
PASS THE COCKTAILS & APPS, PLEASE
When you think of cocktail hour, you usually envision you and your groom taking pictures during that time, right? How about we spice it up a little. How would you feel if we did the grand entrance during cocktail hour and you got to be a part of it? Or what about if we did a pre-ceremony cocktail hour? You could even break that old tradition here of no guests seeing the bride and join in on the pre-ceremony cocktail hour if you really wanted! These two cocktail hour ideas allow the two of you to really enjoy the cocktail hour you’ve paid for and put a lot of thought into. Eat those chips and queso, drink that margarita, and mingle with your people!
6. Ring bearer & Flower girl
NO NEED, Y’ALL
Time and time again, this is one of the things that I see a post about in a FB group where they have to make a disclaimer that they’re not having a ring bearer or flower girl. Like you have to have one or something. Well, I’m here to tell you that you most certainly do not have to have one by any means! Often times, couples stress over how the littles will behave going down the aisle, or how they’ll do while standing up at the front. This is one simple way that you can take some stress off of you to make sure that the moments before you walk down the aisle (and more importantly, while you walk down the aisle) are ones that you can really take in all of the giddy feelings you’re having. Flower grandmas or flower dudes are totally a thing and I need to see more of these, please.